1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:06,080 Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh and 2 00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:08,680 Speaker 1: there's Chuck and it's just us. No Dave, no Jerry, 3 00:00:08,720 --> 00:00:13,039 Speaker 1: no nothing. But we are here and being tourists walking 4 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:16,119 Speaker 1: through the Australian bush right now. We need to be 5 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:18,040 Speaker 1: careful of drop bears. 6 00:00:19,079 --> 00:00:22,560 Speaker 2: That's right, because you know, if you're especially a tourist 7 00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:28,400 Speaker 2: or maybe a foreign soldier you're walking around the outback, 8 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:31,920 Speaker 2: look up, because if you walk under a tree, a 9 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:34,559 Speaker 2: drop bear might drop down, knock you on the head 10 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:35,680 Speaker 2: and each each. 11 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 1: Your head, yeah, might bite your skull open with its molars, 12 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:42,640 Speaker 1: might use its bangs to bite your neck, and you're dead. 13 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:45,040 Speaker 1: You're dead when a drop bear drops on you, because 14 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:48,240 Speaker 1: they can get fairly big. I saw about the size 15 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:53,680 Speaker 1: of leopards. Leopards average something like six feet long, seven 16 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:56,480 Speaker 1: feet long, laying between one hundred and two hundred pounds. 17 00:00:57,040 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 1: This is a big animal. The thing that makes it 18 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:02,520 Speaker 1: so crazy is that it looks a lot like a koala, 19 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:05,400 Speaker 1: except with orange, wy, wiry hair. 20 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:08,759 Speaker 2: Yeah, and luckily, you know, we toured Australia and did 21 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:12,319 Speaker 2: some great shows all over that wonderful country and we 22 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:14,840 Speaker 2: both checked in as safe at the end of it. 23 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:17,280 Speaker 3: From drop bears. Thank god it didn't happen. 24 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:20,800 Speaker 1: No, we made it out alive, basically, because if you 25 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:23,360 Speaker 1: get dropped on by a drop bear, who are They're 26 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: very patient, they're very quiet. They'll wait for hours up 27 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:28,759 Speaker 1: in the treetop for someone to pass by, and then 28 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:31,760 Speaker 1: they drop out right on top of you. Like you said, 29 00:01:32,959 --> 00:01:35,560 Speaker 1: you're dead, You're you're toast. So had we met a 30 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:37,800 Speaker 1: drop bear, one or both of us would not be 31 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:38,760 Speaker 1: sitting here today. 32 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:39,760 Speaker 3: That's right. 33 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:43,520 Speaker 2: I'm genuinely wondering how many Australians think that we're being 34 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:44,520 Speaker 2: serious right now. 35 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:46,560 Speaker 1: I hadn't thought about that. 36 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:49,200 Speaker 3: Yeah, they're like, don't these guys now. 37 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:52,200 Speaker 1: Man that you do the best New Zealand accent? 38 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:54,440 Speaker 3: That was it? Okay? 39 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:58,920 Speaker 1: Sure it all sounds like Murray Mary. Yeah. So yeah, 40 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 1: we should probably tell everybody who isn't from Australia that 41 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:05,760 Speaker 1: drop bears are made up. They're a myth. They're a joke, really, 42 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:10,720 Speaker 1: a long standing pranky joke that Australians play on newcomers 43 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:14,959 Speaker 1: and tourists and travelers and visiting military that kind of thing. 44 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:17,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of people think it started in either 45 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:22,320 Speaker 2: Sydney or South Wales the early early settlers there, you know, 46 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 2: playing pranks on people who came, probably because they didn't 47 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:26,680 Speaker 2: want them there, it would be my guess. 48 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:29,120 Speaker 1: Sure, or just to humiliate them out of boredom. 49 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:30,079 Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. 50 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:32,799 Speaker 2: Apparently the Australian Museum over the years has kind of 51 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:36,240 Speaker 2: kept this joke going by fabricating sightings. 52 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:38,440 Speaker 3: It's sort of like a like here in America, like 53 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:39,160 Speaker 3: a jackalope. 54 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, you know, like creating these creatures, not like 55 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:46,480 Speaker 2: a bigfoot. It's not a cryptid, but I guess a 56 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:48,920 Speaker 2: jacolobe probably technically is. But you know, just sort of 57 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:52,840 Speaker 2: a humorous thing to keep going, and the official government 58 00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:54,960 Speaker 2: even gets involved and kind of plays along. 