Archived The Wildlife Thread

[ILUVATAR]

living in a city like mine the only "wild" animals you can see are dogs, cats, birds and fish and for those most of them are pets or those that they were thrown out (not the goldfishes ). when i was younger i used to visit my village very often and i remember taking walks in the forest we had near there. i saw wolves in there more than once and you now my love for them. i once saw a badger too . squirrels were the most common visitors of those woods and i think i may have some photos i once took
my "wildlife experience" is equal to zero i think

 

[Gold Knight]

Greece, right, Iluvatar?

 

[Gold Knight]

Okay, we already have a If you could be any animal, what would you be? thread, and a Pet Thread.

So I figure, why not have a thread dedicated wholly to discussing the world's wildlife? Might as well!

I know we have some animal lovers here for sure. Do we have any bird-watchers here? (I'm one.) Or are you a frequent zoo visitor? Do you fish or hunt at all?

Also, what animals are you used to seeing around where you live? What animals are your favorite?

Around here in Tennessee, we see a lot of birds, snakes, raccoons, and deer. There are also brown bears in the mountains, and I've heard a little bit about bear sightings lately near Norris Lake, where I'm about to move.

What about you?

 

[karasu]

we have lots of nasty spiders, frogs, and snakes here in brisbane...

no dingos, no kangaroos, no koalas, no wombats, and no kiwi either around here...

 

[Gold Knight]

Kiwi's endemic to New Zealand, right?

But no kangaroos!?? >.<

 

[Tanuki-dono]

Oooh. Well, I live in an area similar to Firu, really. Lots of birds, snakes, raccoons, and deer indeed. And scorpions! (shudder)

Deer come up into our backyard sometimes (mostly during the autumn season). We've watched them during dinner before - quite nice, really. My favorite animal to watch this time of year would be the squirrels. Or, as Meaghan likes to put it, the <i>ninja squirrels</i>. They're so hyper and light-footed. (And cute!) My second favorite animal to watch is actually a bird - the heron. They're so pretty. The come to the pond out back in the field in the morning when the mist and fog is rolling. It's pretty.

As for other animals...I see a lot of possums and armadillos on the road recently, oddly enough. And my grandfather lives two houses down and he has many cows. (Moo.) But not milking cows. Just cows that eat and poop. He also has a wild horse. That horse is one mean sucker, too. He's so moody, and you can't get close or he'll kick you. For the life of me, I don't know why my Pop never broke him in. But those don't really qualify as wildlife, do they? Hmmm.

A year ago, we had a bunch of wild turkeys crisscrossing our field every now and then (it was pretty bizarre), but I haven't seen a single one this year. The weirdest animal I saw around here was when I was driving down a road in the fog. An emu crossed in front of me and I had to hit the brakes! Turns out there's a man with an emu farm up the mountain. O.o

 

[karasu]

nope..no kangaroos.. they're not wild anymore, they've been civilised..

that's what i thought when i'm coming to australia, that i can see kangaroos roaming the streets..
(and they'd be wearing boxing gloves )
guess it's just a false assumptions about australia
gotta go to the zoos and sanctuaries' to see koala and kangaroo..

and the kiwi comment, LOL, i just added that for fun if anyone noticed it..turns out someone did notice

 

[Gold Knight]

Well, aren't I smart?

>.>

Kangaroos wearing boxing gloves...

@ Erin: I see a lot of possums on the street too... usually cruelly run over =/ (Actually, I'm relatively sure I've seen more different types of animals as roadkill, but I never really stop by and take a closer look...)

Oh, and skunks, too... ugh

But anyway, back on a lighter note, I do like watching squirrels too ^^ They're funny

And why did "just cows that eat and poop" crack me up so? At least they're having a blast, I guess.

 

[_ATMA]

a racoon was locked in my breeze way yesteday morning but the pictures came out erally shity

 

[ILUVATAR]

@Gold Knight soz for the reeeealy late response
yes greece....

 

[Gold Knight]

No prob XD

 

[Brede]

not much in terms of 'wildlife' (not including pets and the usual birds). but the call of the wild is ever present and its only a short distance away. terrapins (soft shell tortoise) in the big drains and every now and then, we see snakes (like pythons) and monitor lizards scurrying across the road. BUT as these are generally seen as 'food', ppl would actually speed up and run them over. Not to be mistaken with the road kills Tanuki and GK mentioned. This is Hunting...in the modern world

 

[Macan]

we have lots of nasty spiders, frogs, and snakes here in brisbane...

My guess the 'frogs' that you mention are actually cane toads, right? I heard it's a menace in Australia, endangering the native wildlife there. Cane toads have a toxin gland at its back that can cause death to animals that ate the toads.

