New Zealand Pterodactyls?

[Undeadskeptic]

New Zealand Pterodactyls?

My first Mysterious New Zealand topic was about the story me and my cousin were told by a farmer in North Island. Facsinated by this story of reptillian bat-like monsters, I went digging for any other accounts of New Zealands mysterious "Pterodactyl". I have uncovered some new information of what is possibly the same creature, haunting the farmlands of North Island. Whilst I doubt their truthfulness, and do not really consider them to be anything more than local legend, I hope they intrigue you as much as they intrigued me.

The Bird that bit Catherine

One hot summer, Catherine, who was nine or ten at the time, was sitting on the fence of her family farm reading, when she became aware of a little creature sitting next to her. She turned around and saw that it was a green bird, no bigger than a sparrow, with a long tail and long pointed beak. After watching it for a while, she began to read again. When she turned away though, the 'bird' became quite upset and continously chirped until she turned back around. This became so annoying, that she waved her hand to shoo it away. Unpeturbed, the little animal just bit her finger, leaving little circular wounds where its fangs had peirced her. She screamed, and fell off the fence. It was then that the critter spread it's wings, which were leathery and had no feathers like the rest of its body, stood up and flew away. Realising what she had seen, Catherine ran to her father shouting "Daddy, daddy, I saw a dinosaur!"

Her father was sceptical, but her mother said that she too had seen the 'bird' once, perched in a tree. Catherine also claimed to see it on two occasions afterwards, both whilst flying and neither comparable to the time she was bitten by the prehistoric monster.

The Piglet and the Pterosaur

On a morning of 1981, Mr and Mrs.Jones (Pseudynom) became witness to a spectacle they would never forget. After being woken by strange sounds, the couple walked to the pig sty to find the cause for the commotion. They were shocked to see a rather large piglet head butting an animal they had never seen before, a bat-like creature with an impressive, long beak, covered in scales. Both were covered in blood, as was the frosty grass, and the piglet seemed to be losing the fight. The winged creature clawed at the piglets back from above and bit its face badly, resulting in the piglet dying. The flying animal swalloed a few chunks of the corpse's flesh, then flew off with the body in its jaws. It was never seen again.

A Hunter meets the Pterodactyl

One story features a hunter, sceptical of the monsters existence after being told a few locals of the stories, who decided to shoot one of these creature to see if they really existed. He returned with nothing but a fresh cut across the right side of his face, which was tended to immediatly. He attempted several other times to capture what he called "the pterodactyl that gave me this scar" but apparentally it evaded him every time for he never caught another glimpse of it.

'The Fisher'

I have obtained a story via EMail of a related cryptid, or possibly the same animal that a Miss S encountered once in an unspecified North Island location 'near Rotorua'.

Whilst bathing in a 'small, beautiful clear lake' on a boiling summer morning, S noticed that about every 15 minutes, a relatively large green bird would swoop down, skimming the water with its beak and catching a fish. She nicknamed it 'The Fisher' and always saw it when in the lake or on its shores, sometimes her friends would also see it. Once the creature was so close in front of her face that she saw it's head very clearly and described it as 'saurian in nature, with large staring eyes and a sharp beak full of little teeth'. It had no feathers or fur, and was covered in smooth scales. It had a long tail, consistent with other accounts of similar critters, and on one occasion, after gliding in front of the sun, the wings became momentarily transparent.

The last time she saw one was before she moved to her current home in South Island, she had noticed them a lot less, due to the lake becoming smaller, and a nearby fern-filled area growing larger. She believes the Pterosaurs moved into the ferny area after the lake started getting smaller, as it offered more food and space to hunt. She assumed that fish was not first choice on their menu, having seen a group of ten feasting on a dead mouse.

Prehaps the Fisher and the Pterodactyl are one and the same?

As I said in my first thread on the subject, I remain sceptical about this creatures existence without any evidence but stories. How has a Pterosaur, a relic from the dinosaur age, survived hidden for this long? Then again, New Zealand is the country that hid the Takahe for 50 years, the Chatham Island Taiko for 111 years, the Storm Petrel for 150 and the enormous Longhorn Beetle for almost 300. When one is tramping through the vast New Zealand countryside, a Pterodactyl would not seem out of place, and one can't help but imagine prehistoric monsters thriving undiscovered in the wilds...

Edited May 25, 2008 by Undeadskeptic

[kenshinx]

The Bird that bit Catherine

One hot summer, Catherine, who was nine or ten at the time, was sitting on the fence of her family farm reading, when she became aware of a little creature sitting next to her. She turned around and saw that it was a green bird, no bigger than a sparrow, with a long tail and long pointed beak. After watching it for a while, she began to read again. When she turned away though, the 'bird' became quite upset and continously chirped until she turned back around. This became so annoying, that she waved her hand to shoo it away. Unpeturbed, the little animal just bit her finger, leaving little circular wounds where its fangs had peirced her. She screamed, and fell off the fence. It was then that the critter spread it's wings, which were leathery and had no feathers like the rest of its body, stood up and flew away. Realising what she had seen, Catherine ran to her father shouting "Daddy, daddy, I saw a dinosaur!"

