Many will know of Australia's cute cuddly Koala, the tourist showpiece. The population has been decimated by our indifferent attitude towards conservation in land use.

More recently and overwhelmingly they have been become victim of the eastern states bushfires. Extremely hot fires can bring about a severe tree kill which may not regenerate sufficiently to keep the survivors fed.

Finally and it is a long time overdue, somebody has written and is funding up, an indie feature which visits the less benign subspecies of their dwindling numbers, commonly known as "drop bears".

I am looking forward to this one.


DROP - Official Drop Bears Movie Teaser - www.Drop.Movie - YouTube

That's the whole thing. The tourists never believe us about this when we warn them.

There was even a TV commercial about it once.

Bundy Rum Ad 2004 Drop Bears - YouTube

Andrew

I remember that one. Lucky for us over here in the West, we don't have the koala but we do have male possums which will go you if you pass under them close enough.

Did you ever get chased by a hoop snake over there? Contrary to popular belief you can outrun them on a pushbike.

The mechanism of their means of pursuit has been misdescribed. They do not stuff their tails in their mouths and pursue by inertia after their initial launch, then have to re-launch to keep going.

They launch then take a grip across about 150mm forward of their tail where the bump is. They have a strong musculature in the tail segment like an American rattler and our smaller death-adder.

They push that free end to ground to keep themselves rolling. They are reputed to even climb slight grades but I think that is just somebody embellishing the truth as I have not seen it happen.

I'm yet to come across any hoopers myself, not that I have spent too much time in the bush. The ones in the zoo never get up to much. Tends to be just the cute furry ones that want to kill you, plus a few others notable for their teeth.

Andrew

Here in Scotland, we have to lookout for the elusive Haggis.

Up north there are two snakes which look alike. They are black. One is a python and fairly harmless. The other is poisonous. The poisonous one sweats on a blue if it has a human encounter. The traditional mob call either snake a "twosisters". S.O.P., on seeing one is to kill it. There is apparently no way to tell them apart unless up close and personal. The reason for such malice is that the poisonous snake will follow your tracks to your camp and kill you in your sleep. One man told me that as a young kid alone on horseback mustering, he had seen a twosisters. He did not stop to kill it but rode on. He told the men at the camp what he had seen. The head stockman was cross with him for not killing it. They rode back towards where the snake had been seen and what they saw made the kid's blood run cold. The snake had followed his horse's tracks and was well on its way to the camp.