Mystery Animals of North Queensland (1938)

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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



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,



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



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.

Documents

Mystery Animals of North Queensland (1938)