It's long been the stuff of nonsense folklore said to frighten tourists but it turns out the fabled 'drop bear' might be based in some truth.
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University of NSW researchers say they have found evidence that drop bears once inhabited the treetops of the Middle Miocene Epoch.
Weighing 70kg and known scientifically as the 'Nimbadon', the creatures once resembled modern wombats.
In other news:
Bones found in north-west Queensland during the 1990s suggest the animals could be best described as 'koalas on steroids', according to Professor Mike Archer at UNSW's Pangea Research Centre.
"Their skeletons tell us they had to be up in the trees, virtually hanging upside down by gigantic koala-like claws, powerful forelimbs, rotating forelimbs that enable them to climb," Professor Archer told the ABC.
Occasionally, these creatures would lose their treetop footing, dropping to the forest floor and onto any unsuspecting passersby.
But these drop bears were not the only monstrous discoveries in the skeletal remains of QLD and NSW.
Researchers believe drop bears lived alongside flesh-eating kangaroos, climbing crocodiles and giant-toothed platypus!
The Middle Miocene Epoch was certainly a time to be alive in Australia.