Talk:Drop bear/Archive 1

This is an archive of past discussions about Drop bear. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

Archive 1

Archive 2

It is not a myth

My name is John, and I grew up in Latrobe Valley, in the Australian Bush, where there ARE dropbears. There has been a coverup by our council for as long as I have been born. They are common knowledge in that particular area of bush. I can really say that I have seen them myself. I have been trying to find some accurate information on the bear on the Internet and I am appauled with the jokes and articles calling it folklore. As soon as I venture out into this small conceded area of bushland I will return with photos so you can all have the chance to see the amazing dropbear. And yes, they can be very deadly. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kintaro (usurped) (talk • contribs) 11:01, 17 March 2006‎

who's copying here?

I stumbled over this one: www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Drop-Bear - and it's a precise copy of the wikipedia text. is that actually permitted?

Yes this GNU

Methinks that the pictures are scary

Update.

Just a brief update to keep the great Australian conspiracy under wraps. Little do they know of our Steve Irwin cloning plants... Anyhow. Yes, the Jan 17 updates are erroneous, maybe even false (have you ever lost a family member to a drop bear - I haven't. But I might!). But they are temporary in order to achieve a specific effect elsewhere. Replacement with the previous "correct" data will by no means earn my ire or even complaint.

Dont ruin it

The Drop Bear legend is much more fun for us Aussies if Americans dont know about it, I mean they are gullible but if they have read about it here they are not going to believe it... :(

Friend of mine is Aussie, she already filled me in. Sorry. ;-) --Cuervo 21:12, 29 Apr 2005 (UTC)

The people who would believe in Dropbears aren't normally the kind of people you would find browsing an internet encyclopedia. ;) ~Bongomanrae

I was told a story about during a military exercise in the US, between American and Australian Forces. Australian soldiers told of the Drop Bears, about the horrors where they'd jump down from the trees and ravage your head with their sharp claws and menacing fangs, and that the repellant was to wear Vegemite on the face and on the neck. They explained this was why Vegemite was created. Apparently it travelled so far up, that Australian commanders would tell the same thing to their US counterparts. So during the next exercise to be held in Australia, American commanders warned their men on the dangers of dropbears, and to regularly wear Vegemite when travelling in the bush. I bet that would have been a fantastic silent laugh. :P --takagawa-kun 16:17, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Theres already plenty of info on drop bears on the internet, they can find out about it at lots of other places -- Astrokey44|talk 03:42, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

IMO

IMO, the background of this bit of folklore is that eucalypt trees shed branches without warning, so it is unwise to camp beneath them. Yes, people have been killed. One tells one's kids about the drop bears for the same reason that germans dark-age Germans told kids terrifying stories about kids who get lost in the forest. --(From User:203.10.231.229, moved here by Ardonik 02:03, Jul 29, 2004 (UTC))

Be that as it may, a widow maker is not a randomly dropped branch in SA, but rather one which has been weakened by fire and drops sometime after.

Eucalypt trees do not have to be weakened by fire to drop branches. They can be randomly dropped during windy weather. Eucalypts are notorious for dropping branches, and this is well documented in local newspapers and known by most Australians. However, I do not believe there is a link between dropping branches and drop bears. (I am Australian, born and raised) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 144.132.2.35 (talk) 05:47, 14 January 2011 (UTC)

from VfD

On 29 July 2004, this article was nominated for deletion. The consensus reached was to keep the article. See Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/Drop Bear for a record of the discussion. Rossami 00:35, 5 Aug 2004 (UTC)

vandalism by 4.43.140.129

The above editor has deleted the article category and external link for no apparent reason, as well as vandalising my user page. --Centauri 03:05, 3 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Well no wonder!! You're giving the game away you deadbeat!! Drop bears are a national treasure, used to protect out forests from the ravishes of roaming American and Japanese tourists.

