The purpose of the 2009 demon-flyer episode
The June 3rd
MonsterQuest broadcast about searches for live pterosaurs
gave many
Americans their first exposure to the idea that these so-called
in the expedition was Garth Guessman, of Southern California; he had
been on a living-pterosaur expedition in Papua New Guinea in
2004. Also
interviewed on the MonsterQuest show was Duane Hodgkinson (who had
an incredible sighting on the mainland of Papua New Guinea
in 1944) and
Paul Nation (who had been on many living-pterosaur expeditions).
But the MonsterQuest expedition of early 2009 included
a pterosaur-fossil
expert who gravely doubted that the demon flyer (also known as "ropen,"
"indava," "wawanar," and "seklo-bali") could
be a living pterosaur.
When the expedition team arrived at the remote jungle camp, Guessman
became surprised when the MonsterQuest
personnel revealed that they
were there to make a film, not conduct research; they slept while Guessman
searched the skies. His sighting
of a strange bright light was dismissed by
the film makers (after they awakened the following morning).
MonsterQuest: Demon Flyer