Bunyip - Bunyip A bunyip ("devil" or "spirit") is a mythical creature from Australian Aboriginal mythology. According to this legend, bunyips are said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes. At night their blood-curdling cries can be heard as they devour any animal or human that venture near their abodes. Their favourite prey is human women. They also bring diseases. Descriptions of bunyips vary wildly. Common features in Aboriginal drawings include a horse-like tail, flippers, and walrus-like tusks. Although no documented physical evidence of bunyips has been found, it has been suggested that tales of bunyips could be Aboriginal memories of the diprotodon, which became extinct some 20,000 years ago. External Link The Bunyip: Mythical Beast, Modern-day Monster.
Vombatiformes - koala, and Vombatidae, with three extant species of wombat, survive. Among the extinct families are Diprotodontidae, which includes the diprotodon, believed by many to be the inspiration for the bunyip. Vombatiformes is Latin for "wombat-shaped things", and took its name from its type family. The suborder Vombatiformes, with its closely related members and their compact body form, contrasts with the only other diprotodont suborder, the large and diverse Phalangerida, including kangaroos, wallabies, quokkas, possums, gliding possum-like marsupials and others. The Koala and wombat are believed by many biologists to share a common ancestor and to have diverged only recently in the Cenozoic..
Holocene extinction event - with human predators. This connection has recently been expanded upon and supported in detail by R. D. E. MacPhee, Extinctions in Neartime, 1999, an outgrowth of an American Museum of Natural History conference on extinctions, 1997. The chief opposition to the 'prehistoric overkill' hypothesis has been that population of humans such as the Clovis culture were too small to be ecologically significant. Other generalized evocations of climate change fail under detailed scrutiny. Reference: E. C. Pielou, After the Ice Age: the return of life to glaciated North America, 1991 In South America, which had remained largely unglaciated, except for increased mountain glaciation in the Andes, there was a contemporaneous but smaller wave of extinctions. In Australia: (ca. 26000-15000 BP) the sudden spate of extinctions came earlier than in the Americas, but.
Diprotodon - The largest were hippopotamus-sized: about three meters from nose to tall, standing two meters tall at the shoulder. The closest surviving relatives are the wombats and the Koala. It is fancifully suggested that diprotodons may have been the inspiration for the legends of the bunyip. Theories on diptrodon extinction Diprotodons, along with a wide range of other Australian megafauna, became extinct shortly after humans arrived in Australia about 50,000 years ago. Three theories have been advanced to explain the mass extinction. First, climate change. Australia has undergone a very long process of gradual aridification since it split off from Gondwana about 40 million years ago. From time to time the process reverses for a period, but overall the trend has been strongly toward lower rainfall. The recent ice ages, certainly in.
Aboriginal mythology - tribe(s). List of terms: Alchera Altjira Anjea Bagadjimbiri Baiame Bamapana Banaitja Biame Bobbi-bobbi Brolga Bunbulama Bunjil Bunyip Daramulum Dhakhan Dilga Djanggawul Djunkgao Dreamtime Eingana Erathipa Galeru Gnowee Inapertwa I'wai Julana Julunggul Kalseru Karora Kidili Kondole Kunapipi Kutjara Makara Mamaragan Mangar-kunjer-kunja Mar'rallang Minawara Mokoi Mura-mura Ngariman Nogomain Pundjel Tjilpa Tjinimin Ulanji Ungud Walo Waramurungundi Wati-kutjara Wawalag Wollunqua Wondjina Wuluwaid Wuragag Wuriupranili Wurrunna Yara-ma-yha-who Yhi Yurlungur.
Cryptozoology - that bigfoot sightings have any legitimacy. A common example among cryptozoologists for why their field is important is the coelacanth, a prehistoric fish. Believed to have been extinct for 65 million years, one was caught in a fishing net in 1938 off the coast of Africa. Cryptozoologists point this out to demonstrate that there are many unexplored regions of the world left, and that remote exotic locations or specialized ecosystems untouched by man can contain life we didn't expect to find. Along similar lines, the emblem of the Society for Cryptozoology is the okapi, a shy, forest-dwelling relative of the giraffe that was unknown to Western scientists prior to 1901. Notable topics of interest in cryptozoology: Thylacine Bigfoot and other primates such as Yeti and Alma Loch Ness Monster (and other.
Protected areas of Victoria (Australia) - Creek Stony Creek (Durdiwarrah) Tambo River Tarpaulin Bend Telopea Downs Thirteen Mile Spur Toorour Twenty Acre Creek Yan Yean North Yan Yean South State Parks Angahook-Lorne Arthurs Seat Barmah Black Range Bunyip Cape Nelson Carlisle Cathedral Ranges Dergholm Enfield Holey Plains Kamarooka Kara Kara Kooyoora Langi Ghiran Leaghur Lerderderg Melba Gully Moondarra Mount Arapiles-Tooan Mount Buangor Mount Granya Mount Lawson Mount Napier Mount Samaria Mount Worth Paddys Ranges Warby Range Warrandyte Werribee Gorge Whipstick Wilderness Parks Avon Big Desert Wabba Wilderness Zones (within other Protected areas) Bowen Buchan Headwaters Cape Howe Chinaman Flat Cobberas Galpunga Genoa Indi Minook Mount Cowra Mount Darling - Snowy Bluff North Wyperfeld Razor-Viking Sandpatch Snowy River South Wyperfeld Sunset Tingaringy Wilsons Promontory Victoria also has: 1522 Natural Feature Reserves 328 Nature Conservation Reserves See also: Protected.
List of fictional species - cryptozoology, where there has been a belief that they are real. Note that the creatures listed below are unofficial fictional national animals and that the tales told about them differ a great deal. It is often not possible to deliver a definitive description as the stories vary from time to time and place to place. Australia Bunyip Drop Bear Yowie Canada Champ (Lake Champlain) Ogopogo (British Columbia) China Kirin Germany Wolpertinger Japan Kirin Mexico Chupacabra Scotland The Loch Ness Monster Wild Haggis Tibet The Yeti (Abominable Snowman) United States Champ (Lake Champlain, New York/Vermont) Fur-bearing trout The Hodag (Northern Midwest) Jackalope (Western United States) Jersey Devil (New Jersey) Sasquatch (See Bigfoot) Snipe (for the ever popular Snipe-hunting games for new campers) Thunderbird Related Topics List of historical animals Index of lists.