The ravishes of roaming Americans? Did you mean radishes. --Gene_poole 11:12, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

Hoop Snake

Lesser known, but still quite fearsome, is the Hoop Snake, which bites its own tail and forms its body into a rigid circle. Having established the 'hoop', the snake rolls silently down a hill towards its victim, using the momentum of its descent to uncoil in a sudden vicious strike.

Keeps tourists and bushwalkers checking nervously over their shoulders as they descend an incline. Captainmax 04:57, 14 July 2005 (UTC)

Very amusing... haven't heard that one before.--Centauri 05:53, 14 July 2005 (UTC)

I've heard of hoop snakes before but half a world away. It was in reference to the Ozark Mountains. Andromeda321 23:03, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

the hoop snake derives from truck tyre remnants lying beside the highway -- when a big 18-wheeler has a blowout they often leave behind a hoop of tyre rubber (along with lots of other bits of tyre) that looks like a round black snake [biting its tail]. --Stewartjohnson 13:58, 30 October 2005 (UTC)

we have an article on the Hoop snake. it could use some revision and expansion. anyone? Lisapollison 03:41, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

Cryptozoology

Drop bears are humorous, mythical "creatures". There is a slight possibly that they are loosely based on real extinct creatures. They are no more cryptozoological than the jackalope or the pacific midwestern tree octopus - ie not at all. --Gene_poole 03:39, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

"They are no more cryptozoological than the jackalope" - not so fast. The jackalope os probably best explained by a hyperkeratosis disease, but I'd like to see someone get behind the origins of the myth. At present, I can't tell whether it's a fanciful invention by people of European origin (which is possible; it has all the ingredients of a droll tale), or inspired by Aboriginal mythology (and in which case it the possibility of a Thylacoleo link deserves serious research. Not into the drop bear phenomenon of course, but into the underlying Aboriginal tale(s). Dysmorodrepanis 13:30, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

I take your point. I suspect it's a white Australian invention for which people are now trying to back-engineer other origins - but I can point to no sources to prove that.--Gene_poole 13:59, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Regardless of the humour value involved in telling visitng Americans that vicious, carnivorous Koala Bears will descend from the Eucalypts and tear out their jugulars if they aren't careful, the fact of the matter is that there is no such thing as a "Drop Bear" and this article really should be edited to reflect that- Commander Zulu

Widow-makers?

I've lived in various parts of Australia and have never heard of eucalypts described as widow-makers. Is there a source for this claim? --Gene_poole 05:26, 10 May 2006 (UTC)

It's not an uncommon term amongst the loggers and foresters i've worked with. --Beervatar 06:52, 16 Sept 2006

The SA CFS refer to trees whose branches have been weakened by fire and which then fall )either a branch or the whole tree) some time after the fire, when they appear to be safe, as widow makers.

Ever since i first went camping i've heard of them being called widow makers from many different people. eucalypts are widely known to shed limbs unpredictibly and not limited to association with a previous fire.210.23.130.14 (talk) 23:15, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Pop culture

Does anyone else think it's a little ridiculous to have a list of pop culture references here that's longer than the actual article? I'm assuming most of the games etc described are fairly inconsequential. Anyone care to do some pruning before I leap in with the secateurs? --Gene_poole 04:16, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

What Goes Up Must Come Down

Hence, this is what a drop bear is. The process has a another name. 'Widow Makers.' Again, Indigenous Lore, that non-Indigenous people don't understand and pick up 1/10th the tale of and go on silly about. Its linked to that bunyip + koala affinity and its the third aspect. However, if yah don't know what a bunyip is, yah canna work it out.

Can we have that in English please? --Gene_poole 14:14, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Rabies

The version of the drop bear myth I have always heard/told involves a sort of Rabies that affects the Koalas. That doesn't seem to be reflected in the page at all. 04:16, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Never heard that one before. Care to expand on it? --Gene_poole 04:33, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Picture?