59 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:57,399 Speaker 1: Well. I saw one of the things that as part 60 00:02:57,440 --> 00:03:01,440 Speaker 1: of this legend is that the Australian government does recognize 61 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:06,720 Speaker 1: the existence of drop bears in reality because they don't exist, 62 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:09,440 Speaker 1: but as part of the legend, it's because the Australian 63 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:12,040 Speaker 1: government is covering up their existence because they don't want 64 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:15,920 Speaker 1: to harm the tourist industry in Australia because again they 65 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:19,480 Speaker 1: jump on tourists basically people who don't have Australian accents. 66 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:21,840 Speaker 2: Well, and I'm sure they're also like there's all manner 67 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:24,520 Speaker 2: of things that'll kill you, like the last thing we 68 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:25,440 Speaker 2: need is a made. 69 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:28,320 Speaker 1: Up thing exactly, So we said. The Australian government is 70 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:31,280 Speaker 1: part of it. So a lot of other institutions have 71 00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:36,160 Speaker 1: contributed to kind of keeping this idea alive. I saw 72 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 1: an article in The Conversation about drop bears and surviving 73 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:44,640 Speaker 1: drop bear attacks and it was totally straight from starting 74 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:47,840 Speaker 1: to finish. There wasn't even a little disclaimer in italics 75 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:50,880 Speaker 1: at the end. And they've even been given a scientific 76 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:55,520 Speaker 1: name thy larctos plumatists. That's pretty funny, it is. It's great. 77 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:00,560 Speaker 2: There actually is like evidence that there could have been 78 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:03,120 Speaker 2: some sort of ancient animal in Australia during the last 79 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:06,440 Speaker 2: Ice Age that is similar to a drop bear that 80 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 2: does have a real scientific name, Thyloclio carnifex, or a 81 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:17,840 Speaker 2: marsupial lion. Apparently the skull does resemble a koala or 82 00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:21,040 Speaker 2: maybe a wombat, but instead of grinder teeth, they have. 83 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:27,360 Speaker 3: Shearing teeth and apparently at once belonged to a group of. 84 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:32,920 Speaker 2: Marsupials called the dipper toodonts, and with today's koalas, they're 85 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:36,600 Speaker 2: in that same group of marsupials. So possums, wombats, kangaroos 86 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:39,560 Speaker 2: and koalas. They were all part of this group back 87 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:42,919 Speaker 2: in ancient times. But whatever this more fearsome one was 88 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:46,240 Speaker 2: a It wasn't a drop bear, but it was similar 89 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:48,039 Speaker 2: enough for people to reference it at least. 90 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:51,640 Speaker 1: Yeah, and people were living at this time. This is 91 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:53,680 Speaker 1: during the last ice Age, so there were people in 92 00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:57,560 Speaker 1: Australia at the time. Aborigines were there and they would 93 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:01,680 Speaker 1: have seen and possibly interacted with this marsupial lion. So 94 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:06,080 Speaker 1: it raises the question like, is this actually like an 95 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:08,839 Speaker 1: echo from the past, Like this is this drop bear 96 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:13,400 Speaker 1: prank is actually based on like a human knowledge of 97 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:16,080 Speaker 1: the fact that there was something similar years back into 98 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:18,359 Speaker 1: this got passed down all this time and then morphed 99 00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:22,720 Speaker 1: into the prank. Some people say, no, I think there's 100 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:25,560 Speaker 1: a possibility. It just seems weird to have come up 101 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:30,480 Speaker 1: with that independently. I could also be overthinking it. 102 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:34,320 Speaker 2: Oh maybe, who knows. The first official mentions that people 103 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:37,039 Speaker 2: know about were in the beginning of beginnings of the 104 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:40,600 Speaker 2: nineteen hundreds, and it wasn't in a newspaper like the 105 00:05:40,640 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 2: words drop bear until nineteen eighty two, apparently, when there 106 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:49,200 Speaker 2: was a message in the twenty first Birthday's column of 107 00:05:49,279 --> 00:05:53,800 Speaker 2: the Canberra Times on thirty one July. You know it's 108 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 2: from a different country if they say thirty one July, right, 109 00:05:56,760 --> 00:06:00,240 Speaker 2: we say July thirty first over here and apparently, yeah, 110 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:01,000 Speaker 2: I say canber And. 111 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:05,000 Speaker 1: That's not right either, right, I think it's Canberra, Canberra, Okay, 112 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:08,240 Speaker 1: I think not even Borah bruh like bruh. 113 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:09,640 Speaker 3: What's up? Bro? 114 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:11,360 Speaker 1: Yeah, what's up Canbra? 