"Australian Wildlife the Shocking Truth!"
As we all know Australian beasts are carnivorous by nature and vicious by choice and whether it grows, swims, flies, crawls, slithers, hops or glides etc; it will either kill you, kill you then eat you, “violate” you, kill you then eat you or just settle for laying its eggs in your brain!
For years people from all over the world have believed that just about everything in Australia will kill you, and we Australians for our part have done little to dispel this misconception and often mischievously and gleefully encouraged it.
“Australian Wildlife, the Shocking Truth!” aims to humorously foster and encourage this concept by going into great ghoulish, humorous and fully illustrated detail about the dangerous feeding and/or breeding habits of 60 plants and animals that live on our continent.
“Australian Wildlife, the Shocking Truth!” published by Boolarong Press, Queensland and is available on-line and bookstore.
To get your copy go to,
https://www.boolarongpress.com.au/product/australian-wildlife/

Some samples,

The Funnel-web Spider:
The Funnel-web Spider has always been the Jekyll and Hyde of Australian arachnids. It is very large, (though smaller than other Australian species) very ugly, highly venomous and sometimes aggressive. However, it also possess one of the sweetest and most melodic singing voices of the entire insect kingdom and are generally jolly and good natured when they’re not busy killing something.
It’s a real treat hearing them every Spring and Summer morning singing away joyfully from the tops of fences and roofs across suburbia, greeting the sun with their light hearted tunes before scurrying away back to their cosy burrows. You can also often hear them warbling a merry little refrain to itself as it carries off someone’s cat or Schnauzer (its favourite treat) down into its lair.
It’s hard not to love them!
There are 40 different species of Funnel Web Spider such as the Bankstown Blue, Southern Fluffy, Melbourne Green Silky, the Royal Northern Tiger and the Red-banded Jumping Goliath as well as a wide variety of “boutique” hybrids like the Gorgeous Baboon and the very popular Springer Roughie and Hungry Mo to name but a few.
Most breeds can be domesticated after a fashion and the display hosted by the Australian Funnel Web Breeders Society at the Sydney Royal Easter Show is always well attended with the petting zoo being a popular Easter treat for kiddies of all ages. However, due to some unfortunate past experiences, the event is always scheduled so it doesn’t coincide with important dog, cat or reptile shows...
(In this image we have Mrs Mary Pock of Narrabeen on Sydney’s beautiful Northern Beaches receiving the Grand Champion’s prize at the 2019 Australasian nationals with her famous pure bred, Sydney Black, “Harold” named after her late husband.)

The Echidna:
Slow with a clumsy waddling gate and no bigger than a house cat and nowhere near as aggressive or as spectacular as the mighty Platypuses, the Echidna is nonetheless the most feared of all Monotremes due to its highly unpleasant feeding and breeding habits.
The Echidna is a cautious predator that comes armed with an acute sense of smell and a fearsome array of sharp, toxic quills that it is capable of propelling to about 5 metres. The quills themselves are nonlethal but the toxin they carry contains a remarkably strong anaesthetic that can sedate a victim for a day or more. After sedation, the Echidna will then nonchalantly shamble up to its fallen prey and delicately chew a small hole through the victim’s nasal passage or ear canal with its long snout. Once a sufficiently sized hole is dug, the Echidna will then use its lengthy tongue to suck out the victim’s nutrient rich brain.
In the mating season, this feeding habit changes with the Echidna carefully depositing a single small egg while leaving the brain intact. If the host regains consciousness, the mother will simply launch a few more quills to quiet them down again.
After a few days, the larval echidna (known as a Puggle) will hatch and chew its way out of the host where it will then be transferred to the safety of the mother’s pouch and remain for several weeks until it is ready to fend for itself.

The Kookaburra:
The jolly, garrulous, laughing Kookaburra has long been a favourite icon and mainstay of the Australian tourist industry. However, they also have an unfortunate fondness for eyeballs and a sarcastic cackle that strikes fear into all who hear it!
(If you think that long beak of theirs is just for catching lizards and grasshoppers you would be mistaken!)

The Paper Wasp:
The average Australian Paper Wasp has a wingspan of up to 30cm and is capable of carrying off small cats and dogs to feed their young.
Although an aggressive and frightening insect with a vicious sting, they are highly susceptible to any household insecticide or Tennis racket.
(And poor Mr Fluffy Bum was never seen or heard from again.)