My oath they're real.
Was camping at Little Yabba Creek a number of years ago. We were sitting, leaning against a tree watching the camp fire when one dropped on us then just casually walked away. I swear he was blushing, ( but that could have been the reflection of the fire ), I think he was embarrassed by his lack of climbing skills.
I used to have our Pommy friends in sheer terror about drop bears. LOL
From the time of picking them up at the air port to getting home I explained all about the bears, white pointers in the bay and croc's in the Yarra LOL
Don't talk to me about these hellish animals. Camping up in the Warrambungles a while ago, I was awoken by a horrible, unearthly stench. Groggie with sleep, I heard something going through our food stuffs which we had hung on a branch. Next thing I know whatever it was charged at me, making a horrendous scream. I managed to hold the beast away from my throat, its fangs gnashing away. My mate awoke to thrashing mass of fur & sleeping bag, grabbed the cricket bat & swung it at the beast, knocking it of me. It screamed as it tore of into the night.
Its a safe bet that there are many funny stories about stressing foriegners over hoop snakes and dropbears.
My time in the Aust Army. We had the Yanks scared. So scared at times they never walked under trees without looking up first.
North Qld, just before dawn, some feral pigs came foraging. All hell broke out. Imagine big Afro Americans screaming like girls.The Aussies just laughed.