Her father was sceptical, but her mother said that she too had seen the 'bird' once, perched in a tree. Catherine also claimed to see it on two occasions afterwards, both whilst flying and neither comparable to the time she was bitten by the prehistoric monster.

this one is kinda funny. she saw weird looking bird wtih tail and continue to read ? must be really good book !

[Stormcrow]

Hey, it's New Zealand, anything could be there. ;DD

But the likeliness of reptilian dinosaurs... however nice that sounds, you'd think there'd be a little more proof than stories. Even Bigfoot has pictures.

[The Maharaja]

WoW someone look arter the sheep what with all these New Zealand cryptids running around, although i'm not surprised New Zealand lamb is the best

[dracula.Factory]

One hot summer, Catherine, who was nine or ten at the time, was sitting on the fence of her family farm reading, when she became aware of a little creature sitting next to her. She turned around and saw that it was a green bird, no bigger than a sparrow, with a long tail and long pointed beak. After watching it for a while, she began to read again. When she turned away though, the 'bird' became quite upset and continously chirped until she turned back around. This became so annoying, that she waved her hand to shoo it away. Unpeturbed, the little animal just bit her finger, leaving little circular wounds where its fangs had peirced her. She screamed, and fell off the fence. It was then that the critter spread it's wings, which were leathery and had no feathers like the rest of its body, stood up and flew away. Realising what she had seen, Catherine ran to her father shouting "Daddy, daddy, I saw a dinosaur!"

Her father was sceptical, but her mother said that she too had seen the 'bird' once, perched in a tree. Catherine also claimed to see it on two occasions afterwards, both whilst flying and neither comparable to the time she was bitten by the prehistoric monster.

Recently I saw a picture on the internet of someone's hands cupped together. In the hands was a cute little baby pterodactyl (dark green) that was sitting with its little face pointed slightly upwards like it was waiting for a meal from its mother. Since the pterodactyl described is the same one that is shown in this picture, I was going to post it here, but I can't find it the picture was fake, it looked like some kind of really nice 3d art. Has anyone seen this picture? Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

[Syntax]

New Zealand Pterodactyls?

One hot summer, Catherine, who was nine or ten at the time, was sitting on the fence of her family farm reading, when she became aware of a little creature sitting next to her. She turned around and saw that it was a green bird, no bigger than a sparrow, with a long tail and long pointed beak. After watching it for a while, she began to read again. When she turned away though, the 'bird' became quite upset and continously chirped until she turned back around. This became so annoying, that she waved her hand to shoo it away. Unpeturbed, the little animal just bit her finger, leaving little circular wounds where its fangs had peirced her. She screamed, and fell off the fence. It was then that the critter spread it's wings, which were leathery and had no feathers like the rest of its body, stood up and flew away. Realising what she had seen, Catherine ran to her father shouting "Daddy, daddy, I saw a dinosaur!"

Her father was sceptical, but her mother said that she too had seen the 'bird' once, perched in a tree. Catherine also claimed to see it on two occasions afterwards, both whilst flying and neither comparable to the time she was bitten by the prehistoric monster.

I have heard this story before, not only that but it mirrors some of the sightings that came out of the 'flying man' flap in West Virginia during the summer of 1947. I think one of the witnesses even muttered the same phrase, "Mommy, I saw a Dinosaur".

There was no date on this story, however if it comes from the same period as the others, an interesting thing to note is that the years 1978 - 1984 saw a huge UFO flap hit New Zealand. Interestingly, more than several months before Valentich's disappearance over the Bass Strait, the NZAF were flying sorties over the South Island to record the data, one of those sorties produced the famous NZ UFO footage (that i'm sure we have all seen a million times).

I don't have access to a lot of New Zealand paranormal research material, but it's something I would love to read. It's hard enough finding Australian material (I'm from Australia), do you know any good New Zealand resource books?

[PersonFromPorlock]

She assumed that fish was not first choice on their menu, having seen a group of ten feasting on a dead mouse.

That's either a big mouse or ten tiny pterosaurs!

[Illyria]

I have heard this story before, not only that but it mirrors some of the sightings that came out of the 'flying man' flap in West Virginia during the summer of 1947. I think one of the witnesses even muttered the same phrase, "Mommy, I saw a Dinosaur".

