Bunyip - Australian Unknown Animal
Cryptid of Aboriginal Dreamtime Stories Sighted by Settlers
Sep 5, 2008
Australian Aborigines believe Bunyips are dangerous creatures that haunt billabongs, swamps, rivers and creeks. They eat people or animals and holler terrifying roars during the night. The beasts frighten Aborigines who don’t approach any waters where a bunyip might be waiting to pounce on them. There were reports of sightings by settlers who view the Bunyip much differently, perceiving them as herbivorous grazing animals.
Portrayals of Bunyips
Although Aborigines’ descriptions of the Bunyip differ, their drawings of the cryptid have common features that include a horse’s tail, flippers, and walrus-like tusks. Variations include crocodilian scales,
resembling a huge bearded, maned snake, being covered with feathers and looking like a huge furry long-necked half-human beast with an aavian head. There are many reports of settlers sighting two different classifications of Bunyips. Most sighted have long shaggy coats and a canine-like faces, while the others have bushy coats and long-maned necks.
Bunyip Sightings
Dog-faced Bunyipshave been witnessed in Victoria, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania. Reports of Long-necked Bunyips were confined to New South Wales. Most sightings happened in the 19th century.
- 1821: E.S. Hall saw a black-haired Dog-faced Bunyip in the marsh by Lake Bathurst South, New South Wales.
- 1847: A herdsman saw a Long-necked Bunyip grazing in a flooded area. It was about as big as a six month old calf with dark brown fur, thick-maned elongated neck, long pointed head with large ears and tusks and a large tail.
- 1852: A Bulldog-faced Bunyip was seen in Lake Tiberias, Tasmania. It was about 4 to 4½ feet long and had black shaggy fur. Charles Headlam and a friend encountered another Dog-faced Bunyip in Great Lake, Tasmania which was about the size of an adult sheepdog and had two small alate flippers.
- 1872: Three men watched a Dog-faced Bunyip swimming in Midgeon Lagoon, New South Wales. It was half as long as a retriever. The coat of shining black hair spread out on the water’s surface as the cryptid swam.
- 1886: Horsemen fording a river near Canberra saw a white-coated Bunyip, about the size of a dog. A similar Dog-faced one that was shot at in New South Wales dove into a lagoon, making grunting sounds.
- 1890: A Melbourne Zoo expedition failed to capture a Bunyip seen in the Euroa district near Victoria. Sightings as late as 1932 were reported near Tasmanian hydroelectric dams.
What Might Bunyips Be?
Some scientists theorize bunyips were diprotodons, believed to have long been extinct. They were rhino-sized grazing herbivorous marsupials with dog-like faces and shaggy coats, major traits of Bunyips. There are researchers who believe that if diprotodons survived, they evolved into marsupial hippos.
Researchers have two theories postulating Bunyips as misidentified seals. The first one is that they found their way into interior lakes and swamps via rivers. People who haven’t seen seals identify them as Bunyips. The other is that centuries ago seals did find their way to the interior, and became trapped. Eventually they adapted to the freshwater environment and fur replaced blubber.
Another theory is that Bunyip sightings were swaggies, fugitives hiding in billabongs and swamps. When they heard someone approaching, they went underwater. When they thought it was safe, swaggies, usually covered in weeds and muck, rose out of the water, which could have been a frightening sight, especially to those who believed Bunyips existed.
Articles about Other Australian Cryptids
People who found this article interesting might want to read:
- Panther or Feral Cat Shot? is about a man who shot a large feline and the debate about what the animal was.
- Queensland Tiger is believed to be a long extinct feline whose existence has been evidenced by fossils.
- Thylacine: Tasmanian Wolf-Tiger was declared extinct in the early 1900s when what was believed to be the last surviving one of its kind died in a zoo.
Sources:
Cryptozoology A to Z, Loren Coleman and Clark, Jerome, (New York, 1999)
Strange Stories, Amazing Facts, Eds. not listed, (The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc., 1976)
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