Drop bear

Drop bear


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Artist's impression of a drop bear



A drop bear (or dropbear, scientifically Phascolarctos hodgsonii) is a mythical Australian marsupial supposedly related to the koala. Stories of drop bears are frequently related to visiting tourists as a joke.
Drop bears are commonly said to be unusually large, carnivorous, vicious koalas who inhabit treetops and attack their prey by dropping onto their heads from above. They are a part of local lore intended to frighten and confuse outsiders, and amuse locals. Another theory is that the drop bear lore, especially when related to children, is to discourage the young from straying needlessly below eucalyptus trees, thus protecting them from the very real danger of getting hit by a falling branch (arbitrary detachment of old branches being very common with the eucalyptus plant).
The modern legend of the drop bear is descended from Australian Aboriginal legends. Stories of the creature may be related to the Phascolarctos stirtoni or the carnivorous Phascolarctos involus, which belong to a group of extinct animals known as Australian megafauna. The prehistoric creatures were approximately twice the size of modern koalas.
Stories of drop bears told to unsuspecting foreign visitors illustrate Australian deadpan humour. It is suggested that doing ridiculous things like having forks in their hair or Vegemite spread behind their ears will deter the beasts.
A recent television commercial for Bundaberg Rum showed three Scandinavian women camping under a tree, when four Australian men stated that they shouldn't camp there as there were "drop bears - a bigger meaner koala bear" and that "they grab your head". Laughing this off they return to setting up camp when "Bundy Bear", the seven-foot high polar bear mascot for Bundaberg Rum, falls from the tree above. The girls then run in fear into the Australian men's camp.[edit]


See also

• Fictional national animals
  
• Bunyip
  
• Yowie
  
• Jackalope