Another secret from Oz

[ucci]

Okay good people. Time to let you in on another secret from the Land of Oz. Bet you have never stopped to wonder why a land mass the size of main land USA has less population spread over it than is contained in many large cities round the world?
Well, we have a special secret which makes it so. It is the Bogong Moth. And they help keep our numbers down by coming in at night and culling naughty children, whom they carry off into the night to secret bush hideaways. Such little monsters are never to be seen or heard of again. As well as being an effective population control it helps to keep the rest of the little buggers in line and on their best behaviour!

These moths are quite large, about the size of a 747, and are about in large numbers. To quote Mr Dave Humphries, " They are Force for Good." They are most effective in their role.

Hey now hang on there just a tic. This is all as true as I am standing here! It is all ridgy didge and I am not pulling your leg or trying to have a lend of you. Would I lie to you? Hey, I am an ozzie, a true blue sort of old codger.

So there you have it. Another of Oz's special secrets revealed by your whistleblower!

Okay so the pix is probably a bit crappy but hopefully a few may get a bit of a smile from my silly story. After all, what is life worth if you can't have a bit of a laugh.
Thanks for viewing and for any comments you care to share will be much appreciated.

[chauncey]

Aah...they musta missed some at my house.

[NorthernFocus]

My goodness. And here we've been taught that it's the dingoes that eat your babies

We have our share of bugs in Alaska but they are all little guys. After all they have to live their entire life cycle in just a few weeks of summer. The size of both the bugs and reptiles are somewhat of a shock to us when we travel down under

The cheeky birds we don't mind so much

[Adzman808]

If you'd said it was those flying fox/bat things you have there I might have believed you

[Mike Buckley]

I don't care what the moths do so long as they stay away from those great Aussie vineyards.

[Steaphany]

...It is the Bogong Moth. And they help keep our numbers down by coming in at night and culling naughty children

A Bogong may just carry off children, but few outside of Australia know the real reason - Drop Bears

Looking like the cuddley Koalla, just imagine a 15 kg, That is a small one, I've read they can grow far larger, carnivorous Drop Bear, with razor sharp teeth and claws that can easily plunge deep into a gum tree, plummeting from as high as 30 m, landing on a person. Those who suffer an instant broken neck are lucky, they are no longer conscious as they are devoured by the Drop Bear.

Want proof, just google Drop Bear and click on images to see photos

[wilgk]

Oh we do love teasing the International guests with the 'Drop Bear' stories.
But if you think this moth story is bad - just beware the Huntsman spiders - they are HUGE!!
I have been seen to jump from my chair onto my desk in 1 leap, to get away from one.

[Adzman808]

Oh we do love teasing the International guests with the 'Drop Bear' stories.
But if you think this moth story is bad - just beware the Huntsman spiders - they are HUGE!!
I have been seen to jump from my chair onto my desk in 1 leap, to get away from one.

In between the merriment of drop bears, yowies and huntsmans that are the size of your face, you OZ peeps do actually remember to warn to tourists about real life dangers like red backs and funnel webs, right?

Iirc, there are very few large AND medically significant spiders on the planet (Brazilian wandering spider springs to mind), but some of the little ones are pretty nasty...

I have no great fear of spiders, I'd baulk at going any where near a huntsman though... To big and scary! But unless someone was there to advise me 'don't do that' I'd have no fear to try and catch a funnel web or red back in a glass and take it outside...
Which is my default recation to finding a spider in Europe...

I'm not trying to suggest that OZ is riddled with dangerous spiders, I've never visited, but had a fair few mates from OZ over the years (who've invariably not been able resist teasing about spiders) but when you drill down past the jokes, it always seems to be the brown snakes that people are most wary of...

[marlunn]

A Bogong may just carry off children, but few outside of Australia know the real reason - Drop Bears

Looking like the cuddley Koalla, just imagine a 15 kg, That is a small one, I've read they can grow far larger, carnivorous Drop Bear, with razor sharp teeth and claws that can easily plunge deep into a gum tree, plummeting from as high as 30 m, landing on a person. Those who suffer an instant broken neck are lucky, they are no longer conscious as they are devoured by the Drop Bear.

Want proof, just google Drop Bear and click on images to see photos

as noted and imortalised in Pterrys book 'The Last Continent', the only defence is a pointy hat !

[IzzieK]

Is this alive when you took a shot of it, Ken?