I'm an Aussie, and was wondering could someone please upload a picture of a drop bear here? It doesn't matter whether it's photoshopped or not... but just to make the page more appealing? Megan102 00:27, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

There's now a pic! Thanks to the person who uploaded it!! Megan102 07:24, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm currently trying to get that picture removed. Any illustration still has to meet criteria of coming from a reliable serious source. I don't think many drop bear images appear. Possible media include the Bundy ads (which utilise a polar bear, not a koala) and the cover of Killer Koala by Kenneth Cook (My brother had this book, so I know it has a dangerous looking koala on at least that edition)--ZayZayEM 03:18, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

First of all... I love that book, Killer Koala!! I haven't read it for ages though. IMO, the picture should be added back up there, but with a caption stating that it's an "artist's impression of a drop bear" or something along the lines of that.Megan102 11:44, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

Okay, here's a taxobox then for your viewing pleasure, which was removed form the article... First person to guess where the mouth comes from gets... um... immunity from drop bears! Brisvegas 04:10, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

Drop bear/Archive 1
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Marsupialia
Order:	Diprotodontia
Suborder:	Vombatiformes
Family:	Phascolarctidae
Genus:	Phascolarctos
Species:	P. extremius
Binomial name
Phascolarctos extremius (Australian folklore)

Why does one need a photoshopped picture? Just show the teeth and claws of a real koala :) Mattabat 06:07, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

Missing facts

Drop bears are not real - I'll admit that much even though I'm an Aussie, but it is based on real life much more closely than is covered in this article. The only basis for this myth mentioned in this article is the dropping branches, and the extinct species. Rabid koalas were mentioned above - a version of the myth I'm not actually familiar with (which is saying something), however it does sound like a misinterpretation of one story I've heard. (I might point out that rabies does not occur in Australia, so it is impossible to find a rabid koala.)

The story I've heard actually basically involves a normal koala dropping out of a tree to land on someone and attack them. The theory was that it was mating season, and the koala was very territorial, hence why it attacked a human. The Wikipedia article on koalas actually states they are quite aggressive towards humans when disturbed, so this does not sound like an unlikely scenario. It's also not unheard of for koalas to fall out of trees. If a human is underneath the koala when it falls, then naturally the koala will land on this person and hang on to them, rather than bounce off, hence perpetrating the drop bear myth. However, it is usually the baby koalas that fall out of trees, and they don't tend to attack. The mother might attack, though, if the person the baby lands on tries to hold onto the baby, but I'm guessing that she'll climb out of the tree, rather than jump.

On a side note, it is absolutely hilarious when a koala lands on someone who has just heard the drop bear myth - imagine mass hysteria. lol :D

Also, Americans are not the main focus of this myth. City-slickers (mostly including Aussies), young children and (stupid? gullible?) foreigners in general tend to be the main victims of this myth. Due to America's unfortunate reputation of stupidity, Americans do tend to end up being victimised by this myth a little more than people from other countries, but they are by no means the major focus of this myth - the amount of seemingly gullible city-slickers in Australia is much higher than the amount of seemingly gullible Americans.

If I don't get any objections, i'll add my contributions to this article. If you don't like them you can always edit or remove them. Bill Killed The Unicorns 09:27, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

This is mere speculation. Can you point us to any documented reports of koalas falling out of trees and landing on top of people? I'd suggest the relative scarcity of both koalas and people in Australia make this an almost incomprehensibly rare likelihood. --Gene_poole 09:38, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

I personally know two people who have had koalas land on them. Since it very rarely ends in significant injury to the person involved (if any), it doesn't exactly enter the media, so such references will be hard to come by. Koalas falling out of trees are well documented, so there's no debate there. Also, one method of catching koalas involves making them fall out of a tree, so it's not unlikely that a falling koala was a little off-course and ended up falling on one of the people holding the net. See also: http://www.cqkoala.org.au/trakcatch.htm

