© UnknownThylacine, or Thylacinus cynocephalus, reportedly extinct in the 20th Century but still seen today.
For most people, even just the briefest mention of monsters and mysterious creatures inevitably conjures up stark and surreal imagery of such famous beasts as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, Ogopogo, the Abominable Snowman, sea-serpent, and the infamous, vampire-like Chupacabras of the island of Puerto Rico.
Less well known, however, is the rich and wide variety of strange and bizarre beasts that have been regularly reported from the land down-under. So, I figured that for this week's
Lair of the Beasts column, I would enlighten you a bit on some of these particular animal-oddities.