Courtesy of reader Snoggeramus in Australia, we learn of the hazards of walking near – and particularly under – a native tree at this time of year.
FOR the first time in 15 years, a certain pine tree in the Victorian town of Warragul has begun dropping pine cones.
But apart from the fact it rarely happens, these are no ordinary pine cones.
They’re giant, people-killing pine cones.
The Bunya Pine has stood in Smith Street for 120 years, most recently in the grounds of the Courthouse Restaurant.So if you’re tucking in to a medium-rare beef ‘n’ reef this week, enjoy it – because if one of the pine’s watermelon-sized 10kg cones drops on your head, it will be your last.
“These huge pine cones have the capacity to be lethal if they were to fall on someone passing underneath from such a large height,” Mayor of the Baw Baw Shire Council Diane Blackwood said in a media release.
There’s more at the link.
I’d never heard of the Bunya Pine, so I looked for more information. Wikipedia has an article about it, including this picture of a particularly large specimen:
It looks like the cones are a hazard in many places in Australia, as evidenced by this warning sign in Brisbane:
A ten-kilogram (22-pound) pine cone the size of a watermelon or a soccer ball? Yeah, that’d put a dent in your noggin all right!
Peter
Yet another in the endless list of things that are lethal in Oz.
Australia: where even the pine cones will kill you!
Don't forget that coconut trees present a similar risk. Some people have Met their Maker due to falling coconuts, though admittedly the danger is fairly remote.
Don't forget to watch out for Australian drop bears when passing under trees that size. Much more rare than pine cones, but far more ferocious. 😉
Put that on the end of a stick, and you'd have a pretty good morning star.
I wonder what a squirrel would think of one of those?
I imagine the squirrel would spazz out from sheer ecstasy at contemplating an entire winter's worth of food!
8-o
American sugar pine cones can kill too. They only weigh about 10 lb, but can fall from 200 feet!
A pine cone with its own gravity well.