Since drop bears are a made up story, it's going to be a bit difficult to get a reference on them. There's plenty of sites people have published where they've written their own version of the myth, but I have trouble seeing these as being any more or less reliable than the written testimony of an Aussie wikipedian. Best of luck with your research. Bill Killed The Unicorns

Can we please stop being dicks about this and put it in? Show some Aussie pride and keep up the legacy and fool the world?:: —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.100.254.54 (talk) 02:30, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

Phascolarctos involus

Does anyone have any information on this species? I can not find any scientific papers on it or even mentioning it in ScholarGoogle.--Mr Fink 02:44, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

Of all the people that would NOT need to invent a potentially lethal animal to scare tourists...

You'd think Australians would be top of the list. I mean aren't the salties, the whities, the box jellyfish, the taipans, the fear snakes, the funnelwebs, the Tasmanian devils, the dingoes, the flesh-eating ants and the sea snakes enough? And don't they have bunyips already anyway? Serendi^podous 14:11, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

haha, you aren't serious about the bunyips??? tazzie devils are going out :( —Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.242.7.247 (talk) 12:17, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Well in that case you'd think then that Americans, what with grizzly bears, bob cats, rattlesnakes, alligators, black widow spiders, tornadoes, California earthquakes, erupting volcanoes, snow storms, freezing overnight temperatures, rabies, California wildfires, would not need a hoop snake myth. But they have one nonetheless - for the same reason probably that this myth exists. (Tasmanian devils don't actually kill people. Dingo is merely a naturalised wild dog from Asia and like domestic dogs, it has been known to occasionally kill a child.) Flesh eating ants? Aren't they endemic to Hollywood, California? Format (talk) 18:17, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

What is this doing here?

Drop bears? Are you serious? Yeah it's funny but this isn't the place. And this article actually seems to be written like it's serious.

Can we leave the drop bears at unencyclopedia and not confuse it with actual folklore. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.209.186.112 (talk) 14:21, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

Seems like actual folk lore to me. --124.170.201.226 (talk) 00:43, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Trivia

As touched on higher up this talkpage, and per general consensus and precedent on WP, the list of pop culture was extremely lengthy. Trivia lists such as this, if tolerated at all, are there to show that something has appeared in culture, not to show every time something has ever been mentioned. 3 refs is more than sufficient. Deiz talk 06:05, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

Snipes are real

Why is it that a snipe is included in the list of jokes? Just about every American beach I've ever been to has had these birds. On top of that, the link leads to a snipe hunt article. Sure, a snipe hunt is, in itself, a wild-goose chase, it is quite literally just that. Geese are also real, so why isn't a goose listed, and likewise linked? JourneyV (talk) 00:47, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

Agreed, removed. Freikorp (talk) 03:44, 4 October 2009 (UTC)

Add getlost.com.au

{{editsemiprotected}} Suggest adding http://dropbears.getlost.com.au/ as a reference.

Not a reliable source. Treats the subject as fact. Josh Parris 06:26, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Drop bears in "The Third Day, The Frost"

I just recently read the book, and it includes a scene where 2 prisoners doing work spook the foreign soldier watching them by describing the drop bears and what they do, creeping the soldier out and making him nervous. Might be worth putting in the article, seeing as both the book and its author, John Marsden, are quite famous. 144.132.244.116 (talk) 11:33, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

That actually used to be mentioned in the article, I'm not sure at what point it got removed. I definitely think it is worthy of inclusion. Freikorp (talk) 07:08, 24 October 2010 (UTC)

Edit request from 61.69.171.237, 7 January 2011

{{edit semi-protected}} Contributor: Ms Leanne Martin relating from late father's talk on the subject. He was a WW2 Australian Soldier. [e-mail]

text for insertion as period reference:

The story was said to have been created to humourously put the wind up the American soldiers who were stationed in Australia during World War 2. They were told that if they left the urban areas to enjoy the bush, or went on exercises in the bush, that the 'nasty drop bears' would fall out of the trees onto them and eat them.

