Drop bear

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File:Koala climbing tree.jpg is the main inspiration for the myth of the drop bear.]]

The drop bear (sometimes dropbear) is a hoax in contemporary Australian folklore featuring a predatory, carnivorous version of the koala. This imaginary animal is commonly spoken about in tall tales designed to scare tourists. While koalas are typically docile herbivores (and are not bears), drop bears are described as unusually large and vicious marsupials that inhabit treetops and attack unsuspecting people (or other prey) that walk beneath them by dropping onto their heads from above.{{cite journal |last1=Lang |first1=Anouk |year=2010 |title=Troping the Masculine: Australian Animals, the Nation, and the Popular Imagination |journal=Antipodes |volume=24 |issue=1 |url=https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/antipodes/vol24/iss1/3}}Staff Writers. Herald Sun, 24 October 2014. "[http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/australias-greatest-hoaxes-the-pranks-that-tricked-a-nation/story-fnpp4dl6-1227096265459 Australia’s greatest hoaxes: the pranks that tricked a nation]".Switek, Brian. Slate, "[http://www.slate.com/blogs/wild_things/2013/11/08/syfy_monsters_scary_species_that_should_be_movie_stars.html These Horrifying Creatures Ought to Be Movie Stars]".David Wood, "[http://www.countrynews.com.au/story.asp?TakeNo=200505025048382 Yarns spun around campfire] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050510144619/http://www.countrynews.com.au/story.asp?TakeNo=200505025048382 |date=10 May 2005 }}", in Country News, byline, 2 May 2005, accessed 4 April 2008{{Cite journal |doi=10.1080/00049182.2012.731307 |title=Indirect Tracking of Drop Bears Using GNSS Technology |year=2012 |last1=Janssen |first1=Volker |journal=Australian Geographer |volume=43 |issue=4 |pages=445–452 |s2cid=41382932 |url=http://ecite.utas.edu.au/82194}}{{cite book |last1=Seal |first1=Graham |title=Great Australian Stories: Legends, Yarns and Tall Tales |date=2010 |publisher=ReadHowYouWant.com |isbn=9781458716811 |page=136 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kUEzm_xj3loC&pg=PA136}}

Although the drop bear originated as a hoax, observers have noted its similarities to Thylacoleo, a hypercarnivorous marsupial from the Late Pleistocene.

Origin

The origin of the drop bear myth is unknown. It has been attributed to a sketch in The Paul Hogan Show in which koalas jump out of the trees and attack a man. However, others say it began as a scary story for children, or as a trick played on soldiers visiting Australia for training.{{cite news |last1=Westcott |first1=Ben |title=The true and unadulterated history of the drop bear, Australia's most deadly – and most fake – predator |url=https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/australia-drop-bears-history-intl-hnk/index.html |access-date=18 December 2020 |publisher=CNN |date=18 December 2020}}

A 1967 article in Army, the Australian Army's newspaper, mentions "a dreaded Drop Bear",{{cite news |title=Realism, a bonus and a drop bear |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/266906452/29896175 |access-date=10 July 2023 |work=Army |publisher=Australian Army |date=12 October 1967 |page=1}} and a 1976 article about an army base refers to "the legends and stories of drop bears and hoop snakes that supposedly originated there".{{cite news |last1=MacNamara |first1=Jim |title=Silver ceremonial at Kapooka |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/266990138 |access-date=10 July 2023 |work=Army |publisher=Australian Army |date=9 December 1976}} Other early appearances in print include a Royal Australian Navy News article in 1978{{cite news |title=TOP END SPORT |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/267443583?searchTerm=drop%20bear |access-date=10 July 2023 |work=Royal Australian Navy News |publisher=Royal Australian Navy |date=29 September 1978}} and a classified advertisement in the Canberra Times in 1982. Dropbears, an Australian band, formed in 1981.

Stories and tall tales

Stories about drop bears are generally used as an in-joke intended to frighten and confuse outsiders while amusing locals, similar to North American "fearsome critters" such as the jackalope.Dorson, Richard M. Man and Beast in American Comic Legend. (Bloomington, IN: Indiana Univ. Press, 1982.) Tourists are the main targets of such stories.Miller, John, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6eh4v2A_nqIC&dq=Miller%2C+John%2C+Lingo+Dictionary%3A+drop+bear&pg=PA88 The Lingo Dictionary: Of Favourite Australian Words and Phrases]. p. 88. 2011. {{ISBN|9781459620674}}{{cite book |last1=Seal |first1=Graham |title=Great Australian Stories: Legends, Yarns and Tall Tales |date=2010 |publisher=ReadHowYouWant.com |isbn=9781458716811 |page=135 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kUEzm_xj3loC&pg=PA135}} These tales are often accompanied by advice that the hearer adopt various tactics purported to deter drop bear attacks—including placing forks in the hair, having Vegemite or toothpaste spread behind the ears or in the armpits, urinating on oneself, and only speaking English in an Australian accent.Livingston, C., Goldfinch, F. & Morgan, R. (2017). [https://journals.jcu.edu.au/etropic/article/view/3579/3467 Man-Eating Teddy Bears of the Scrub: Exploring the Australian Drop Bear Urban Legend], eTropic 16.1, James Cook University, Australia. p. 84. Retrieved 24 July 2024.

