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see, happens all the time, even in freshwater:

[link=http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12638100-29277,00.html]http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12638100-29277,00.html" style="COLOR: #000000[/link]

Isn't it funny how everyone turns into an expert after watching a few episodes of Steve Irwin?

Well, lets just hope nobody tries to 'expertly' poke things with sticks


I've seen a box jellyfish out where I was swimming, been tumbled around in water that was thick with stingers (the purple ones werent stingy, but there were bluebottles mixed in) and have run into 2 RBBS and a baby brown.

And we had a green tree snake in our backyard (quite large) and a lace monitor hop over the back fence a few years back. Dad and I caught it in a fishing net and whached it in the shower until the snakeman came

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Er, what on earth are dropbears?

Oh, as for the spiders, well, since I happen to be an entomologist, and one of my colleagues at Liverpool Museum is a spider expert, I'm well acquainted with Funnel-Webs and Redbacks. Nice creatures so long as you don't try to pet them.

Even some of the creatures that aren't dangerous to Man in Australia look seriously scary to the uninitiated. Try Huntsman Spiders.

For those not familiar with these creatures (and who aren't afraid to look at them), this link should give you an insight into the wonderful world of Huntsman Spiders. Apparently they cause major traffic accidents in Australia because they have a habit of entering cars while the cars are stored in the garage, only to drop into your lap when you flip down the sun visor.

They're actually quite useful - they feed upon some of the nasties such as the mosquitoes and the blowflies. But then Australia has blowflies the size of hamsters.

Trouble is, most people experience an all too natural shock when one of these suddenly appears inside the car. NOT conducive to steady driving.

Oh, and I knew about the Salties before sprem met egg to create Steve Irwin. My brother's been in Australia for over 30 years, and he's mentioned quite a few of the exotica in his letters. He's had to deal with a few in his time too - he used to drive roadtrains for a living. He has some nice anecdotes about seeing nothing else alive for miles in any direction while crossing the Nullabor Plain. And he was caught up in the dreaded Cyclone Tracy that hit Darwin in 1974. But the scariest moment he had was coming face to face with an itinerant Funnel-Web that decided to go walkabout in the bathroom as he was using the john.



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Huntsmans are awesome! I remember an entire class of year 3 students bolting outside, while I calmly got the paper and ice cream bucket and took the poor thing out onto a tree. I think my teacher almost had a fit too, but I wasn't about to let anyone 'shoe' it.

I also used to collect trapdoor 'doors' at lunchtimes they are creepier, hidey spiders are the pits.

We pitched a tent on top of a female funnelweb once, my bed was right over her... I thought we had stuck outselves on a cricket... I wish! Those things are vicious when protecting their young! actively attacking the humans when they tried to dismantle the tent.


There are of course the famous daddy long legs... apparetly exceedingly deadly, but we tend to encourage them into our houses to kill the other less deadly spiders. Something about ineffective spider dentistry, they can't bite through human skin... unsure how urban legendy that is though...


On the up side, we have nothing bearlike, or pumaish, or in any way big and furry with teeth.


For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

The alligator Farm in St Augustine has on display a 24/25 foot crock that was caught in India I believe.

It lived at the farm for a few yrs before dying of old age.

It's now stuffed and has a house dedicated to it. I've seen it and I can say that the jaws are 6 foot easy.

This guy could kill a man in a blink of an eye. They tried breeding him, but he ate all of his hopeful mates.

Calilasseia

Just for you I located it on GOOGLE

Beware of Dropbears

The sound you have just heard was that of the Australian Dropbear. You won't find it mentioned in any guide to Australian wildlife and it is something you will never hear an Australian talk about. Feared throughout the land, this creature has no natural enemies, including man. Forget about JFK, Roswell and all those other conspiracy theories for nothing could match the conspiracy of silence amongst a nation of 20 million people about the existance of Dropbears.