61.69.171.237 (talk) 09:01, 7 January 2011 (UTC)

All you need is a reference, the text or something like that will be added once you have a valid reference backing up that claim. You cannot add something to wikipedia just because it is interesting. Freikorp (talk) 11:56, 7 January 2011 (UTC)

Edit request from UpNComing, 20 January 2011

{{edit semi-protected}}

The current article states 'Drop-bears' are ficticious, this is not true, just rare and only found in remote area, it's a common misconception among the British that there is no such thing, and this is a form of Koala, where drop-bear is the common name for the clawed marcupial closely related to the Koala, but not identical.

Pleas grant me permission to edit this page.

Thankyou

UpNComing (talk) 16:32, 20 January 2011 (UTC) Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. Please provide a reliable source to verify that claim. As for your last sentence, it's actually impossible for software reasons. Once you have been editing for a few days without incident, you will then be able to edit this article directly. Note, though, that will not change the fact that you must provide a reliable source in order to verify claims that these animals exist. I recommend reviewing WP:RS, which explains exactly what Wikipedia considers a reliable source. Qwyrxian (talk) 05:37, 21 January 2011 (UTC)

Edit request from Wattoatberneray, 27 May 2011

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Please change first line to include scientific name and reference to Australian Museum.

A drop bear {Thylarctos plummetus}^[1]

Not done: Cryptids can't have scientific names. We're not going to promote a joke page, even if it was created by a museum. Qwyrxian (talk) 02:41, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

Edit request from 132.234.208.204, 12 September 2011

Please remove 'fictious' from the description of drop bear (dropbear).

132.234.208.204 (talk) 00:30, 12 September 2011 (UTC)

Not done: Drop bears are fictitious. --McGeddon (talk) 07:20, 12 September 2011 (UTC)

Edit request on 6 December 2011

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please change "fictious" in the first sentence of the article to "terrifying" - http://www.dropbearaware.com/ http://australianmuseum.net.au/Drop-Bear

58.111.82.223 (talk) 04:47, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

Terrifying indeed. Chipmunkdavis (talk) 10:22, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

Not done: The whole point of semi-protection of this article is to keep shit like this out! This is an encyclopedia, not a fairytale mill. Roger (talk) 10:28, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

As the article already observes, the Australian Museum entry is an acknowledged hoax. Manning (talk) 10:47, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

Edit request on 10 April 2012

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i am jamie ogivie and i have knowledge of drop bears that id like to share thank you Jamieogilvie (talk) 12:16, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

Then share it here first so that we can either approve or deny your request, that's how this works......Freikorp (talk) 12:42, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

Edit request from 114.77.174.173, 5 June 2012

Remove the fictous and replace it with deadly, my dad died from being attacked by a drop bear, and I think it's really rude that you think that they're not real.

Not done: Upload a copy of the official coroner's report indicating "Death by Drop-bear", and we will consider it. Manning (talk) 02:34, 5 June 2012 (UTC)

Edit request

Please replace the word fictitious with vicious. I saw a drop bear attack my cat. Not a pretty sight.

Not done: See WP:OR. Tarl.Neustaedter (talk) 08:59, 10 February 2013 (UTC)

Please add the Penny Arcade comic http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2013/08/07 to list of Drop Bear in popular culture. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Joesvrcek (talk • contribs) 15:00, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

