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Description
Fantastic creature 14: Ropen

"This is the terror that flaps in the night
a monsters that hunt you a night with a lot of fright
Meet the flying myth, the Ropen"

My version (stats)
length: 9 meters long
wingspan: 7 meters
weight: unknown
common? New Guinea

fun facts
Ropen is known as the "living pterosaur".
Despite ithe ropen is popular in myths, This is a fraud created by one man that is also a creationist.

"Boring reality"
By the description in mythology, The ropen was round 10 meters long (its tail was 7 meters) and a had a wingspan of 7 meters.
FIRST, no flying vertebrate has a long, heavy tail (no birds, reptile or pterosaur).
Pterosaurs found two ways to fly
=>small pterosaurs had long thin tail but a none had crests (example dimorphodon and rhamphorhynchus)
=>large pterosaurs had short tails but longer legs and wings. Those pterosaurs had crests (example pteranodon, nyctosaurus and quetzalcoatlus)

But a large wingspan and a long, heavy tail together?
Its impossible for any animal that large to fly with a havy tail behind.
"It almost look like a wyvern/dragon in a fairy tail"
The ropen was a large animal with a had and crest of pteranodon with teeth and tail of rhamphorhynchus.
This creature was made by one man, a creationist, that made an expedition in New Guinea and wrote a description how the locals explained.
"O yes I almost forgot. According to the locals the ropen was also capable to use bioluminenscence. I other words, it glows in the dark" and it eats corpses from graves... yeah?

My version (fiction)
The ropen is a midsized pterosaur that survives the KT event by hiding in mountains and caves.
Thanks to underground wateringwholes and foodsources (fish, insects, roots) the species survives long enough for the earth the heal.
Thanks to the caves, they can fly in small spaces and climp aswell.
By living in these dark caves, they evolved to produce bioluminenscence.
By this way, they can recognise eachother and attract its prey. Like the stripes of a zebra, each glowing pattern is unique.

When the earth was healed +/- 60 million years ago, the mountains and caves changes!
Openings were made and the lost pterosaurs fly out once more into the world.
When mammals began to dominate the world, ropens survive the invasion of mammals by hunting at night, hiding at day and become territorial.
They can fly in daylight to find new sources of food.
Its long tail is long yes, but its lighter than it looks. The tail is used for display and to help manoeuvre in the forest and caves.

Diet
Ropens are omnivores and eat almost anything (fish, fruits, roots, insects, small mammals and scavenging beached animals).
Like the finches of the galapagos, some ropen become specialised in a sertant diet to avoid competition.

Chase the humans
ropen can hurt people but they don't eat them.
When humans approaching in their territory, ropens can stalk them in trees like a leopard.
Despite its wings, they can fly, jump and glide in dense forests.
The speed and size combined with his glowing skin, humans were scared to death by these creatures.
They have a reason to scare those fools.
Ropens lives in small groups up to 12 animals, lead by a leading pair that guards the nests.
The other members are hunters and scouts.
Their nests locate in forests and caves.

Description
Fantastic creature 14: Ropen

"This is the terror that flaps in the night
a monsters that hunt you a night with a lot of fright
Meet the flying myth, the Ropen"

My version (stats)
length: 9 meters long
wingspan: 7 meters
weight: unknown
common? New Guinea

fun facts
Ropen is known as the "living pterosaur".
Despite ithe ropen is popular in myths, This is a fraud created by one man that is also a creationist.

"Boring reality"
By the description in mythology, The ropen was round 10 meters long (its tail was 7 meters) and a had a wingspan of 7 meters.
FIRST, no flying vertebrate has a long, heavy tail (no birds, reptile or pterosaur).
Pterosaurs found two ways to fly
=>small pterosaurs had long thin tail but a none had crests (example dimorphodon and rhamphorhynchus)
=>large pterosaurs had short tails but longer legs and wings. Those pterosaurs had crests (example pteranodon, nyctosaurus and quetzalcoatlus)

But a large wingspan and a long, heavy tail together?
Its impossible for any animal that large to fly with a havy tail behind.
"It almost look like a wyvern/dragon in a fairy tail"
The ropen was a large animal with a had and crest of pteranodon with teeth and tail of rhamphorhynchus.
This creature was made by one man, a creationist, that made an expedition in New Guinea and wrote a description how the locals explained.
"O yes I almost forgot. According to the locals the ropen was also capable to use bioluminenscence. I other words, it glows in the dark" and it eats corpses from graves... yeah?

My version (fiction)
The ropen is a midsized pterosaur that survives the KT event by hiding in mountains and caves.
Thanks to underground wateringwholes and foodsources (fish, insects, roots) the species survives long enough for the earth the heal.
Thanks to the caves, they can fly in small spaces and climp aswell.
By living in these dark caves, they evolved to produce bioluminenscence.
By this way, they can recognise eachother and attract its prey. Like the stripes of a zebra, each glowing pattern is unique.

When the earth was healed +/- 60 million years ago, the mountains and caves changes!
Openings were made and the lost pterosaurs fly out once more into the world.
When mammals began to dominate the world, ropens survive the invasion of mammals by hunting at night, hiding at day and become territorial.
They can fly in daylight to find new sources of food.
Its long tail is long yes, but its lighter than it looks. The tail is used for display and to help manoeuvre in the forest and caves.

Diet
Ropens are omnivores and eat almost anything (fish, fruits, roots, insects, small mammals and scavenging beached animals).
Like the finches of the galapagos, some ropen become specialised in a sertant diet to avoid competition.

Chase the humans
ropen can hurt people but they don't eat them.
When humans approaching in their territory, ropens can stalk them in trees like a leopard.
Despite its wings, they can fly, jump and glide in dense forests.
The speed and size combined with his glowing skin, humans were scared to death by these creatures.
They have a reason to scare those fools.
Ropens lives in small groups up to 12 animals, lead by a leading pair that guards the nests.
The other members are hunters and scouts.
Their nests locate in forests and caves.