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7/27/2019 Mystery Animals of North Queensland (1938)
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/mystery-animals-of-north-queensland-1938 1/4
Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 12 May 1938, page 55
National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92495827
BELIEVE-IT-OR-NOT LAND
Rare Animals In
North Queensland
by
E. K. Patterson
7/27/2019 Mystery Animals of North Queensland (1938)
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THE JAWS OF DEATH — Looking into the mouth of a man-eating crocodile of the Cape York Peninsula
(right), and (left) a koala, believed to be a new and previously unknown species, recently discovered in
the Cope York Peninsuio.
MANYstrange stories have
been told about the fauna
of the Ijttle-known Cape
York Peninsula of North
Queensland— stories of peculiar
'monkeys' and of mysterious'marsupial tigers' that live in
its dark jungles, and so on.
The Peninsula is really a land of
'believe-it-or-not,' and the new
comer to the region — even though he
may be familiar with the bush —
always lias the feeling of entering a
foreign land because of the many new
and strange creatures he encounters
peculiar animals that are not to be
seen anywhere else in Australia.
seen anywhere else in Australia.
Perhaps he may come face to face
with a big python, 20 ft. Ion/? and with
the girth of a telegraph pole; or with
a huge man-eating crocodile, a repulsive, scaly brute 25 ft. long and 4 ft.
{
wide across the middle of the back;j
or he may see a kangaroo runningup a tree as fast as a goanna; or a
large grey and white animal, the bare
skin of its hands, nose and tail a vivid
yellow, staring down at him with
wide-open golden eyes that look, in
the twilight of the jungle, like great
moons! This is the rare cuscus — the
famous 'monkey' of the Peninsula.
The Peninsula has always been a
happy hunting ground for museum
collectors from all parts of the world,
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of the world,
and the latest collector to enter the
region is a noted German woman
scientist, Miss G. Neuhauser. who in
tends to spend several months there
collecting rare animals and birds for
the New York Museum.
*While it would be impossible even to
mention the hundreds of animals and
birds found throughout the Penin
sula, there are three outstanding ani
mal specimens, which Miss Neuhauser
hopes to capture, that are of more
than ordinary interest, and with
which very few people outside North
Queensland are familiar.
Perhaps the most interesting of
these is the cuscus (Phalanger macu
latus), whose ancestors arrived insome unknown manner from New
Guinea (the true home of the species)
countless years ago, long before the
discovery of Australia by the white
man; they settled in the jungle coun
try in the centre of the Peninsula, but
nowhere else in Australia.
Once described as a monkey, the
cuscus is neither monkey-like in appearance nor habits. The animal has
a thick and heavy body about 30
inches high, and a long, prehensiletail bare of fur for about the terminal
third of its length. The fur of the
:'emale is of a uniform grey color, but
that of the male is spotted and
blotched with white, the whole. setting
off the vivid orange yellow of the skin
of the bare nose, hands, feet, and tail
tip.
The animal has a small round
head, and tiny ears almost hidden infur. The most striking thing aboutit is its eyes; they are large, round,saucer -.shaped eyes of a bright orange
yellow color— prominent eyes which
are rarely closed, for even when it is
asleep the cuscus keeps its eyes wide
open!The cuscus normally spends the
daylight hours sleeping in the tree
tops, but at dusk it awakens and wan
ders about the Jungle and tree-tops
seeking its food, which consists
chiefly of fruit, berries, and leaves.
A sluggish creature and a poorclimber, despite its prehensile tail and
strong claws, the cuscus is highly
prized for food by the aborigines. Its
fur is beautifully soft, and would be
admirable for women's furs and other
apparel but for the fact that it is
almost impossible to skin the animals.
Th» skin tears like silk, and only this
has saved the otherwise helpless cus
cus from the attentions of fur hun
ters.
It is verydifficult to keep it in cap
tivity, and all specimens that have been
sent to Australian and overseas Zoos
sent to Australian and overseas Zoos
have died. Only one man has so far
succeeded in keeping the animals in
captivity: this is Mr. Balfe, of Cairns
(N.Q.), who has three females and a
male cuscus, all of which were cap
tured when young by aborigines. Fed
chiefly on fruit, mistletoe, and gum
tips, they have thrivedin
captivity,and recently one of the females made
zoological history by giving birth to a
cub — the first cuscus in captivity to
do so. Like all young marsupials,
the baby is born in a very embryonic
form, and is transferred immediately
by the mother to her pouch.
?