Often mistaken for Australia's mostly cuddly looking marsupial (the koala), the dropbear is perhaps the most dangerous animal on the planet. This nasty creature relies on it's cuddly looking appearance to attack unsuspecting tourists who attempt to hold it or have their photograph taken with it. Many tourists have been lulled into a false sense of security when the dropbear has pretended to be it's more sleepy and cuddly cousin. If it cannot fool it's victim readily, the dropbear will drop down from the trees to attack with it's large retractable claws and wickedly sharp 12 centimeter fangs.




Have you ever wondered why Australia was one of the last continents to be colonised? It is believed that this is due to the ravages of the dropbears who destroyed the fledgling colonies without a trace. For a long time, there was never any proof that dropbears existed as their attacks were so savage and fast that few people lived to report an attack. With the development of the camera, blurry, out of focus photographs were sometimes managed to be taken by some of the dropbear's victims although it is not uncommon for a dropbear to destroy every belonging during an attack. The photograph to the left is the only known photograph of a dropbear during an attack. The photographer is not believed to have survived the attack as only the bloodied camera and some clothing were found.

Dropbears have a highly developed sense of smell like that of sharks (some of which can smell a drop of blood in water from over a mile away). It has been learned that just the smell of Eucalyptus sends the dropbear into an uncontrollable rage and since just about every native tree in Australia is a Eucalypt, the dropbear is in a permanent state of rage. Never, ever take a bag of Eucalyptus lozenges with you when trekking through the bush, it only attracts the nearest dropbear.

You may notice that many Australians spray a repellant on themselves called Aeroguard. There is no documentary evidence to prove that Aeroguard does in fact repel dropbears however there have been no reported attacks on people who have worn the repellant. A beneficial effect of the dropbear repellant is that it repels insects and this is how it is marketed. During summer you may notice that there are many official government warnings disguised as advertisements where the last thing is said is "Don't forget your Aeroguard."

Think that a dingo really took a baby? Think that one of our prime ministers disappeared while swimming near a beach? Think again, it's only what the Australian authorities want you to believe, the truth being far more terrifying. A rare form of aquatic dropbear is believed responsible for the disappearance of Prime Minister Harold Holt while he was skin diving off a secluded beach. Shark nets have been erected at popular beaches, ostensibly to protect swimmers from sharks but the real reason is to prevent aquatic dropbears from mauling sharks which have become an endangered species since the recent evolution of this creature. It is also to prevent aquatic dropbears from swimming out to boats and somehow managing to make their way to other counstries.

It is no mere coincidence that Australia is one of the most highly urbanised countries in the world with vast unoccupied land populated with Dropbears. And then there is the 'Dingo' fence which is supposed to stop the movement of the dingo (a wild dog found in Australia). Why is the fence over 6 feet high? It's because we know that it is the maximum height a dropbear can jump from a e position. The real reason for the fence is to limit the movement of populations of dropbears. It is hoped that by limiting their gene pool that they will become inbred and die out as poisoning, shooting etc haven't worked in the past. Even destroying one of their food sources (the rabbit) via the Calcivirus has not had a significant impact on their numbers.

The only thing that has managed to protect the rest of the world from the predations of the dropbear has been the relative isolation of Australia. However, in recent years the Australian government has decided to increase tourism to Australia with particular emphasis on our unique wildlife. There is however, one particular form of wildlife that the government does not want to bring attention to and that is the Dropbear. Australians are regularly warned against mentioning the Dropbear in public and in private and it is an especially taboo subject with foreign guests. Special laws have been enacted that prevent people from talking about the Dropbear and there are undercover police whose job it is to find people who are all too willing to talk about Dropbears. It is only a matter of time before this site is shut down by the authorities, however I will attempt to keep this page going for as long as I can.

Don't even bother trying to ask an Australian about the danger of Dropbears. All they will do is look at you strangely or even nod and wink at other Australians and pretend they don't know what you are talking about. Some may exchange knowing looks and you may even find some faces go pale at the mention of that dreaded animal but no one will admit to knowing what you are talking about.