115 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:12,640 Speaker 3: Okay, I got you. 116 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:17,560 Speaker 2: But in this message, regardless of pronunciations, it was Tam tam, 117 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 2: Beware of drop bears in the future for sure, totally 118 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:24,440 Speaker 2: love Clint. And no one knows who these people were. 119 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:27,320 Speaker 2: We'll never find out who this who these people were. 120 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:30,160 Speaker 2: But the words drop bear first time in print apparently. 121 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:34,000 Speaker 1: Yeah. But the year before a post punk band called 122 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:36,760 Speaker 1: the drop Bears had formed back in nineteen eighty one. 123 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:39,080 Speaker 1: I went and looked up one of their videos for 124 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:43,360 Speaker 1: a song called fun Loving Good. Yeah it's not bad, okay, 125 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:47,039 Speaker 1: jump it out. But yes, so drop like drop bears 126 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:50,599 Speaker 1: somehow just came out of nowhere. That term did. But 127 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:54,919 Speaker 1: there had been this idea of a koala like animal 128 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:59,480 Speaker 1: dropping from trees and attacking people that had been around, 129 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:03,320 Speaker 1: at least in print since the nineteen twenties. It seems 130 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:06,880 Speaker 1: to have been a military prank like that's where it 131 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:10,280 Speaker 1: kind of was kept alive all of the decades, but 132 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:13,720 Speaker 1: it eventually made the leap to pop culture thanks to 133 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:16,760 Speaker 1: a guy known in Australia as Hogues. His name is 134 00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:19,600 Speaker 1: Paul Hogan. Here in the United States, we know him 135 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:20,880 Speaker 1: as Crocodile Dundee. 136 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:23,280 Speaker 3: I say we take a break. 137 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:25,840 Speaker 2: That's quite a cliffhanger when you got Crocodile Dundee hanging 138 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:52,880 Speaker 2: out there. And we'll be right back after this, all right, 139 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:57,120 Speaker 2: we promised talk of Crocodile Dundee. In nineteen eighty one, 140 00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:00,440 Speaker 2: on his show The Paul Hogan Show, he did skit 141 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:03,520 Speaker 2: where he starts talking about the untold horrors of the 142 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:06,800 Speaker 2: Australian bush and although he didn't use the word drop bear, 143 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:10,640 Speaker 2: he talked about killer koalas silently sitting and then dropping 144 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:11,920 Speaker 2: out of trees and killing people. 145 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:14,440 Speaker 1: Yeah, so within a few years this thing crosses over 146 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:17,680 Speaker 1: to the mainstream. Drop bears are attached as the name, 147 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:21,760 Speaker 1: and it just becomes an institution in Australia. 148 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:25,760 Speaker 2: Apparently that's right, and we've gotten real tips because you know, 149 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:28,200 Speaker 2: they like to play along with this stuff, and so 150 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:30,080 Speaker 2: you can actually get real published tips on how to 151 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:31,440 Speaker 2: avoid being killed by these. 152 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:35,440 Speaker 1: Right apparently one so remember they're telling like soldiers in 153 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:39,520 Speaker 1: Australia are telling like some American detachment that's visiting or 154 00:08:39,559 --> 00:08:43,319 Speaker 1: doing training exercises or something to do these things. Yeah, 155 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:47,439 Speaker 1: and apparently they do. Sometimes One is to put dabs 156 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:54,199 Speaker 1: of toothpaste behind your ears, James, I mean toothpaste, of course. Yeah. 157 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:58,120 Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm surprised that's all it was, because why didn't 158 00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:00,480 Speaker 2: they say like human feces or something they want to 159 00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:01,040 Speaker 2: kick it up? 160 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:04,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, but I mean just the fact that you 161 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:08,080 Speaker 1: did something that they can demonstrate you did that. That's 162 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:10,320 Speaker 1: that's enough. When they tell you that this whole thing's 163 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:12,720 Speaker 1: a joke and you're a total moron. 