Mythical Beasts/Animals/by County

Tom start this thread off. The Australian "Drop Bear"

Drop Bear
Scientific name: Thylarctos plummetus

The Drop Bear legend tells of a large, arboreal, predatory marsupial related to the Koala that 'drops' on its prey.

Identification
Around the size of a leopard or very large dog with coarse orange fur with some darker mottled patterning (as seen in most Koalas). The creature is told as a heavily built animal with powerful forearms for climbing and holding on to prey. It lacks canines, using broad powerful premolars as biting tools instead.

Habitat
Closed canopy forest as well as open woodland on the margins of dense forest. Never encountered near roads or human habitation.

Distribution
Drop Bears can be found in the densely forested regions of the Great Dividing Range in South-eastern Australia. However there are also some reports of them from South-east South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges and Kangaroo Island.

Feeding and diet
Stories of kill sites and examination of scats suggest mainly medium to large species of mammal make a substantial proportion of the animal's diet. Often, prey such as macropods are larger than the Drop Bear itself.

Drop Bears supposedly hunt by ambushing ground dwelling animals from above, waiting up to as much as four hours to make a surprise kill. Once prey is within view, the Drop Bear will drop as much as eight metres to pounce on top of the unsuspecting victim. The initial impact often stuns the prey, allowing it to be bitten on the neck and quickly subdued.

If the prey is small enough Drop Bears will haul it back up the tree to feed without harassment from other predators.

Danger to humans
The urban legend focuses on bush walkers being 'dropped on' by drop bears, resulting in injury including mainly lacerations and occasionally bites. Most attacks are considered accidental and there are no stories of incidents being fatal.

There are some suggested folk remedies that are said to act as a repellent to Drop Bears, these include having forks in the hair or Vegemite or toothpaste spread behind the ears. There is no evidence to suggest that any such repellents work.
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So, which mythical/real/ sort of real oddities are in the legends or real population of your countries, ?.

Go for it. !.

Cheers, Aunty Jacck.

 

the most real oddities I know of are your basic human, beats all animals for odd behavior.

 

Agree 100%

 

We do have many squirrels here.

https://www.massaudubon.org/learn/nature-wildlife/mammals/squirrels

 

https://www.massaudubon.org/var/ezd...ams/143483-1-eng-US/squirrel-c-tina-adams.jpg

 

http://www.nenature.com/Owls.htm

 

Night owl