Drop bears are carnivorous, tree-dwelling marsupials found throughout Australia. Their preferred dwelling is eucalyptus trees or gum trees. They are related to koala bears, though larger and equipped with sharp teeth and razor-like claws. Sometimes people refer to them as the koala bear's evil twin.
Drop bears prefer to feed at night. They wait in trees and then drop down on top of their prey, usually instantly knocking it unconscious. They will then proceed to devour it. They will quite readily attack creatures larger than themselves, including humans.
The only known way to deter a drop bear is to spread toothpaste or vegemite behind your ears and on your neck. It also makes sense not to pitch your tent beneath a tree that contains a drop bear. A good way to find out if a drop bear is in a tree is to lie down beneath the tree and spit upwards. If a drop bear is sleeping up there, it will wake up and spit back.
Australians are known for going to great lengths to make sure that backpacking tourists are aware of the dangers posed by drop bears. Young children attending camp are also frequently warned of this threat to their safety.
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It's a cross of the Tiger, Little Fierce and introduced Boomslang.
It achieved its fame by being able to grab it's tail in its mouth and by rapidly undulating its body at such a fast rate that it becomes horizontal and is able to propel itself along the ground like a wheel.
Thereby allowing to chase down normally faster prey.
Once close enough, it then contracts its body and with lightning like reflexes can propel it's body at its prey like an arrow, burying its fangs deeply and disabling its prey near on instantaneoulsy, which it can then ingest at its leisure.
For shame that this deadly creature has been neglected....
Rustling leaves - wind? birds?
Fear not the eucalyptus
But what hides within
Why'd I sleep b'neath Euclptus!
Oh I'm such a fool
look up see something oh poo
drop arrr dead
Up there in the trees branches?
I wil not sleep there
Koala doeppelganger
waits up there for you!
I hear growls from within
Koala? Or worse?
Excellent work!
A few years ago I had some German backpacker friends visit and stay for a few days.
One of them, Anna, decided to go for a morning walk, by herself!
(This is not adviseable, especially in early summer mornings as there are many wild dogs out hunting at that time of the morning).
The rest of us were sitting out on the back deck after just waking up when we we heard a loud scream.
We rushed into the forest (about 30 metres away) and found Anna with severe cuts to the side of her head and neck.
Once the rescue service had evacuated her by helicopter we found a baby Drop Bear dead at the foot of the tree where Anna was found.
We suspect that she had wandered into the mother Drop Bear's territory and was trying to defend her already-dead baby from Anna (seen as a predator).
Luckily Anna survived okay, but she ended up with stiches across the left side of her neck and to the side of the head.
Since then we have seen a couple of the bears in the trees, and make sure we stay out of their way at night and early mornings.
I'm trying to think of what one would say if an evil koala bear dropped onto them from a tree. "WTF?" comes to mind...
Oh yeah, and I heard one theory on the creation of the drop bear myth: That parents used it to keep their kids from playing under trees and getting hurt from falling branches. Making idiots of tourists is also a use for it though I guess.
Look at this picture and be afraid for your life. It's of a drop bear. (I promise to God it's not a stupid picture with something flashing up on the camera and scaring the crap out of you..seriously, I hate those.)
thanks for sharing a tremendous information with me.good job.
keep it up.
😊 I love Australia
Welcome tourists, our whole ecosystem is out to get you. 😉