Popularisation

The website of the Australian Museum contains an entry for the drop bear written in a serious tone similar to entries for other, real, species. The entry classifies the drop bear as Thylarctos plummetus and describes them as "a large, arboreal, predatory marsupial related to the koala", the size of a leopard, having coarse orange fur with dark mottling, with powerful forearms for climbing and attacking prey, and a bite made using broad powerful premolars rather than canines. Specifically it states that they weigh {{convert|120|kg}} and have a length of {{convert|130|cm}}.{{cite web |date=30 August 2019 |title=Drop bear |url=https://australian.museum/learn/animals/mammals/drop-bear/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112124016/https://australianmuseum.net.au/learn/animals/mammals/drop-bear/ |archive-date=12 January 2020 |access-date=2020-02-09 |work=Discover & Learn; Animal fact sheets; Mammals |publisher=Australian Museum}} The tongue-in-cheek entry was created for "silly season".{{cite web |url=https://australian.museum/blog-archive/museullaneous/socialmusings-stories-from-july/ |title=Social Musings: Stories from July |date=17 August 2012 |publisher=Australian Museum}}[https://australian.museum/blog-archive/at-the-museum/in-the-news/ Australian Museum – In the News Dec 2010] describes the entry as being inspired by "the 'silly season.'" The Australian Museum also established a small display in the museum itself, exhibiting artefacts which it stated "may, or may not, relate to actual drop bears."

Australian Geographic ran an article on its website on 1 April 2013 (April Fools' Day) purporting that researchers had found that drop bears were more likely to attack tourists than people with Australian accents.{{cite web |last=Middleton |first=Amy |title=Drop bears target tourists, study says |url=http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2013/04/drop-bears-target-tourists,-study-says/ |work=Official site |publisher=Australian Geographic |access-date=17 November 2016 |date=1 April 2013}} The article was based on a 2012 paper published in Australian Geographer, and despite referencing the Australian Museum entry on drop bears in several places, images included with the Australian Geographic article were sourced from Australian Geographer and did not match the Australian Museum's species description.

The drop bear hoax, using a polar bear, was humorously referenced in an advertisement for Bundaberg Rum.{{cite news |last1=Westcott |first1=Ben |title=The true history of the drop bear, Australia’s most fake, deadly predator |url=https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/australia-drop-bears-history-intl-hnk/index.html |publisher=CNN |date=18 December 2020 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/4dwb2 |archive-date=5 June 2024|url-status=live}}

In the Discworld novel The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett, drop bears inhabit the continent of Fourecks,{{efn|Australian beer Castlemaine XXXX is known colloquially in the United Kingdom as 4X.}} a land portrayed as a parody of Australia. This version of the drop bear tale shows the animals with well-padded backsides to cushion their fall.{{cite web |url=http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Drop_bear |title=L-Space: Drop bear |access-date=22 August 2020 |archive-date=11 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111220730/https://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Drop_bear |url-status=dead }}

Australian Chris Toms and New Zealand musician Johnny Batchelor formed a band named Dropbears in 1981.{{Cite web |title=The true and unadulterated history of the drop bear, Australia's most deadly -- and most fake -- predator {{!}} US & World News {{!}} kctv5.com |url=https://www.kctv5.com/the-true-and-unadulterated-history-of-the-drop-bear-australias-most-deadly---/article_3604462d-ce94-5c70-8b6f-3b2088d8de1a.amp.html |access-date=2020-12-20 |website=kctv5.com}}

Similarities to ''Thylacoleo''

Observers have noted similarities between the drop bear and the specimen Thylacoleo. Like the drop bear, Thylacoleo (also called the "marsupial lion") was a hypercarnivorous marsupial found only in Australia.

A 2016 Nature study of claw marks in caves concluded the marsupial lions could climb rock faces as well as trees.{{Cite journal |last=Arman |first=Samuel D. |last2=Prideaux |first2=Gavin J. |date=2016-02-15 |title=Behaviour of the Pleistocene marsupial lion deduced from claw marks in a southwestern Australian cave |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/srep21372 |journal=Scientific Reports |language=en |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=21372 |doi=10.1038/srep21372 |issn=2045-2322|pmc=4753435 }}{{Cite news |date=2016-02-15 |title=Marsupial lion 'could climb trees' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-35557269 |work=BBC News}} In a 2018 study, paleontologists conjectured them to be ambush predators that would leap on unsuspecting prey.{{cite journal |last1=Evans |first1=A. R. |last2=Wells |first2=R. T. |last3=Camens |first3=A. B. |year=2018 |title=New skeletal material sheds light on the palaeobiology of the Pleistocene marsupial carnivore, Thylacoleo carnifex |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=13 |issue=12 |pages=e0208020 |bibcode=2018PLoSO..1308020W |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0208020 |pmc=6291118 |pmid=30540785 |doi-access=free}} Incisions on bones of the extinct kangaroo Macropus titan suggest Thylacoleo fed in a similar way to modern cheetahs, using their sharp teeth to slice open the ribcage of their prey, thereby accessing the internal organs. They may have killed by using their front claws as either stabbing weapons, or as a way to grab their prey with strangulation or suffocation.{{Cite journal |last1=Horton |first1=D. R. |last2=Wright |first2=R. V. S. |year=1981 |title=Cuts on Lancefield Bones: Carnivorous Thylacoleo, Not Humans, the Cause |journal=Archaeology in Oceania |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=73–80 |doi=10.1002/j.1834-4453.1981.tb00009.x |jstor=40386545}}