Gunni
Location: Victoria, Australia.
Time: A hoax originated in 2003 using taxidermy. The display was destroyed in 2009 in bush-fires.
Another taxidermy-based fake originates in southern Australia quite recently. A wombat-like brown mammal with antlers, striped back and a blonde-ish underside as well as a fairly long bushy tail. One look at the photograph used to promote it confirms that it is simply a stuffed wombat, doctored and modified to look like a different animal, using deer antlers and dye or paint. Accordingly, the newspaper article reporting on the creature contains fabricated sightings of the creature, going back to the 1970’s including a sighting involving the perpetrator of the hoax.
It is commonplace for hoaxers to try to create new urban myths and folklore using fabricated evidence and tall tales. Some people simply lie through their teeth, pretending to see things, some create taxidermy fakes that look convincing, and sometimes newspapers create or promote such myths to boost sales.
Incidentally, some marsupials may have had cranial outgrowths with a bony base. Maybe, if the Gunni was real, it could be something along these lines. So, the Gunni (Thylacoceras austalis) is a small, wombat-sized Diprotodontid, related to the Zygomaturus. It can be found ambling along through the bush-land feeding on low-growing vegetation, including ferns, eucalyptus saplings and small bushes; it is able to rear up onto its hind-limbs to reach growth above its head. The small, branching bony horns on its brows are used mainly for display purposes, males in rut will posture and kick up leaf-litter, showing the size of their horns, and females preferentially choose males with larger horns. Both males and females dig dens which are markedly shallower than those of a typical wombat, the pouch young develop at a similar rate to those of the common wombat. Defence against predators consists mainly of biting fiercely with their large incisors.
Location: Victoria, Australia.
Time: A hoax originated in 2003 using taxidermy. The display was destroyed in 2009 in bush-fires.
Another taxidermy-based fake originates in southern Australia quite recently. A wombat-like brown mammal with antlers, striped back and a blonde-ish underside as well as a fairly long bushy tail. One look at the photograph used to promote it confirms that it is simply a stuffed wombat, doctored and modified to look like a different animal, using deer antlers and dye or paint. Accordingly, the newspaper article reporting on the creature contains fabricated sightings of the creature, going back to the 1970’s including a sighting involving the perpetrator of the hoax.
It is commonplace for hoaxers to try to create new urban myths and folklore using fabricated evidence and tall tales. Some people simply lie through their teeth, pretending to see things, some create taxidermy fakes that look convincing, and sometimes newspapers create or promote such myths to boost sales.
Incidentally, some marsupials may have had cranial outgrowths with a bony base. Maybe, if the Gunni was real, it could be something along these lines. So, the Gunni (Thylacoceras austalis) is a small, wombat-sized Diprotodontid, related to the Zygomaturus. It can be found ambling along through the bush-land feeding on low-growing vegetation, including ferns, eucalyptus saplings and small bushes; it is able to rear up onto its hind-limbs to reach growth above its head. The small, branching bony horns on its brows are used mainly for display purposes, males in rut will posture and kick up leaf-litter, showing the size of their horns, and females preferentially choose males with larger horns. Both males and females dig dens which are markedly shallower than those of a typical wombat, the pouch young develop at a similar rate to those of the common wombat. Defence against predators consists mainly of biting fiercely with their large incisors.