Drop Bear
Kingdom: Animalia
Location found: Australia
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.Location found: Australia
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.
Total Comments: 54
Comments
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.
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I learnt about drop bears from Mum a coupla years back - pretty coolish, she sounded very serious about it, and I am pretty darn good at keeping a straight face too so I told all my friends when we went out to Reinke Scrub about drop bears - they were more than a little freaked :D I'm trying my hand at being a novelist and one of my stories has a mentioning of drop bears worked into it. It's pretty good, but anyways. Anyways, yeah. When I talk to friends over the net who are coming over to Australia for one reason or another I make sure to warn them of drop bears, and bunyips/yowies, and all the rest. Just so as to make them feel comforted XD
Posted by Nic The Crazy on Sat Apr 09, 2005 at 11:12 PM
Drop bears may not be real, but if the Marsupial Lion (Thylacoleo carnifex), turns out to have survived into the present day and not be extinct after-all, then you have a real life equivalent.
Another possibility of course is the Yowie or the Junjardee. The Yowie is a big hairy fella, kind of like the Sasquatch oe Wendigo. The Junjardee is a little hairy fella, kind of like the Sumatran Orang Pendek or Flores Ebu Gogo. They both have one thing in common, they like bunya nuts and thus tend to climb trees. You see a young Yowie or a Junjardee drop out of a Bunya pine and you'd think you'd seen a drop bear. With over 10,000 sightings through out Australia of these cryptids over the past 200 years, there's a good chance they exist.
Folcrom
Posted by Folcrom in Melbourne on Thu Jun 02, 2005 at 03:20 PM
Drop Bears are definately not Yowies, they are the evil cousin of the Koala Bear, only with very long and sharp claws and fangs. The main purpose of the Drop Bear is to scare tourists, foreigners, city slickers and small children on camps.
Posted by Abby on Tue Jun 28, 2005 at 07:04 PM
after perusing your site and wetting myself laughing at some of the hoaxes ... and correcting the mortgage buster one ... IT HAPPENED 1980 kingston qld. was one of our neighbours and we lived on top of the old gold mine. then i came across drop bears ... omg i had almost forgotten . I was 18 ..had lived in australia for 10 years and had never heard of them until the day a gang of us decided to go camping in the BUNYA mountains . this of course is the home of the drop bear as i was told . The shape of a koala .. the size and weight of a wombat (extremely hardy solid animals, will write off your car suspension if you run over one ) huge teeth and claws . they hide in trees and drop on unsuspecting passers by .. fanging and eating and tearing etc. hmmm wouldnt have been too bad except some of us were travelling on motorbikes. my so called friends kept this story going for 3 solid months until finally someone told me . needless to say i did not then believe in trip snakes ... i had never heard the lie under a tree and spit to find them ... although ... we do have family flying in from new zealand over the next few days .... MWAHAHAHAHA
Posted by head1ess_chicken in brisbane australia on Sat Aug 13, 2005 at 04:58 PM
Drop Bears are incredibly real! My brother was in the sugarloaf mountains about hour out from melbourne, and he heard moaning as dropbears are heard to do in their sleep. He looked up and saw a huge black lump of fur and claws attached to the tree. Tourists...Im tellin ya! Make sure you're protected by Aeroguard and a comment before said that they are attracted to vegemite...not true! They are definitely repelled by it! The Australian Government has been covering this up to keep the tourism... but i warn you...Australian DropBears are nothing to laugh at. Look at all the websites devoted to dropbears...and we know that everything on the net is true.
Posted by Emma on Tue Sep 06, 2005 at 06:31 PM
I have seen a drop bear. True story. We were canoeing once and heard a scrambling in a large redgum tree on the bank. As I looked across I saw abig male koala lose its grip on a branch and drop to the ground like a rock.
The stupid creature looked a bit groggy after the experience and only took a few seconds to come to.
But I can tell you.... you wouldn't have wanted the fat little bastard to land on your head!
Posted by Lord Voltara in Australia on Sun Oct 02, 2005 at 11:32 PM
hi there im aussie born and bred and was always told of drop bears whenever we went up bush,we were always only told that they were dead koala, or the fact that koalas eating too many gum leaves actually become quite drigged and can lose their grip. we used to tell tourists that snakes chase you here (scaryily its true)
and that red back spiders use heat seeking sensors to find you at night to bite you in your sleep.(i dont know how many sleepless nights he had) and he also asked what our equivelant of a cowboy was and we told him it was a phwar (it took him a while to realise we were crapping him(so i admitted that was the sound an aussie girl made when she saw a tight bunned cowboy).
we have so many yukky bitey creatures here that its easy to toy with people.
when i visited my uncle in the mountains here he told me of the mountain people that livet here that were hairy all over and had been seen hiding in peoples wood piles(i nearly shat meself)as he had a gleaming woodpile and i was a knowing 28 year old.
Posted by gayle in australia on Mon Nov 28, 2005 at 06:50 PM
I have been living in America for a year now and was suprised when my Husband (an American) mentioned Drop Bears and how the story is told to tourists entering Australia.
I was born and raised in Australia and was first told about Drop Bears during a Grade 2 sleepover.
Infact we were taken out into the school yard after dark with flash lights to search for the elussive little monsters. It was definately a fun, if somewhat terrifying experience at the time.
Even if Drop Bears are a hoax it is a great nodd to our love of a good lark. What other country would use a National pest (Cane Toads) as a way to improve their golf swing or offroad vechicle manuvering capabilities.
