If you looked outside your window and saw a 10-foot-tall, Tyrannosaurus-looking mofo with gray skin and sharp teeth, what would you do? Well, back in 2004, a handful of people in Papua New Guinea reported having this exact problem. The creature allegedly devoured three dogs, which is about as mean as it gets. One witness, Christine Samei, described the dinosaur as a "very huge and ugly looking animal." So, understandably enough, according to Australian newspaper The Age, the villagers had phoned up the cops.
Soon enough, the police swarmed into the marshes near Rabaul — a town destroyed by a volcanic eruption in 1994 — hunting for the dino. And yep, you guessed it. Nothing was found. This was rather disappointing news to local Kokopo mayor, Albert Buanga, who rightfully pointed out that a living dinosaur would've made an awesome tourist attraction. Hey, can't argue with that.
That said, this is hardly the first dinosaur "sighting" that's happened in Papua New Guinea. As Smithsonian.com points out, the island province has plenty of stories about the so-called "ropen," said to be a living pterosaur. Though people have recorded footage of the ropen in action, these clips have been debunked, since they clearly depict ordinary frigatebirds. These animals might look like pterosaurs, if you squint hard enough, but they're certainly not going to take on Godzilla anytime soon.
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