Drop bear facts for kids
The drop bear is a funny story or a hoax from Australia. It describes a made-up animal that is like a very mean and meat-eating version of a koala. People often tell these stories to scare tourists visiting Australia.
Even though real koalas are usually calm plant-eaters and are not bears, drop bears are said to be huge, fierce marsupials. They supposedly live in trees and jump down onto the heads of people (or other animals) walking below them.
Even though drop bears are just a joke, some people have noticed they are a bit like a real ancient animal called Thylacoleo. This was a very meat-eating marsupial that lived in Australia a long, long time ago.
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What Are Drop Bears?
Drop bears are not real animals. They are part of Australian folklore, which means they are traditional stories. These stories are often told as a joke to make visitors a little nervous and to entertain locals. Imagine a koala, but much bigger, with sharp teeth and claws, and a taste for adventure (and maybe a snack!). That's the idea behind a drop bear.
Where Did the Story Come From?
No one knows exactly when the drop bear story started. Some people think it might have come from a funny TV show called The Paul Hogan Show. In one sketch, koalas jump out of trees and attack a man. Others believe it began as a scary story told to children or as a prank played on soldiers training in Australia.
The story has been around for a while! An Australian Army newspaper called Army mentioned a "dreaded Drop Bear" in 1967. Later, in 1976, another article talked about "legends and stories of drop bears." Even a band formed in Australia in 1981 called themselves Dropbears.
Fun Stories and Tourist Tricks
Stories about drop bears are mostly an in-joke. They are meant to playfully scare and confuse people who are not from Australia, while making locals laugh. This is similar to other funny, made-up creatures like the jackalope in North America.
Tourists are often the main targets of these tales. People telling the stories might even give silly advice to "protect" against drop bear attacks. This advice can include putting forks in your hair or spreading Vegemite or toothpaste behind your ears. It's all part of the fun!
How the Drop Bear Myth Became Famous
The drop bear myth has become quite well-known, even appearing in official-looking places.
The Australian Museum's Fun Entry
The Australian Museum website has a special entry for the drop bear. It's written in a serious way, just like entries for real animals. The museum even gave the drop bear a scientific name: Thylarctos plummetus. The description says it's a "large, tree-dwelling, meat-eating marsupial related to the koala." It's described as being as big as a leopard, with rough orange fur and dark spots. It supposedly has strong front arms for climbing and attacking, and powerful teeth for biting. The museum's entry says they weigh about 120 kilograms (265 pounds) and are 130 centimeters (51 inches) long. This funny entry was created for a "silly season" event. The museum even had a small display with items that "may, or may not, relate to actual drop bears."
Other Ways the Myth Spread
Australian Geographic magazine published a funny article on its website on April 1, 2013 (April Fools' Day). It claimed that scientists had found drop bears were more likely to attack tourists than people with Australian accents. This article was based on a paper from 2012.
The drop bear hoax has also been used in advertisements, like a funny one for Bundaberg Rum. Even in books, the famous author Terry Pratchett included drop bears in his Discworld novel The Last Continent. In his story, these drop bears had extra padding on their backsides to help them land softly!
Real-Life Similarities: The Marsupial Lion
Scientists have noticed some interesting similarities between the made-up drop bear and a real, extinct animal called Thylacoleo. Thylacoleo is also known as the "marsupial lion." It was a very meat-eating marsupial that lived only in Australia a long time ago.
A study in 2016 looked at claw marks in caves. It suggested that marsupial lions could climb not just trees, but also rock faces! In 2018, scientists thought that these animals were ambush predators. This means they would hide and then suddenly jump on their unsuspecting prey. Marks on the bones of an extinct kangaroo, Macropus titan, show that Thylacoleo might have eaten in a similar way to modern cheetahs. They used their sharp teeth to open the ribcage of their prey to get to the internal organs. They might have killed their prey by using their front claws to stab or to grab and suffocate them.
See Also
- Garkain
- Hoop snake
- Jackalope
- Pacific Northwest tree octopus
- Snipe hunt
- Warraguk
- Wild haggis
- Yara-ma-yha-who
- Yowie