Published research

It's not going to be done and the discussion is going nowhere. CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 08:05, 6 February 2013 (UTC)
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
Research published in Australian Geographer Volume 43, Issue 4, 2012 confirms the existence of drop bears. Please remove "fictitious" from the article. 86.157.84.232 (talk) 22:16, 4 February 2013 (UTC) Not done: To repeat what has been said many times, the subject of this article is fiction. The article referenced above is parody. Tarl.Neustaedter (talk) 22:22, 4 February 2013 (UTC) You have no evidence for that. Now two sources confirming existence of drop bears mentioned in this Talk which should satisfy WP:Verifiability. It is only your personal opinion that they do not exist, which in face of growing evidence to the contrary, is starting to look like Black Swan Theory. The article needs acknowledge their existence or provide sources confirming their non-existence, in which case the article should cite both (for and against) in order to maintain WP:NPOV 86.157.84.232 (talk) 10:13, 5 February 2013 (UTC) Cute. Here's the paper's author saying "I cannot claim that it was peer reviewed" and a mock-surprise "oh no, we’ve been duped" from the journal's editor who goes onto say that the paper was intended to "encourage people to think outside the box, enjoy geography and wonder at the fate of biogeography". --McGeddon (talk) 10:45, 5 February 2013 (UTC) The Register is hardly reliable source of information. We need to maintain WP:NPOV on this one. 86.157.84.232 (talk) 11:18, 5 February 2013 (UTC) The article you cite, aside from being obviously parody, is not peer-reviewed. That's an objective enough assessment to ignore it. The larger issue is that Wikipedia isn't a game just for the purpose of manipulating rules, as you seem to think. The end objective is an encyclopedia, the rules are merely a way to get there. If you could find a way to manipulate the rules to justify including false information, that would mean that the rules need to be fixed, not that the false information needed to be included. Tarl.Neustaedter (talk) 19:34, 5 February 2013 (UTC)

Edit request from 203.206.25.239, 29 August 2012

I do hope that self appointed moderators of this page are not leaving themselves, and Wikipedia, open for legal action should some poor victim of a Dropbear attack claim that despite repeated edit requests to fully inform the public of the dangers of Dropbears they were uninformed due to some people calling them fictitious? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.206.25.239 (talk) 07:41, 29 August 2012 (UTC)

Not done: Give us a link to a peer-reviewed scientific paper that lists the dangers of drop bears. then we might re-consider. - Nick Thorne ^talk 23:20, 29 August 2012 (UTC)

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00049182.2012.731307 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.212.70.122 (talk) 14:38, 18 March 2013 (UTC)

Edit request on 11 November 2012

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Please add the following reference to "In popular culture":

Dropbears appear in the webcomic Spacetrawler (page 273): death by dropbear is one of the killing methods that the evil Eebs employ on two of the copies of Dusty the Australian. Link: http://spacetrawler.com/2012/11/04/spacetrawler-273/ 92.155.54.81 (talk) 12:12, 11 November 2012 (UTC)

 Not done. Adding that from that source would be WP:OR. Sorry. If you can find a valid source from a newspaper, journal, etc. that has this then we can add it. gwickwire | Leave a message 17:19, 11 November 2012 (UTC)

Newspaper Source" "Drop Bear complacency a danger to us all"

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/blogs/blunt-instrument/drop-bear-complacency-a-danger-to-us-all-20120125-1qh6p.html#ixzz2SaH4as1d

I hope Visitors to Australia have adequate travel insurance. I don't see why Australian Tax Payers should pay for the complacency that results from Wikipeida referring to Drop Bears as "fictitious". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.217.138.207 (talk) 06:06, 7 May 2013 (UTC)

"Page Not Found." It would seem to anti-drop bear conspiracy got to your link. - SummerPhD (talk) 13:30, 7 May 2013 (UTC)

Page is there for me. SF Author John Birmingham, who also has a column in the national newspaper of Australia, exhorts his readers to go to Wikipedia to "fix" the Drop Bears article. I'll send him an email on the subject, but we should be prepared for an unusual number of attempts to modify this article. Tarl.Neustaedter (talk) 18:25, 7 May 2013 (UTC)

Never mind, didn't notice the date of the article. January 2012. This is ancient, no reason to expect a horde of edits. Tarl.Neustaedter (talk) 18:27, 7 May 2013 (UTC)

In Popular Culture

Drop bears also made an appearance in The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.110.178.239 (talk) 20:37, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