The tree-climbing kangaroo of the
Peninsula is an amazing animal,
which superficially resembles a
monkey in some respects when seen
from a distance. It attains a heightof about 2 ft. 6 in., and its slim bodyis covered with a thick reddish-brown
fur. Its head, forelegs, and hind legs
are smaller than those of the ordinary
kangarpo, but a feature of the animalis its thick tail, which ranges up to 4
ft. in length. Strangely enough, the
kangaroo does not use its tail to hangby; it is employed merely as a bal
ancing organ, and is always carried
curled inwards between the legs, ex
cept when the animal is climbing.
The kangaroo lives in the upper
most branches of the tallest trees. It
is an extraordinary climber, and can
ascend a tree as rapidly as any
monkey.It can also
jump
to the
ground from astonishing heights
without injury, leaps of 50 ft. and 60 ft.
being common. Such leaps would
probably kill man or any other ani
mal.
The marsupials stay in the trees
during the day time, but descend at
night to feed on berries, grass tips,
and wild fruits. They can attain a
great speed on the ground, and even
among the natives it is considered a
great achievement to capture one of
these marsupials, which rank among
the fastest animals in the world, both
at climbing trees and running along
the ground.
^%
Only one animal of the Peninsula
has so far evaded capture; this is the
mysterious 'marsupial tiger,' an elu
sive creature which has been rarely
seen.
The animal is said to be a large,
cat-like creature, which grows up to
4 ft. in length; it is of a yellowishor fawn color, and is striped like a
tiger. It is also said to be as fierce
as a young tiger, and aborigines who
claim to have come in contact with
the animal say that when seeking
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the animal say that when seeking
prey the 'tiger' climbs a tree over
hanging an animal track, and springsdown on the first suitable victim that
passes beneath. The natives declare
that it is capable of killing a large
kangaroo, and that it would not hesi
tate to attack even a man.
A nocturnal animal, the 'tiger' is
believed to inhabit the dense jungles
and wild rocky ranges; many well
known North Queensland bushmen
claim to have seenit, but. although
expedition after expedition has
searched for it. no trace of it has
been found.
According to one report, two of the
animals were shot some years ago
while killing calves on a jungle farm
in the Cardwell district. This fact
was vouched for by the local police
magistrate (Mr. Sheridan), who saw
the dead animals, but unfortunately
the carcases were destroyed before
anyone realised that the animals were
rare and valuable.
So far no dead specimen of the
'tiger' has yet reached a museum —
nothing has been received, not even a
piece of the animals skin, upon 'which
to base a description.
*
Another spectacular creature that
has never been removed alive from
the Peninsula is a giant brown snake,
known as the 'taipan,' whichis re
garded as the most deadly reptile in
Australia. It attains a length of
anything up to 12 ft., and, although
science knows very little about the
reptile or its habits, it has, since the
earliest days, been more feared by the
aborigines than any other inhabitant
of the Peninsula jungles— crocodiles
included. The natives say that once
a man is bitten by a 'taipan' he has
absolutely no chance of recovery. The
snake is of a very aggressive
disposition, and when disturbed
invariably attacksinstead of
gliding away as most other
snakes do. Any museum would pay
a considerable sum of money for a
complete specimen of this reptile
preserved or alive, but the snake is so
rare and so difficult to capture that no
living or well-preserved specimen has
yet been obtained.
Another interesting animal dis
covery was recently made in the Cape
York Peninsula, when the first koala
ever found in a wild state in the pen
ever found in a wild state in the pen
insula was captured in the Cooktown
district. Previously no koala had ever
ben found north of Inkerman (North
Queensland), some 250 miles south of
Cooktown; this has always been re
garded as the northern limit of the
'koala country,' and although inves
tigations have not yet been completedit is believed that the recentlycap
turedpeninsula
koala is a new sub
species different from the three other
sub-species of koalas found in the
eastern and southern parts of Aus
tralia.
*A unique musk-rat kangaroo was
also recently captured in the Penin
sula. Very little is known of the
habits of this peculiar animal, which
lives in the dense jungle country. It
is carnivorous as well as vegetarian,
feeding on insects and vegetable
foods.
The animal occupies an intermedi
ate position between the kangarooand possum families. It resembles,
and is about the size of, a large house
rat, and is of a rusty orange-grey
color. It proceeds on all feet like a
rat, and in appearance its feet are
midway between the possum and the
kangaroo. It has two toes very close
together. The pre-molar tooth con
tains a series of grooves, which re
semble those in fossils found in
Europe and believed to have belonged
to the marsupial family. This sug
gests that the musk-rat kangaroo has
a relationship with extinct European
animals.