164 00:09:12,679 --> 00:09:13,280 Speaker 3: Yeah, I guess so. 165 00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:15,280 Speaker 2: I guess they got a little closer to human feces 166 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:18,800 Speaker 2: on the next but a little bit. Uh. They said 167 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:23,240 Speaker 2: that you got to smear your cheeks and forehead with vegemite. Boy, 168 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:25,080 Speaker 2: I'm gonna get killed for that one. You are, but 169 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:25,920 Speaker 2: I'm so sorry. 170 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:26,480 Speaker 3: Australia. 171 00:09:26,559 --> 00:09:28,800 Speaker 1: Australia, you should know by now, no one outside of 172 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:31,760 Speaker 1: Australia likes vegemite. That's just your thing, that's. 173 00:09:31,679 --> 00:09:33,640 Speaker 2: Right, And you've all got great senses of humor, so 174 00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:35,520 Speaker 2: I know you'll take that with a plumb. 175 00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:40,040 Speaker 1: That's right. So another one was putting forks in your hair, 176 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:42,880 Speaker 1: which I mean you'd have to have thick, curly hair 177 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:44,240 Speaker 1: to hold a fork in your hair. 178 00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:46,520 Speaker 3: Yeah, fork would fall right out of my hair. 179 00:09:46,679 --> 00:09:51,040 Speaker 1: Same here. Yeah. And then you could wear a neck guard. 180 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:53,160 Speaker 1: That would be the funniest one to me. That's what 181 00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:55,360 Speaker 1: I would try to get people to do. Remember, like 182 00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:58,800 Speaker 1: the old school neck guards that like in that episode 183 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:01,200 Speaker 1: of The Brady Bunch where there's the car accident, the 184 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:05,000 Speaker 1: person that Mike Brady hit was wearing like a neck 185 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:07,200 Speaker 1: protector to keep them from turning their head. 186 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:08,199 Speaker 3: Uh huh. 187 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:10,360 Speaker 1: And then he throws the briefcase and they look really 188 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:13,840 Speaker 1: quickly and Mike Brady Pruss's cave foiled. Yeah. Yeah, if 189 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:15,800 Speaker 1: I could get somebody to wear one of those to 190 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:19,240 Speaker 1: protect against a drop bear attack, I would feel pretty 191 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:21,040 Speaker 1: good about myself. Yeah. 192 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:25,319 Speaker 2: And if all these things fail, I believe so much 193 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:26,720 Speaker 2: of what you say. If you told me I needed 194 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:29,400 Speaker 2: to wear that for any reason, I probably would all right. 195 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:32,200 Speaker 1: Well, keep sharp, man, because I'm going to try it sometime. 196 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:33,920 Speaker 3: You know, if you want a podcast, better put on 197 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:34,440 Speaker 3: a neck break. 198 00:10:36,040 --> 00:10:38,320 Speaker 2: Apparently, if none of those things work, though, and you 199 00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:41,920 Speaker 2: were a visiting military soldier and you are attacked, to 200 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:45,560 Speaker 2: protect yourself, curl into a ball and protect all of 201 00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:48,280 Speaker 2: your major internal organs and major arteries. 202 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:50,520 Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty great stuff, chuck. 203 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:53,880 Speaker 3: Yeah, No, I mean that was kind of sad. 204 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:56,640 Speaker 2: If you look up drop Bear, there's some funny pictures 205 00:10:56,640 --> 00:11:00,560 Speaker 2: of like just photoshopped qualas that looked super scary And mean. 206 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:03,079 Speaker 1: What do you mean what was sad? 207 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:06,600 Speaker 3: No? No, no, no, did I say sad? 208 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:10,720 Speaker 1: Yeah? You said it's kind of sad? Did I either 209 00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:12,480 Speaker 1: that or I've just totally lost my mind? 210 00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:14,440 Speaker 3: Finally, in my mind, I said funny. 211 00:11:14,800 --> 00:11:17,079 Speaker 2: I guess only the listener will know the truth of 212 00:11:17,679 --> 00:11:19,400 Speaker 2: which one of us just had a stroke. 213 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:22,560 Speaker 1: Maybe you guys can write in and tell us in 214 00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:27,719 Speaker 1: the meantime, everybody short, Stuff is out. 215 00:11:28,520 --> 00:11:30,800 Speaker 3: Stuff You Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. 216 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:34,520 Speaker 2: For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 217 00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:35,679 Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts 218 00:11:35,800 --> 00:11:37,640 Speaker 1: Or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.