Share Your Most Interesting Experience With Animals!

[-Mars-]

I was thinking, I got inspired to make this thread after reading some Australians on here see kangaroos natively, it's very interesting to anyone who hasn't seen one but it's probably nothing new to them
since TBT members come from all around the world and everyone here has difference life experiences I wanted to know my fellow forum members most interesting experience with animals.
Talk about your experiences with any cool animals not everyone gets to see everyday, it's interesting how some animals that are common for others to see are a treat for others to encounter
for example I would consider skunks and deer among these animals as I have never seen one before but these might be common for others to see
talking about experiences with cool animals you've seen at the zoo/aquarium/captivity etc. is allowed since it's still cool getting to see these animals in real life

I don't really get to see a lot of different animals here some of the coolest animals I've seen in the wild are once at dusk I saw a wild opossum and I've also seen racoons before. They once made a temporary home in our tree outside, it was interesting because I didn't expect racoons to be so big they were huge like they looked like they would weigh 25-30 pounds! They didn't seem to be afraid of us either, racoons are primarily nocturnal so they would sleep in the tree during the day and occasionally wake up during the day to feed on the bark of the tree.

Although it was in captivity my favorite experience with animals is I have stroked a live leopard shark before and I got to see it's caretakers feed it
I vividly remember the experience the leopard shark was very docile and friendly, it's skin felt smooth and thick if it was pet from the head to the tail and it felt like sandpaper if I pet it the opposite way
sharks are my second favorite animal in the world I only love frogs more so it was such a magical experience getting to see a shark in real life let alone touch one!

What about you guys?

 

[Midoriya]

When I went hiking once and we set up camp, a bear stopped through our camp at night. It didn't attack us thankfully, but just took a dump and left, lmao. The only reason I knew about it was because our hiking buddy told us the next day.

 

[VernalLapin]

Here’s two stories:

• One night, my mom was driving me home from a concert or something in elementary school, and I saw an unusual canine run in front of a house. I knew something was weird, something was off, but I wasn’t sure what it was. Frantically confused and intrigued, I cried, “look! Look! There’s a dog!” It turned out it was a fox! That was the first time both me and my mom got to see a fox in the wild. My mom had just missed the opportunity to see a wild fox twice, so she was overjoyed! For some reason I remember it being like coyote sized (guess it was because I was small) lol. They’re not neccesarily uncommon here, just hard to spot. My mom, my boyfriend and I also saw one last month! ^w^
• There’s a small zoo my relatives’ house that we visit sometimes. Once when I was younger the employees offered me a map, and I took it but just for funsies (I know the place by heart). They have this little farm section with goats and a pig, and when I leaned close to the fence to pet one of the goats, it grabbed the map and gobbled it up in a split second!

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

I have a lot of memorable experiences with animals so here comes a long post

- When I was in middle school, I was super miserable and absolutely hated going to school. BUT one day they somehow got this person to bring in all these exotic animals for the class to learn about -- and we got to pet them. I got to pet a chinchilla which is the softest thing I have ever touched in my life. I also got to pet an anteater, and they became my favourite animal for a long time! I still love anteaters but I don't know if they're my very favourite still. They had other kinds of animals too but I don't quite remember what they were.

- My middle school science teacher also had a lot of animals himself (probably too many..) and on a different day he brought them in for the class to interact with. I held one of his tarantulas and I felt so cool and edgy, lol.

- The first time I went to Australia to visit my SO, we went to the Australia Zoo (owned by the Irwins). It was in the middle of winter and kind of a cloudy day so there was barely anyone there, and we went to the kangaroo enclosure and I got to pet the kangaroos. Was pretty cool.

- A few months ago my mom visited me here in Australia and we went to the Australia Zoo once again and she made me hold a koala... they're a lot heavier than they look. I also took this really cute pic of a meerkat!

Spoiler: Meertkats!!!!

- I've seen a lot of cool animals in the wild.. In the US I've seen chipmunks (maybe not very cool but it was on Mt Rainier so very aesthetic moment), dolphins, deer, foxes, starfish, different types of lizards/toads/frogs, alligators (scary).. In Aus I've seen a lot of cool birds in the wild, my favourite are the rainbow lorikeets because they love to party at 5 PM. I also love seeing the house geckos during summertime, and getting stared down/swooped at by the magpies

- Also been to several amazing aquariums. I love the aquarium in Atlanta, GA and the aquarium in Monterey, CA. Definitely go to these aquariums if you can!

- Had my own aquarium growing up.. My dad set up a saltwater aquarium in my room and I went through a few interesting fish and inverts (my dad would trade them in periodically for different things). I had some kind of neon wrasse, a clownfish, a domino fish, a chocolate chip starfish, and coolest of all - a mantis shrimp. It never punched the glass.

