Question of the Day - Tuesday, February 18

cassiopea

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Salutations! Happy Tuesday!








What’s the coolest animal you’ve seen in the wild?







Emphasis on WILD, not counting zoos or jobs ;)


I've seen plenty of coyotes, deer, blue herons and foxes (And one wolf and one moose. Have yet to run into any bears!) which I always really like, but probably one of the coolest ones to me was seeing a Snowy Owl one very early morning on my way to work. I was pretty excited! It not be as exciting as seeing a tiger, whale or giraffe to some folks, but I loved it. I always heard various owls at night and after 30 plus years of my existence finally saw one just chilling on a branch right beside the road.



I am hoping to see a lynx one day (Safely, of course) and wild horses. And any other big cats if I am ever out and about in other parts of the world.



Apparently I did see wild elephants when I was a small child in Asia. But I don't remember, so won't officially count it :lol:








 

Willowy

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I saw a bull elk at Custer State Park. Are they really wild at Custer (the herds are managed there)? Idk. But he was cool.

I have a breeding pair of Great Horned Owls nesting in my shelterbelt. And I know where a couple of Bald Eagle nests are.

And I think I saw a mountain lion once. It was late, I was driving 75 on the interstate, and my brain was trying to see a deer. But it was an odd looking deer if so.
 

Lola3791

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I don't think I can pick just one. I've seen so much wildlife in Maine. A bear, a few moose, and loons.
I was once walking in the woods, through a clearing, and a coyote was watching me. Thankfully, it went back in the woods.
When I was a kid, my parents rented a cabin on a lake and my sister and I saw a fisher.
I was kayaking and a huge snapping turtle went under my kayak.
 

Tik cat's mum

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We were coming back from chobe national park to our hotel the mini bus driver got excited shouting wild dogs and they were there right in the middle of the road. As we slowed down to go past them they ran at the side of us looking in it was awesome. We hadn't seen any in the park.
 

She's a witch

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I've been blessed with lots of them. Traveling to see wildlife is our passion and we spend all of our money on it. I love animals and I refuse to see them in zoos so we have no other choice to see them. Especially since coming to US we've traveled like crazy to benefit from the abundance of animals you have here. We've camped in Brooks Camp in Alaska so we've had close encounters with countless big brown bears, as well as eagles hunting for salmons. In Yellowstone we saw elks rutting, hundreds of bisons, a pack of wolves but from a very far away. In Denali a caribou and mooses crossed my path. At home I see bald eagles from my window at times. Sea otters and seals are a short walk away. And raccoon comes to visit, which probably means a very bad thing to most of you, but I've always been a huge fan of these animals and finally I get to experience them so close :)
Outside of US, we've been in Kenya where we were blessed with everything imaginable, all off the big five and lots of others, adn yet seeing a serval at close distance was most satisfying to me. A herd of ibexes blocked our road in Gran Paradiso, Italy once. I saw a sloth in Costa Rica. Orangutans in Indonesia. Some monkeys attacked me in Cambodia (my fault). Oh, and baboons masturbating, baboons copulating.. hard to forget, unfortunately.
I also saw lots of water animals, although I'm afraid of water and it requires lots of courage for me to get to water, but it's so satisfying and worth the fear. I swam with whale sharks just 2 weeks ago. Some reef sharks years ago. Also, with hammerhead sharks and penguins in Galapagos. I've seen marine iguana feeding itself at the shallow sea bottom on that trip as well and that was just unbelievable. I snorkeled with manta rays. Oh and with turtles - I saw them mating, getting to water at 1 day old, choosing site for egg laying.
I've also seen lots of whales, orcas, humpbacks, grey whales, one blue whale, belugas..
I'm not even mentioning birds, as I'm not really a fan of them, but we've seen so much, and toucan once pooped on me...

Now I really hope to see a wolf again but close.. And mountain lion, but that'd could be dangerous, so maybe from the car :) When we're back in Europe, I plan to go to Africa to see chimpanzees and gorillas, but we need to save money for this, it's so expensive. Ohh and polar bear is on my list, but I'm not sure if it's possible to see them in a sustainable way.. To see a spirit bear would be my dream, but very unlikely..
 

NY cat man

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One fine winter day, maybe 20 years ago, I was out walking in the woods when I sat down on a rock for a break. It had started to snow, and I had gotten a liberal coating, when I saw movement coming towards me. When it passed me, at a fairly close range, I could see it was a bobcat. Now, according to wildlife biologists there weren't any bobcats in WNY back then, but there it was, as big as life. It is the only time I have seen one in the wild.
 

EmersonandEvie

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Hmm! I love this question. I can't name a single occasion that was cooler than others.

The rarest thing I have seen was a pair of whooping cranes at ACE Basin in South Carolina. They are a rare and endangered species, so that was very special. I told my college advisor about seeing them (he is an ornithologist) and he all but started drooling.

We saw an osprey fighting a bald eagle on one of the bridge that connects Georgia to Alabama. B got mad at me because I was driving and watching, but I just had to see it!

Several huge alligators (my favorite animal!).

On our honeymoon, we had a black bear cub wander towards us (out of curiosity).

I saw a bull elk in Kentucky. He crested a ridge and looked very charismatic, watched us for a bit (we were planting trees as part of a mountain restoration project), then wandered off.

I saw one of the most stunning (color- and pattern-wise) copperheads I've ever seen crossing a semi-busy road near my house. I stopped and made sure he got across safely.

I saw several coati, macaws, crocodiles, and Capuchin monkeys in Costa Rica. That was such a neat, special place. I would love to go back.
 

Kat0121

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The coolest peacock ever. I was taking DD to daycare once and driving down a side street in town. I saw the traffic on the other side of the street had come to a stop so I also stopped and then looked. There, strutting across the street, was a gorgeous peacock. Tail feathers on full display. When I say he STRUTTED across the street, he really did. He took his sweet time too and when he passed in front of my car, he gave me a, "yup. you'll wait and like it" look. He knew he was gorgeous and was showing off to everyone and anyone. DD will be 25 next month so this was around 2004 or so. I will never forget him.
 

maggiedemi

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Maggie & Demi were wild feral cats from the woods. There were always feral cats in that woods when I was a kid. I always wanted to feed them, but my dad wouldn't let me.
I saw a coyote in the backyard a few years ago.
We have deer most days.
I saw a fox this week.
 
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