Disclaimer: There is no such animal (as far as I know) as the Dropbear it is a joke told by Australians to fool the foreign visitor. I hope you got some amusement from this page.

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~enigman/dropbear.html

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

LOL great article Keith
I forgot to add that you should put vegemite behind your ears to deter them

I've never really thought about how "dangerous" our country can be, it's all just common place really.
You are taught as a youngster (well you should be anyway) about the dangerous snakes/sharks/sea creatures/spiders and everything else that moves and how to avoid and what to do if bitten so it's really not that big of a deal to most of us

Man, Huntsmans freak me out.
They always randomly appear in my house and take me by surprise. E.g. I'll just be happily walking down the stairs then all of a sudden I see a giant huntsman 5cm from my face on the wall. It's never a good feeling.

Yes, Dropbears are like an big albino Koala bear that grab your face....by....the.
Ok, ok, the dropbear is really a polar bear that drinks alcohol




Last edited by PJ at 23-Mar-2005 00:32

Hoop snakes, drop bears, all at Rosebud over Easter Holidays. We just have most of those nasties in this area. Dont forget about the local Pier rats they are every where over the holidays they seem to migrate down to our beaches and they make a terrible mess.

mariosim

All jokes aside that is one thing we dont joke about they are there all the time and you learn to respect them.
That person was a professional Charter boat opperator and new the area assuming that, he would have also known of the dangers. I have read that area is know for its big sharks.

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Bull sharks are scary. Very adaptable, often found in freshwater and brackish as well as saltwater,(they say they can be found in the Brisbane River, not that you'd go swimming in there anyway) big and aggressive.

But I would have to say that media hype is prolific on the matter of sharks and other deadly creatures. If you consider how many people go swimming in the ocean every day, all over the world, the number of shark attacks is so minimal they are almost insignificant (obviously not to the people who get attacked and their families, but in cold hard statistics the media hype is usually unwarrented and creates unnecessary fear and animosity towards sharks).

I've just been reading a book called 'Shark Trouble' by Peter Benchley, the author of Jaws. It's fascinating and very informative, especially on the way media treats shark attacks. It dispels a lot of myths while still noting that sharks are predators and should be respected when we are in their domain.

...Having said all that, Aussies are brought up to know and respect the dangerous creatures in our country. Peter Benchley mentions this as well, saying that while the rest of the world tends to 'Bambi-ise' the animal world and view them all as cute furry creatures (or food! ), Australians know from the outset what kind of animals we share our country with. Of course I'm not meaning to be offensive by this, I know that many people in other countries (particularly FP people, being more interested in the natural world than some others!) are not ignorant about animals and how dangerous some can be.

Anyway, most Australians will get through their lives without any close encounters with truly dangerous animals. But try to find one Australian living near the ocean who has never been stung by a bluebottle, or found their hands 'this close' to a redback!

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. - Oscar Wilde

Having said all that, Aussies are brought up to know and respect the dangerous creatures in our country.

Yes, a few people have been brought up to know (unfortnately, a lot of the information they received is incorrect) and respect our dangerous animals. But the majority of Australians hate/fear snakes, spiders etc.

How many inbred country retards have you met that kill snakes regularly?
I deal with these morons on a daily basis. They get some kind of power trip when killing a potentially lethal animal.


Anyway, our animals aren't as dangerous as they sound. If you know what to expect and how to deal with them, they're harmless.

Dave,
Just on that, Browns & Blacks are not happily accepted visitors to my house yard, whereas they are quite welcome in our paddocks, even though we have had 2 cows killed by browns & 1 dog by a RBB.

In the house yard they are taboo and thankfully we have only had 4 browns in the last 13 years in or near the house (esp when the kids were little).