Yes I enjoyed that segment of the book. Could add something like: In the novel "The Last Continent" by Terry Pratchett, set on a continent loosely inspired by Australia, one of the main characters has an encounter with drop-bears, and when he mentions it to locals afterwards he is mocked as gullible. Pratchett's drop-bears are described as a close relative of the koala with a thick, heavily padded posterior used to knock their prey unconscious when they drop. After doing so several drop-bears would gather around and eat the victim. He states that they are not particularly effective predators should this initial attack fail to render the victim unconscious. Sonzaisuru (talk) 22:00, 9 August 2013 (UTC)Sonzaisuru

Semi-protected edit request on 19 December 2013

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Australians are outraged that this wikipedia page has been changed. Drop bears are a fun prank that everyone enjoys and was previously so great because it was backed up by wikipedia. There should at least be two pages, one that backs up the prank and one that ruins it like this one!

-From your friends from down under! 31.208.44.188 (talk) 22:21, 19 December 2013 (UTC)

 Not done. It is not permitted to have two articles on one subject, and Wikipedia is not the place to encourage hoaxes. Freikorp (talk) 22:52, 19 December 2013 (UTC)

drop bears originality

We were always told as children never to camp or walk near river red gum trees as they have Drop bears living in them, so we always kept clear of them. I found out later the river red gum tree has the ability to fall or drop a limb at anytime without warning, people ,cars and campsites have been crushed due to falling limbs,some fatal. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chainsaw62 (talk • contribs) 07:15, 7 February 2013 (UTC)

The referenced articles (eg. the Austalian Museum page) has given the scientific classification name "Thylarctos plummetus". I think it can be cited in the first sentence:

A drop bear (or dropbear) (Thylarctos plummetus) is a fictitious Australian marsupial.

In the See also section I've suggest to include Hoop snake too. --Madacs (talk) 16:25, 12 March 2013 (UTC)

It's already there. Last sentence of the first paragraph. CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 21:30, 18 March 2013 (UTC)

The Drop Bear myth originated in the Inverell district of NSW in 1973 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.158.17.106 (talk) 16:52, 26 January 2014 (UTC)

Source? - SummerPhD (talk) 18:52, 26 January 2014 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 19 March 2014

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Would like to add into the see also section the wiki page for the Yara-ma-yha-who - a creature from aboriginal folklore that shares strong characteristics with drop bears http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yara-ma-yha-who Wazzats (talk) 15:04, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

 Done There appears to be more overlap than a Yowie - Arjayay (talk) 16:19, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 28 March 2014

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It is a part of Australian culture to acknowledge dropbears as real - there is no evidence to suggest the existence of God and yet the wikipedia article does not label God as 'fictitious'. Why then should the dropbear be labelled fictitious? The reality of the dropbear is part of our cultural heritage and should not be labelled or dismissed as a story - this is an example of gross cultural insensitivity. 124.188.124.3 (talk) 16:14, 28 March 2014 (UTC)

 Not done per WP:HOAX. --McGeddon (talk) 16:31, 28 March 2014 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 31 March 2014

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The second chapter of the introduction is bullshit - does the author even live in Australia? These are dangerous animals, I have the scars to prove it. They're rare, but they're real and we have enough terrifying creatures to terrorise foreigners with. This article is a joke. 124.188.124.3 (talk) 10:45, 31 March 2014 (UTC)

Not done: please provide reliable sources that support any proposed changes. Cannolis (talk) 12:07, 31 March 2014 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 6 April 2014

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Drop Bears should not be labelled as fictitious. The Alex Boese, the author of the Museum of Hoaxes, is s self published source who is not an expert in the field of Australian ecology. This is clearly not a reliable source (per WP:SPS). If anything, this news article from the The Sydney Morning Herald, specifically denying this claim, is a more credible source. Besides, what type of ecologist would go so far for the sake of humour to publish a scientific report in a scientific journal about tracking a fictitious animal? 174.88.18.66 (talk) 01:03, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

