Summary
At first glance, the koala is one of the cutest animals on earth. But if you take a closer look, you find some surprises. Come find out about the personal lives of koalas, Australian pranks, and John Oliver, all on this episode of Species.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I hate to be the guy who spoils an inside joke, but this content is too good not to share. |
| 0:07.4 | The entirety of Australia is taking part in an ongoing prank against tourists, |
| 0:15.6 | where they convince tourists that koalas have a dangerous, carnivorous relative called a drop bear. |
| 0:25.7 | A large predatory creature with enormous canines that hangs out in trees so they can't |
| 0:32.5 | down, hence the name drop bear, and attack unsuspecting humans. |
| 0:39.8 | Serious organizations, companies that I have used and will continue to use as a resource for this show, |
| 0:47.5 | like Australian Geographic and the Australian Museum, they've put up serious- looking entries on this animal. The Australian |
| 0:56.9 | Museum has a sourced encyclopedia style entry for many of Australia's animals, real |
| 1:05.1 | animals, and they have one for the drop bear, which they list as a 250-pound predatory koala. |
| 1:14.4 | People have even made fake government broadcast warnings about this animal, and scientists |
| 1:21.1 | have written fake research papers about tracking this animal, and the whole goal of this elaborate prank is to trick |
| 1:31.3 | tourists into doing stupid things in their own self-defense. And while I don't have a great source for this, |
| 1:39.9 | I've read online that tourists have been persuaded to put forks in their hair while they're |
| 1:47.1 | walking around as a deterrent against air attacks from drop bears. |
| 1:52.7 | They've been convinced to put vegemite behind their ears and under their armpits as a deterrent, |
| 2:00.5 | a kind of bug spray. |
| 2:02.4 | They've been convinced to urinate on themselves to discourage drop bears, |
| 2:08.2 | and they've been convinced to speak English only in an Australian accent |
| 2:13.5 | so as not to attract any unwanted attention from these animals. |
| 2:18.6 | It is hilarious. |
| 2:21.2 | And because I feel so guilty for spoiling it, I would ask that, please, any of you who hear this in a visit to Australia, just play along. |
| 2:30.0 | If someone tries to trick you, just take one for the team and put a fork in your hair. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Macken Murphy, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Macken Murphy and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.