Case file · Cryptid
Drop bear
A tall tale of Australian folklore about a vicious koala-like predator that drops onto passers-by from trees, told mainly to tease tourists.
1967 CE · -35.30, 149.10 · status: hoax
The account
A 1967 article in the Australian Army newspaper mentions the 'dreaded Drop Bear', and it appears in later navy and Canberra press.
The sceptical view
It is a deliberate joke; it does echo the real Pleistocene marsupial predator Thylacoleo.