Not done. You're lat to the party. April Fools Day was nearly a week ago. - SummerPhD (talk) 01:26, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

I'm sorry, you didn't specify what was wrong with my request. If you find anything wrong with my request, may you please specify. Also, I deliberately waited a week after April 1st so I would be taken seriously and not be brushed aside, apparently to no avail. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.88.18.66 (talk) 01:39, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

There exist no verifiable or reliable sources documenting the existence of drop bears. To the contrary, it is well documented that they are a hoax. Reading further up this talk page shows that this request comes up quite frequently, with the same result. See also WP:HOAX. Tarl.Neustaedter (talk) 01:59, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

So are you claiming the Museum of Hoaxes, a self published web page by someone with no expertise in the relevant field (again, per,WP:SPS) to be a verifiable source for drop bears, while a reputable newspaper published in 2012 from Australia is not? Also, are you saying that someone actually published a scientific journal tracking a fictitious animal? Besides the Museum of Hoaxes, what are your other sources asserting it as a hoax?

I realized this article has been a target for vandalism before, which is why I tried to take the necessary precaution so I would not be presumed as another vandal, so thank you for taking this request more seriously.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.88.18.66 (talk • contribs) 02:19, April 7, 2014‎

Asked and answered. - SummerPhD (talk) 02:40, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

I'm sorry, what was answered? The issues labelled in my previous post remain unaddressed.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 03:00, 174.88.18.66 (talk • contribs) April 7, 2014‎

Closing request per WP:NOTGETTINGIT. Sam Sailor ^Sing 06:22, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

If you're going to close the request, then so be it, but can you at least try to answer my questions specifically, other than repeating the claim that it is a hoax.

• Is the Museum of Hoaxes a reputable source on Drop Bears?
• Is the article "Indirect Tracking of Drop Bears Using GNSS Technology" based on tracking a fictitious mammal?
• And would it be that much trouble to provide another source that it is a hoax as I already requested?

I've already asked all of these questions, and you've failed to answer any of them. The first two are simple yes no questions, and the other is asking for more sources on a "well documented" claim. If you've already reached the consensus that this is a hoax, then it doesn't seem like I can change that, but you can at least allow discussion instead of ignoring any questions. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.88.18.66 (talk) 07:27, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

Off topic chat

Queensland subspecies There is no doubt that the southern states of Australia have been plagued by drop bears that are recognizably different from koalas. Environmental factors appear to have caused a reduction in human exposure and subsequently a falling off of reports of drop bear attacks. Sightings of southern drop bears also appear to be becoming rarer, in fact, southern drop bears are hardly ever seen except around their mating season (in early April) when they are presumably more active. The North East coast of Australia is home to a smaller but more insidious subspecies. The Queensland drop bears are almost indistinguishable from koalas and are frequently mistaken for them. It has been reported that the only easy way to differentiate a Queensland drop bear from a koala is whether it traumatically decapitates tourists. Sadly, the Queensland museum has had its funding withdrawn from their drop bear breeding program after an unfortunate incident whereby a live specimen was mistakenly sent to Alma Park Zoo (now closed). Numbers of Queensland drop bears have been historically difficult to calculate. Attempts to quantify the relative proportions of koalas to drop bears have been ethically questionable and generally detrimental to the tourist industry and have been subsequently abandoned. The depiction on the Wikipedia page is obviously of a Queensland drop bear taken as it is launching an attack. There are a number of such photographs in circulation, harvested from mobile phones of missing tourists whose fate would have been still unknown if not for such posthumous evidence. 121.222.245.124 (talk) 23:59, 11 August 2014 (UTC) This talk page is for discussing improvements to the article. If you have reliable sources discussing variations of this fictitious animal, feel free to add the material. - SummerPhD (talk) 00:14, 12 August 2014 (UTC)