In Kuala Lumpur, the 'wildlife' you can see is stray cats (cats outnumbering dogs here), stray dogs (occasionally), crows (lots of em) talapias, janitor fish and tortoises (you can see tortoises at recreational parks).

At my hometown, there's the usual animals, cats, dogs, squirrel, chicken, swallows, cows, goats, lizards etc.

Sometimes, at the oil palm plantation I occassionally encounter cobras (scary!) and owls. But I think it's normal coz they hunt their natural prey, rats and there's a lot of rats in oil palm plantation.

If I'm lucky, i'll get to see storks, resting on top of a tree or hornbills in front of my house and since my house is in front of a river I'm able to see the storks foraging for food. It's a rare sight coz these birds as far as I know are migratory birds. Sometimes I also encounter jungle fowls which are quite abundant here.

At my grandma's house, I'll be able to see a group of monkeys. sometimes they're too close to the house, we have to scare them away.

Speaking of road kill, I did encounter the most bizzare carcass of my life. A dead young leopard with injuries at its head. I wish I could take it and preserve it coz it's rare and still in good condition but at that time I was afraid that it's spirit would possess me and I just left it there. That was 10 years ago. I also saw with my own eyes an injured cobra getting hit by a pickup truck while its body was in attacking position.

Another encounter was about 14 years ago when me and my friends were walking back from school when we discovered a python in curling position beside the road. At that time I don't know whether it's a road kill or not coz it doesn't have injuries and it's position is like it's relaxing or something and it's eyes seem to be closed. We tried to poke it's head but after there's no reaction we headed back to our homes.

 

[Ichimaru Gin n Tonic]

I live in the city, so I only get to see wildlife at dance clubs on weekends.. just kidding. There's not much wildlife to see in this town, only stray cats or pesky insects like roaches and ants. But back in campus, I once found a cute (NOT!) cobra (that's a snake, for anyone who doesn't know what a cobra is) sunbathing on the parking ground, which was located just in front of the cafeteria. A friend of mine, who owns a pet shop, courageously caught it using his bare hand (good thing nothing happened) and he took it back to the house that I rent with him.

He kept the snake in an aquarium (like other snakes that he kept in the house). One day, the snake somehow went AWOL! I was sleeping in my room, then he woke me up asking me about the snake, and so I ran outta the house -- like a little girl hearing the boogeyman in her closet -- wearing only my shorts. He found the snake, under in the kitchen, just behind the trash bin. The neighbors found out, the house owner wants us to move and so we did. I rent another place, this time without him. I hate snakes (and rats), I kept complaining about him keeping all those reptiles (4 phytons, 2 big lizards and a cobra) in the house but he said it was ok (yeah, right).

He still runs a pet shop now, pretty successful one (but that doesn't change the facts that I hate snakes and rodents). So there, that was the only 6 months I get to life with a bunch of creepy crawly wildlife.

Sorry if it was too long, do you think I should move this to the story thread?

 

[Gold Knight]

No, it's cool. ^^ Though you can repeat it there if you like.

Funny story, btw. "and so I ran outta the house -- like a little girl hearing the boogeyman in her closet -- wearing only my shorts"... XD

Snakes are scary ;p

 

[ILUVATAR]

a few days ago me, my father and some friends of his went alltogether to Mt. Olympus ( this is the highest mountain in Greece. it was once told that there were living the twelve olympus gods - if you ever heard of them, it's, i believe, the oldest "religion" in my country and even today it count's some believers)
anyway we found many wild animals there. what mostly attracted my attention was that me saw WAY TOO MANY Salamanders than i ever expected to see (this is the specie that you will see here http://www.co.hunterdon.nj.us/photos/nature/salamanders.jpg - though the ones that i took photo with my mobile - we hadn't taken any cameras with us - were much more bigger and prettier ) we also found a snake - a small one thank god - and i though i heard a wolfcry and on the way back i was like this :knk cbecause of that
that's all from my... close contact with nature these days

 

[Gold Knight]

Yeah, I know Greek mythology
And wow, Mt. Olympus....

You like wolves, eh?

Btw, funny LoTR sig XD Hadn't seen that one yet.

 

[Tanuki-dono]

Wolves are so frightening. But when they howl they sound really lonely, even though that's nowhere near the purpose of a howl. Anyway, Mt. Olympus? WOW. I used to love mythology, so I find that really interesting. And Salamanders? icky. @.@

 

[Ichimaru Gin n Tonic]

*Agrees with Tanuki-dono. Reptiles are icky.*

@ILUVATAR: U sure that was a wolf and not those mythical gods of Olympus?

 

[Gold Knight]

^ Oooh. Methanks you need to make a sacrifice of some kind to the wolf just in case, Iluvatar! Can't have the fury of the gods rain on you!