Go Figure

Do you remember the story about the “drop bears”? If you don’t or you need a refresher click here.

So today I was doing some research on Australia. I came across a web page that had a “Q & A” segment. Here was the question:

Question: “Where is the safest place to live in Australia? And when I say safest I mean, no snakes, no spiders, no vicious animals.”

There were a variety of answers but there was a particular answer that struck me. As I read it my mouth was a bit agape and my eyes may have been bulging.

Answer: “The only really fatal spider here in Adelaide is the redback, and no one has been killed by one since the antivenom was developed. Snakes aren't normally a problem in the cities, and as long as you don't go sticking your hands under rocks at the beach you're unlikely to have a problem with a blue-ringed octopus.The animal you're most likely to be killed by is the drop bear. They can be found in all the same places as koalas (every state except Tasmania and Western Australia) and, unlike most of the snakes and spiders, they're extremely aggressive. They drop down from the trees as you walk underneath and rip out your throat with their razor sharp claws. The government tries to cover it up (you can imagine the effect it would have on tourism if it got out) so no one really knows how many hundreds of victims these fearsome creatures claim every year.”

What?!?

So I did a Wikipedia search on drop bears

In an online chat I asked Brad about this, particularly if it was in Australia that he learned about drop bears. Here is his response:

“Nope, drop bears are not a Brisbane thing, they're native to Adelaide. Drop bears started as an internet meme back in '01 or so, and I might have played a role in propagating it.”

Go figure.