Having said that, they do have their place in nature and are a large part of rodent reduction that we never see happening

Heidi - in most cases, the snakes will hear you long before you see them but during mating season and the birthing season it is wise to be aware of them. I have been chased by both a red bellied black (very large one) and a smaller brown, but this was both during springtime and with the black, I really should have seen it first as it was in the open sunning itself (albeit on a granite rock surrounded by gum tree sticks & branches), but he brown came out of some long grass like there was no tomorrow & he wasn't happy to see me. (Glad I took the sharp right turn and not the left )

Deb



In wildness, nature is not human-hearted!

keith - vegemite behind the ears also works well for repelling dropbears

The story on hoop snakes for anyone that's never heard of them is that they bite their "tail" and become hoops and then roll around chasing you, that makes them much faster

We've had dogs taken by sharks (just 2 that I know of in the last 20 years)in our river which leads out to sea around 20kms away, particularly when it hasn't rained for sometime and the water becomes more salty... the smaller fish come upstream and the sharks follow. The snakes are more of a worry though, more so to your pets and many dogs, cats and birds are lost each year to snakes
Living in the country I've had many encounters with dangerous snakes but as yet I've never been threatened simply because they can't catch me

I reckon I could post a new news story about sharks every day:

[link=http://www.couriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,12641678%255E3102,00.html]http://www.couriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,12641678%255E3102,00.html" style="COLOR: #000000[/link]

And it's not just the sharks you have to watch either.

Among the bony fishes, one that sometimes turns up on the Great Barrier Reef is Epinephelus lanceolatus, the Queensland Grouper. It's not that unusual to find 7 foot specimens following divers around waiting to be hand fed because they're intelligent and can become surprisingly tame. Trouble is, they are reputed to reach 13 feet, and at that size, are theoretically capable of making a meal of you!

While 13 feet may be an exaggeration by astonished divers coming face to face with one for the first time, this website explains that they have been implicated in the past with respect to fatal attacks on humans.

A good selection of photographs can be found here.

Then, of course, there are Stonefishes. Dangerous not because of size or aggression, but because their venom is lethal to Man. Stonefishes are so called because they have adapted to look like pieces of marine rock or coral debris, and are superbly camouflaged in the typical reef setting. They are obligate predators, feeding upon other fishes. Small fishes are fooled into thinking that the Stonefish is a piece of rock, drop their guard, and are then engulfed when within striking range.

The envenomation apparatus is closely related to that of the Lionfishes of the Family Scorpaenidae, to which the Stonefishes are closely related. The thirteen hard dorsal rays are modified into hypodermic-like structures (although smaller and far less conspicuous than in the case of the Lionfishes), and at the base of each is a venom gland. Aboriginal peoples have a traditional dance with which to warn the younger members of family groupings or communities, which involves the dancer stepping upon a clay model of the Stonefish (complete with thirteen little sticks on the back representing the dorsal spines) and then mimicking the death throes of the victim. This page covers Stonefishes from a diver's standpoint in some detail, and also mentions the Aboriginal dance.

But, like all the other creatures, treat them with respect and they are fascinating to observe.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Vegemite behind the ears seems to work with deterring the ever dangerous boy as well





^_^

[hr width='40%']"I'm alright, I'm alright
It only hurts when I breathe"

With all the confusion I forgot to mention the Snakes, Spiders, Mossies, Plants, Flowers, and many more. Most of these dangers can be found in the home gardens of our big cities.

The bigest Kangaroo I have ever seen in the wild, and I have seen hundreds was in a semi rural housing area just minutes from our home.

Those Crock signs I can assure the first one no one takes any notice of it. People swim just in front of it all the time.

Biggest problem there are the wild pigs especially the males. Also the snakes, spiders, mossies all can either kill or make you very sick. Oh I forgot to mention the sharks. They eat the pigs when they are catching the fish in the shallows, fantastic part of Aust.

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

na, its true many beaches have sharks,jellyfish and octopuses residing in them, at the beach i go to (coogee) theres a rock pool near there and i snorkle there with my cousins we some times see blue ring octopus but we always see bluebottles(blue jellyfish) and some purple jellyfish with spots and about 10-20 kilometres theres wedding cake island population over 2000 of grey nurse sharks and i wouldnt be supprirsed if there were any other sharks there aswell.