A drop bear (Thylarctos plummetus) is a carnivorous variant of the koala. It's a bout 50" tall and weighs about 260 lbs. It has powerful forearms, and large premolars that it uses to bite. It attacks it's prey by jumping down from eucalyptus trees. It's also slightly fictitious.
I figured that. Koalas are nasty enough that you wouldn't need a meter and a fourth tall bear to terrorize anyone near the eucalyptus grove. Why people think koalas are somehow going to be cuddly confuses me - but then we have people who make the same mistake about cougars, coyotes, bears, foxes, and especially raccoons here.
On the other hand, I think I used to date a drop bear.
BTW - America and Australia both lay claim to the hoop snake:
The hoop snake is mentioned in a letter from 1784 (published in
Tour in the U.S.A., Vol. I, p. 263-65. London):
“
As other serpents crawl upon their bellies, so can this; but he has another method of moving peculiar to his own species, which he always adopts when he is in eager pursuit of his prey; he throws himself into a circle, running rapidly around, advancing like a hoop, with his tail arising and pointed forward in the circle, by which he is always in the ready position of striking.
It is observed that they only make use of this method in attacking; for when they flee from their enemy they go upon their bellies, like other serpents. From the above circumstance, peculiar to themselves, they have also derived the appellation of hoop snakes.
”
Sightings are still occasionally reported, though the existence of the hoop snake has never been accepted by the scientific community. Naturalist Raymond Ditmars placed $10,000 in trust at a New York bank for the first person to provide evidence of a hoop snake.
We also have a creature in the south known as the joint snake. This snake can break itself, or be cut up, into pieces and put itself back together. If you take away a piece of the snake and put down the knife used to cut up the snake in place of that piece, the snake puts itself together and uses the knife instead of the missing bit. I suspect this was handy for the snake to sneak up on prey.