Posted by Cat Gray in Formerly Melb, Australia on Mon Dec 05, 2005 at 07:33 AM
Being from Australia and a tourist guide. I only see it fit to tell a good yarn about the infamous drop bears and trip snakes. Of course its all nonsence, but those dam tourist kids are to dam irisitible not to tell, with all the spitting and the mums getting angry at them for making there close dirty. One hope the drop bears stay in are culture forever, cose it kicks so much ass.
PS: what is the "johnson monster" ?
Posted by chaos0013 in australia on Fri Jan 27, 2006 at 07:50 PM
we are doing a project on drop bears at school does anyone have any information about them that atleast 5 people can back you up on? please i need help
Posted by tamara rettke on Mon May 08, 2006 at 12:22 AM
You know, I'm really amazed about the coverage that the Drop Bear and Stick Snake get here, but has no-one heard of the Hoop Snake?
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....
Posted by Senutyenool in Australia on Mon Sep 11, 2006 at 10:26 PM
Senutyenool, the hoop snake is covered here. You needed to click to the next page of the list.
Posted by Alex in San Diego on Thu Sep 14, 2006 at 09:31 PM
Senutyenoool,the hoop snake is covered.Sadly sveral animals aren't.One example is the splintercat.This cat resembles a domestic cat with a large head and gliding membrane.It is dangerous to approach as it is very feroucious thought to be due to a constant headache.This is caused by it's feeding habits.It glides into trees with such force that it knocks anything on the tree off.This dislodges bee hives that thesplintercat then eats.Therefore it could be used as a much better way to check for drop bears.Another animal is the goofang.This fish swims backward and has backward fins.Go to a website fantastic zoology to find a picture.The strange roperite deserves a mention.It looks like a pony with a trunk. IT USES THE TRUNK TO SNARE RABBITS.
Posted by J on Tue Oct 10, 2006 at 11:32 PM
There are quite afew I missed out.These include the snapalope.Thiscreature,about the height of a pig,looks like a stick figure of a deer with yellow and red skin.They live in supermarkets and small stores.They eat soda.There are several ways of catching snapalopes.For more info on hunting snapalopes,just put snapalope through google and select the S.H.A.A. homepage.
Posted by J on Wed Oct 11, 2006 at 11:03 AM
Im continuing my list.These critters deserve a mention.The hugag (no I havent mispelt hodag)Is large and moose like.It has no joints in its legs and browses with its huge mobile upper lip.It will travel most of the day and leans on trees to sleep.The snow wasset has no legs.This should not be seen as a handecap.They hibernate in summer when there fur turns green and it disguises itself as a bush.In winter they adopt a hunting method similar to the hot-headed naked ice borer,tunneling through snow to catch prey.Later in winter they sit and wait,lunging out of the snow with its head and pulling animals as large as moose under the snow to eat. Im suprised the argopelter isnt here,it should be.This wiry american ape is best known for throwing branches at lumberjacks with there whip-like arm.reports of these attacks vary,ranging from always deadly to just a frequent annoyance.In addition to the splinter cat there are two other cats I wish to add.First the cactus cat.This cat has thorn like hair, a branched tail and blades on there arms.They use these to cut open cactus to drink the sap.This however, gets the cat drunk,making a easier target.If they get to drunk they are dangerous.Next creature on the agenda is the silver cat.This highly dangerous american feline has a knob and three spikes on its tail.It stuns prey by hitting them withs knob then kills them with spikes.ANYONE WHO KNOWS TALL-CREATURES NOT MENTIONED IN THE GALLERY PLEASE COME FORWARD!!!
Posted by J on Tue Oct 17, 2006 at 10:39 PM
Sorry for not finishing my list.From Chile comes the alicanto.This bird eats gold and silver as a food.The weight of it's food keep it grounded.They are followed frequently by miners who follow it to find gold and silver.The Gumberoo is bear like but has no fur.It is a ravenous beast that can eat a horse in one sitting and still be hungry.Its hide,like that of the rubberado repel bullets,stones and any attack except fire, which causes them to explode.Pinnacle grouse have one wing and fly in circles, around hills.Goofus birds fly backwards and nest upside down.Teakettlers walk backwards and are known for their cry which sounds like a boiling kettle.Luferland has three joints in legs and can walk in any direction.It has a deadly bite but it can only bite once a year so if a Luferland bites someone you are safe.Well I will be back with more.
Posted by J on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 07:30 AM
These are all american and are very dangerous.Snoligosters are aquatic with no fins save a spike on its back.They use three bony plates on theyre tail,spun like a propeller as propulsion.It impales people on the spike and eats them.Slide rock bolters are huge and look like fish with claws on theyre tail.They live on mountains and slide down to eat tourists.Whirling whimpus stand on paths and spin till invisible but produce a droning sound which seems to come from overhead.Anyone not recognizing the sound usually walks within strike distace and are kill instantly.
Posted by J on Fri Oct 20, 2006 at 11:29 AM
Drop bears are real man. Oh yeah.
Posted by Grant in Camberwell, Australia on Thu Nov 02, 2006 at 04:38 AM
Drop Bear Haiku
Rustling leaves - wind? birds?
Fear not the eucalyptus
But what hides within
Posted by Terran in Winter Park, FL on Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 08:37 AM
Attacked by drop bear
Why'd I sleep b'neath Euclptus!
Oh I'm such a fool
Posted by J on Mon Nov 20, 2006 at 12:25 PM
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HOAX HAIKU
Rustling leaves - wind? birds?
Fear not the eucalyptus
But what hides within.
(by Terran)
Fear not the eucalyptus
But what hides within.
(by Terran)