Encounter Atlas

Creature index / Winged things

Kongamato

Also called Overwhelmer of boats

A leathery-winged flyer from Zambia's swamps, sometimes called a living pterosaur.

In 1923 British colonial official Frank Melland wrote that people in the Jiundu Swamp described a reddish, featherless flying creature with leathery wings and teeth, which they called kongamato. When shown a drawing of a pterosaur, witnesses reportedly picked it out.

Most zoologists suspect large fruit bats or storks, but the Kongamato remains a favourite of the "living dinosaur" corner of cryptozoology.

What witnesses report

  • Leathery, featherless wings
  • Long beak with teeth

Famous cases

  1. 1923Melland's account
    Jiundu Swamp, Zambia

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