Bunyip

Traditional depiction of a bunyip

## Reference

A **bunyip** is a type of cryptid originating in Australia. Even native Australians find them terrifying.

## Quotes

* "As for the bunyip... the less said, the better." -Pocket Apocalypse Ch. ?
* **Alex Price:** "According to the guide, where we were going we would be contending with drop bears, bunyips, Queensland tigers, and other lovely, predatory things I wasn't used to seeing on a regular basis." -Pocket Apocalypse Ch. ?
* **Shelby Tanner:** "We don't have that many cryptids living in Australia. Not of the sort that would be interested in conservation activities, I mean. Plenty of bunyip and the like, but bunyip aren't big into doing their civic duty." -Pocket Apocalypse Ch. ?
* **Basil:** "Just trying to get along, maybe have a little fun, maybe find a nice billabong that doesn't already belong to a **bunyip** or a croc too big for eating, settle down, have a family..." -Pocket Apocalypse Ch. ?
* **Shelby Tanner:** "That water has things in it [...] Eels. Turtles. Sometimes really big snakes, although not as many as you'd think, on account of the bunyip around here eating them."
**Alex Price:** "You built a playhouse in bunyip territory?"
**Raina Tanner:** "Where else would you suggest we build a playhouse? New Zealand? Everywhere is bunyip territory, except for maybe the middle of Sydney, and that's because even the bunyip don't want to deal with the fucking funnelweb spiders. Those nasty bastards will kill you as soon as look at you." -Pocket Apocalypse Ch. ?

## In Popular Culture

The bunyip is a creature from Australian Aboriginal mythology, said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes. Descriptions of bunyips vary widely, but most ofte resemble either seals or swimming dogs, or long-necked creatures with small heads. The seal-dog variety is most often described as being between 4 and 6 feet long with a shaggy black or brown coat. According to reports, these bunyips have round heads resembling a bulldog, prominent ears, no tail, and whiskers like a seal or otter. The long-necked variety is allegedly between 5 and 15 feet long, and is said to have black or brown fur, large ears, small tusks, a head like a horse or emu, an elongated, maned neck about three feet long and with many folds of skin, and a horse-like tail. The bunyip has been described by natives as amphibious, nocturnal, and inhabiting lakes, rivers, and swamps. Bunyips, according to Aboriginal mythology, can swim swiftly with fins or flippers, have a loud, roaring call, and feed on crayfish, though some legends portray them as bloodthirsty predators of humans, particularly women and children. Bunyip eggs are allegedly laid in platypus nests.

The bunyip appears in Ngarrindjeri dreaming as a water spirit called the Mulyawonk, which would get anyone who took more than their fair share of fish from the waterways, or take children if they got too close to the water.

Sightings have been reported around Lake George and Lake Bathurst, Aboriginal sacred places that have also been known to report sightings of Yowie and Queensland Tigers.

The word "bunyip" means "bogey" in modern Australia and likely meant "spirit" or "devil" in Aboriginal languages. For a time, European colonists used "bunyip" to refer to any mysterious animal.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.dictionary.com/browse/bunyip
2. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunyip
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Coleman, Loren and Jerome Clark (1999). *Cryptozoology A-Z: The Encyclopedia of Loch Ness Monsters, Sasquatch, Chupacabras, and Other Authentic Mysteries of Nature.* New York: Fireside. ISBN 978-068486025