There was no date on this story, however if it comes from the same period as the others, an interesting thing to note is that the years 1978 - 1984 saw a huge UFO flap hit New Zealand. Interestingly, more than several months before Valentich's disappearance over the Bass Strait, the NZAF were flying sorties over the South Island to record the data, one of those sorties produced the famous NZ UFO footage (that i'm sure we have all seen a million times).

I don't have access to a lot of New Zealand paranormal research material, but it's something I would love to read. It's hard enough finding Australian material (I'm from Australia), do you know any good New Zealand resource books?

Maybe they meant .. Moose? :<

Edited May 26, 2008 by Illyria

[Enalya]

There's no moose in NZ! And this is the first I've ever heard of this, and I live in the country...I'll have to do a bit of research myself

[Sharm]

Recently I saw a picture on the internet of someone's hands cupped together. In the hands was a cute little baby pterodactyl (dark green) that was sitting with its little face pointed slightly upwards like it was waiting for a meal from its mother. Since the pterodactyl described is the same one that is shown in this picture, I was going to post it here, but I can't find it the picture was fake, it looked like some kind of really nice 3d art. Has anyone seen this picture? Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

This one?

[Keoshin]

This one?

I smell photoshop

[Undeadskeptic]

Thanks for all the replies, please keep em' coming!

Syntax: Oddzone by Vicki Hyde, New Zealand Mysteries by Robyn Gosset, and Unexplained New Zealand are the best books on the subjects of NZ paranormal phenomena.

Enalya: Yes there are heaps of Moose, are you sue you live in NZ? Lol!

KenshinX: Rofl!

[Undeadskeptic]

I smell photoshop

It has no feet?

[KCalypso]

Interesting. I live in New Zealand. Found an article on the internet which talks about New Zealand Fossils, here's an excerpt.

"New Zealand hasn't got a large number of excavation sites for dinosaur

remains. Essentially there is one, near Napier, where remains have been

found from about 7 different types of dinosaur. These are represented by

_very_ few bones indeed. New Zealand was essentially placed in a near

shore environment during the Cretaceous and all the specimens were washed

into this environment from afar. "There is a rich fauna of marine reptiles

and pterasaurs though."

http://dml.cmnh.org/1994Aug/msg00178.html

Seems to back this up

[draconic chronicler]

I smell photoshop

Yep. Someone on an earlier thread even found the original pic of a bat in a human hand. The 'artist' simply added a bird's head. Clever idea, but next time create the base photo yourselfrather that use one found on the internet.

[draconic chronicler]

That's either a big mouse or ten tiny pterosaurs!

Yes. I cannot imagine a mouse being a "feast" for even one tiny pterosaur. I could a group of birds squabbling over a single mouse though, which might be misinterpreted as "feasting" by a child.

[Shadygeneral]

Hey, it's New Zealand, anything could be there. ;DD

But the likeliness of reptilian dinosaurs... however nice that sounds, you'd think there'd be a little more proof than stories. Even Bigfoot has pictures.

Here are some supposed videos of one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odRXeRIL3Ew

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7WJ8oQ20ac

[The Mule]

Cool story

[Undeadskeptic]

Interesting. I live in New Zealand. Found an article on the internet which talks about New Zealand Fossils, here's an excerpt.

"New Zealand hasn't got a large number of excavation sites for dinosaur

remains. Essentially there is one, near Napier, where remains have been

found from about 7 different types of dinosaur. These are represented by

_very_ few bones indeed. New Zealand was essentially placed in a near

shore environment during the Cretaceous and all the specimens were washed

into this environment from afar. "There is a rich fauna of marine reptiles

and pterasaurs though."

http://dml.cmnh.org/1994Aug/msg00178.html

Seems to back this up

Yup, NZ had lots of Pterosaurs so our fossil record isn't lacking for this cryptid (Except for 65 Million years of fossils after the extinction of other prehistoric animals)

[Undeadskeptic]

Here are some supposed videos of one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odRXeRIL3Ew

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7WJ8oQ20ac

The first one is a Storm Petrel (Which I mentioned in the OP, what a coincidence) and the second is a bird of some kind.

[Max.L]

This kind of stuff could exist , seeing that New Zealand has a low population density and that a big part of it is mountains .

[SoulFire]

Here are some supposed videos of one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odRXeRIL3Ew

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7WJ8oQ20ac

cool videos ! ! !

[Undeadskeptic]

This kind of stuff could exist , seeing that New Zealand has a low population density and that a big part of it is mountains .

I like to keep an open mind, but I don't really believe this one.

[Enalya]

No moose

[Undeadskeptic]

No moose

http://www.newzealandnz.co.nz/hunting/big-game-animals.html

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0510/S00045.htm

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/423466/616973

http://www.nzwt.co.nz/about.htm

Moose.