Field file · Other · Folklore
Drop Bear
Also known as Thylarctos plummetus (joke name)
Australia’s best-known tall tale: a fanged, koala-like ambush predator that drops on tourists. A joke with a real fossil cousin, Thylacoleo.
The drop bear is an invented animal of Australian humour: a large, carnivorous relative of the koala that waits in trees and drops onto its victims. The stories are in-jokes told to scare visitors while amusing locals, much like the jackalope in North America. Standard advice to ‘protect yourself’ includes forks in the hair, Vegemite or toothpaste behind the ears, or an Australian accent, which is meant to tell the bear you are not a tourist.
The origin is unclear. The earliest mentions found are in the Australian Army newspaper Army, which refers on October 12, 1967 to ‘a dreaded Drop Bear’, and on December 9, 1976 to drop bear and hoop snake legends at Kapooka base. A Royal Australian Navy News article followed in 1978 and a classified ad in the Canberra Times in 1982. Some think the story began as a prank on soldiers training in Australia or as a children’s scare; a sketch on The Paul Hogan Show is another candidate.
The Australian Museum has long kept a tongue-in-cheek fact sheet for the creature, naming it Thylarctos plummetus and describing a leopard-sized, orange-furred predator weighing up to 120 kg. The page then turns to real science, with the extinct marsupial lion Thylacoleo carnifex, an Ice Age predator that may have climbed. Studies in 2016 and 2018 suggested marsupial lions could climb and ambush prey.
A famous April Fools’ story in Australian Geographic in 2013 borrowed a real paper on satellite tracking to claim that drop bears prefer tourists. The drop bear is a joke and is presented here as a piece of folklore and a hoax, with no suggestion that such an animal exists.
What does Drop Bear look like?
As joked: an orange-furred, leopard-sized, koala-like predator about 130 cm long, with powerful forearms and no canines.
Where is Drop Bear seen?
Dense eucalypt forest of the Great Dividing Range in the stories; the Australian Museum’s joke page also mentions the Mount Lofty Ranges and Kangaroo Island.
Drop Bear sightings
- October 12, 1967Earliest known print mention Australia
The Australian Army newspaper Army mentioned ‘a dreaded Drop Bear’.
- December 9, 1976Kapooka army base Wagga Wagga, New South Wales
An article in Army mentioned drop bear and hoop snake legends told at Kapooka.
- 1982Canberra Times classified Canberra
A classified advertisement in the Canberra Times mentioned the creature.
- April 1, 2013The Australian Geographic April Fools’ story Australia
A tongue-in-cheek article claimed a ‘survey’ showed drop bears prefer tourists; it was based on a real paper about satellite tracking that was not about drop bears.
Is Drop Bear real? What could explain it
- The drop bear is a deliberate hoax and tall tale, a bit of humour for scaring visitors and testing newcomers.
- It resembles real animals: koalas, which are often seen in trees, and the extinct Thylacoleo carnifex, a leopard-sized marsupial predator that may have climbed.
- Some people have argued that the tale is a cultural memory of marsupial lions, but the story has not been found before the 1960s, so that is not supported.
Legend, culture and tourism
The Australian Museum’s fact sheet, an army and navy tradition of the tale, a Bundaberg Rum advertisement and a Terry Pratchett appearance in The Last Continent have all kept it alive. It is a symbol of Australian dry humour.
Places to visit
Hosts the long-running tongue-in-cheek drop bear fact sheet and real marsupial lion fossils.
Where it’s reported
Sources
First published · Updated
