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

Bretrick

Bretrick

Well-known Member
Location
Perth Western Australia
I have seen Possums, Wombats, Kangaroos, Koalas, Platypus, Emus, Quokkas, Thorny Devils, Scorpions, Dolphins
But the coolest I have seen are Echidnas. Spiny Ant Eaters.
As a teenager in Tasmania I would come across these Monotremes(egg laying) critters. Picking them up was fraught with being pricked by their many spines.
I saw a conga line of them once. Four males following a Female, known as a Trailing.
The female releases Pheromones and the males follow her where ever she may wander, for hours.
Not my Photo
 

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OneEyedDiva said:
I'm a city girl so not in the wild much. Do deer count? My cousin has an expansive property in Virginia on a lake and they come into her backyard. They are so cute. I've also seen them when visiting the mountain which is fairly close to where I live.
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I suppose Deer would be akin to our Kangaroos, in terms of being an abundantly numbered native animal.
 

I have to agree about the echidna. We were camped beside the Blowering Dam one January during a drought. The dam was very low but as the water had receded the grass had flourished in the mud. There were kangaroos galore there - by day they stayed in the pine plantation but mornings and evenings they grazed all around our hut.

One day I spotted an echidna a long way off. You cannot mistake their gait. I was so excited I ran downhill to have a closer look. Of course it felt me coming and rolled into a ball of spikes and tried to bury itself. This is the only time I have ever seen one in the wild. A wonderful moment I have never forgotten.
 
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Warrigal said:
I have to agree about the echidna. We were camped beside the Blowering Dam on January during a drought. The dam was very low but as the water had receded the grass had flourished in the mud. There were kangaroos galore there - by day they stayed in the pine plantation but mornings and evenings they grazed all around our hut.

One day I spotted an echidna a long way off. You cannot mistake their gait. I was so excited I ran downhill to have a closer look. Of course it felt me coming and rolled into a ball of spikes and tried to bury itself. This is the only time I have ever seen one in the wild. A wonderful moment I have never forgotten.
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That is why I go into the bush as often. For the chance to see our not oft seen animals.
 
I'm not quite sure what makes an animal "cool", but I've seen a number that I've found to be fascinating.

For example, the only badger I've ever seen in the wild. We came upon each other in 1969 while roaming through a wooded area in southwest Michigan. I think we were both surprised by the encounter. Handsome brute. Very large. Beautiful color. We stared a one another for a minute or so, exchanged pleasantries, and then parted ways.

I've seen a lot of moose in the wild over the years but they never fail to impress me with their size, self confidence, and awkward gracefulness (if that makes sense).

Maybe the "coolest" would be the anhinga I saw while on a guided swamp tour in Florida. They looked a lot like common cormorants but became "cool" when the guide told us that they were the only fur-bearing bird in existence. Cool! I actually believed that for several years until I learned that it wasn't true. The tour guide was full of sailboat fuel. :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
I'm in the city but I get visits from Raccoons & Opossums 2-3 nights/week. Two of the Raccoons are bold; they'll walk right up to me, stand on their hind legs & put their front paws on me while I get their food. The Opossum will let me stand next to him & watch him eat.
A park I walk in is in the middle of a mountain area & sometimes snakes will sit on the walking path. A few months ago, a snake I recognized as harmless let me pick him up & I took him with me on my walk:

Image result for Pacific gopher snake
 
Two humpback whales off the coast of Salem, Massachusetts. Pronghorn antelopes, buffalo, elk, moose out West. Black bears at a garbage dump in the Adirondacks. Enormous alligators in Florida.

When I lived in Westchester County, just north of NYC, I used to get up very early to run or bicycle. I would often see deer, coyotes, foxes, and wild turkeys. Not that they were so exotic, just that it was fun to see them in an urban environment.

Here in Virginia, it's the birds. Big old ospreys, red-tailed hawks, bald eagles, many others.

It's on my "bucket list" to see a mountain lion in the wild, as well as a polar bear. (Probably not on the same trip).
 
That's amazing, Bretrick the animals you've come across!

Like some others here, I'm in a suburb, so deer, squirrels, rabbits and groundhogs are about it.

However, I do remember once in Florida, we had gone fishing on a bridge, and below, I remember seeing a HUGE turtle floating by. It must have been at least five feet long. At first I thought it was a boat. That was something! Another time, I remember seeing dolphins jumping out of the water, two together. Like we see in SeaWorld.

Also, in Florida, I saw two cops had roped an alligator (or crocodile?) around a resident's tree in their back yard and were fighting with it. I was driving by when I saw it. My mouth was wide open. It was the most bizarre scene.

Also, if this counts, the year we visited Australia (30+ years ago), I remember the beach, a half hour from Sydney, was filled with man-o-wars - as far as the eye could see. They looked similar to jellyfish. As a result, we couldn't walk on the beach for days.
 
JimBob1952 said:
Here in Virginia, it's the birds. Big old ospreys, red-tailed hawks, bald eagles, many others.
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I love eagles so much, they definitely make the "cool" list for me. I follow a few eagle cams, one in SWFlorida and this one in Hanover Pa.

If it's possible for a human woman to fall in love with an eagle I kind of did with this guy. Best father, best husband, best provider I've ever known:
 
Della said:
I love eagles so much, they definitely make the "cool" list for me. I follow a few eagle cams, one in SWFlorida and this one in Hanover Pa.

If it's possible for a human woman to fall in love with an eagle I kind of did with this guy. Best father, best husband, best provider I've ever known:
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They are great. There's one that lives on a nearby golf course and eats the fish that are "stocked" in a big water hazard. In fact he took one from my daughter as she was trying to reel it in.
 
When I lived in Mass, I saw a red fox walking along the road at Miles Standish State Park. That was so cool!

Also in Mass, we saw bears frequently -- sometimes on our porch, sometimes at the picnic table while there were people there, and often in the woods. We vacationed at a cabin (with bear-proof screens on the windows) in a state forest every year. The bears were habituated to people.

Saw many dozens of wild turkeys -- they were in someone's yard and all over the road.

Here in PA (rural): deer, turkey with 8 babies, 3 squirrels every winter, groundhogs, possums, and interesting birds (vultures, pileated woodpeckers, hawks, crows).

Here in the suburbs, we have more deer, more squirrels, and a lot more rabbits than I ever saw in the country.
 
I've seen a number of cool undersea animals. Too cool to pick the coolest. Seals are pretty cool underwater. They follow you around and want to play. It was super cool seeing a seahorse called a Marine Dragon, because seeing one is kind of rare. I'd have to say the coolest land animal I've ever seen was a huge silver and gray wolf. So pretty and formidable-looking.
 
We have many deer and smaller animals where I live including our resident bear.
I would have to say seeing a herd of wild horses in a national park we visited a few years back was spectacular. I love horses and seeing them is something I will always remember.
Also walking alongside bison in the Yellowstone National Park parking lot. I couldn't get over the size of their eyes. So very small for the size of the animal.
 
Have had feral peacocks visit our Texas yard over the years .... three at one time on a Saturday morning ...quite a sight

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