 

[daringred_]

i've had a few. from the top of my head:

• when i was younger, we went to a zoo on holiday, and i got to have a snake put on my shoulders. (don't know if current me would dare lol.)
• one night when i went to let one of our cats in, i noticed shining eyes near the back of the garden. i pointed my torch at them, and it was a fox! you never really see them around here, but i live across the road from a nature reserve; i'm just surprised it was in my garden because i live one house in from the alley, so it would've had to go over the sheds.
• when i went to cornwall when i was younger, i would climb on the rocks and look in rockpools. one time, i noticed a big tail in one of them. turned out it was some kind of small shark! (i'm guessing it was a dogfish shark based on the size.) a nearby guy and his son helped me haul it out of the rock pool and yeet it back into the ocean!
• also in cornwall, although not the same year, i was paddling near the rocks when something wrapped around my ankle. i looked down, and there was this black tentacle thing. i screamed bloody murder. turns out it was a starfish (the black brittle one) that had grabbed me, but it was huge, and i've been apprehensive about the ocean ever since.
• the safari near us is next to a dozen acres of land that are reserved for deer. (to keep them safe.) you can drive through it, though very slowly, to see them. i've had some great experiences with them being near the edge and really close.
• at the zoo on holiday this year, one of the pumas in the enclosure came right up to the glass to look at us. when we circled back later, he was up on the rocks near the other window, looking out, and we got to be face to face again! gorgeous cats.
• same zoo, when we circled back to the clouded leopard's enclosure, he was down from his tower and he started rolling over on the ground when he saw us! super cute.
• same zoo, again. at the start, you see the inside part of the squirrel monkey enclosure. one of them kept going on the tower and doing backflips every time he knew we were looking lmao. and another put its hand up to the glass to meet my mom's hand when it was eating.
• okay last one for that zoo. another monkey enclosure had these two sibling monkeys, and the male kept showing off by doing tricks on his rope and throwing and catching his food ajfkdkao.
• okay i lied, i just remembered we saw the cheetahs/leopards get fed. pretty cool.

 

[Mairmalade]

Driving along the highways here, you're likely to spot a moose or deer. Here's a moose from the spring. One of the biggest moose on record was approximately 7.6 feet - this one was probably around 7-ish.

Another interesting experience was being able to walk inside a large bird sanctuary with some treats and have the birds perch near you at the Virginia Zoo in the US. I think this particular exhibit has closed down now though.

Spoiler: Birdy

And being a domestic goose whisperer:

Spoiler: Honk

And seeing baby ducklings each year!

Spoiler: Quack

 

[smug villager]

I got stalked by a tiger at the zoo once. As I passed by his enclosure, he'd slowly stalk alongside me, partially covered by some of the structures for his enrichment and tall grass in there. Obviously, it was totally safe, but he did not seem to like me lol.

Similarly, a praying mantis chased me around a parking lot once when I was very young, maybe four or five, but it was so scary I still remember it clear as day.

I had a cat give birth on me once. She was a young stray and it was her first litter, so she got very scared and clingy. Would scream and cry if I got up. She had a nice nesting box, but didn't want to use it. Eventually I just laid down and she snuggled on my belly and had her two kittens like that. She'd also always bring them to my bed at night or lay them in my hair, then go explore the house. It was very sweet. We speculated she'd been taken away from her mother too soon as a kitten, because she had the tendency to suck on everything. She'd suck on her own kittens too. Poor baby.

 

[BetsySundrop]

Funny you mentioned skunks. Being in a rural area, we see all kinds of wildlife. Deer, raccoons, foxes, snakes, coyote, wild turkeys, etc...but this guy came right up to the house the other day. Pic taken from my back door, lol.

Spoiler: Mr Skunk

It was early morning, and it didn't stick around, but one of my cats was stalking it, so I put the cat inside before getting the pic.

 

[Bluelady]

Back in my hometown

-A red hawk used to fly over my neighborhood and school as well.

-The city above where I lived was known for having lots of imported peacocks back in the old day. During the last year that we lived there, a pair of peacocks flew into our backyard. They stayed there for a few hours before my mom shooed them away for pooping everywhere.

I think that they settled down in the abandoned field behind my house, because we could hear their squawking every night.

-The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach has a sting ray petting area. I went there when I was 9. Their skin felt smooth and slippery. It was neat. The haunted ship, Queen Mary is next door to the aquarium. I definitely want to go back one day and visit both.

Where I now live
-Every spring a wild bunny visits and eats up Mom’s lawn and plants. She used to get so mad, that I ended up buying a motion-detecting owl statue in order to spook the bunny away.

-The past 2 years, a bat would hang out in our front porch at night during October. I don’t if it still does because I now try to take out the trash before dark.

-Lots of farm animals. The funniest encounter was when a neighbor’s rooster got loose and hung out on our front porch.

-I haven’t seen them, but I have heard coyotes and a spotted owl at night.

-Sometimes bugs migrate over this county. One year was monarch butterflies, and the next were spiders. The spiders floated on what looked like long webbed string. If I wasn’t terrified I would’ve callled this fascinating.

 

[Mr_Keroppi]

Whenever my family goes to the zoo we get to feed the Giraffes! I LOVE HOW THEY EAT THE FAT CHONKS OF LETTUCE

 

[Nunnafinga]

Gila monster______________________Bighorn sheep

I live in central Arizona in the Sonoran desert and when I was a kid,my siblings,cousins and I would explore the desert and we'd see a lot of creatures like Gila monsters,scorpions,diamondback rattlesnakes,horned toads and other assorted lizards,coyotes and bats.I used to go fishing a lot in northern Arizona and saw various forest animals like black bears,wild turkey,elk,deer and bighorn sheep.My brother and I were fishing on the East Fork of the Black River back in the 80's and we looked across the river and saw a large herd of Bighorn sheep...probably about fifteen to twenty of them.Every single one of those Bighorns was watching us very closely.We'd move down the bank of the river,then they'd move down their side of the river...slowly,and never taking their eyes off of us.The Black River is more like a creek where we were at so we were pretty darn close to those Bighorns.I'm glad they were more scared of us than we were of them.

 

[Mick]

I used to work at an aquarium in a zoo, so I have too many experiences to count! In an attempt at keeping this reasonably short, here are some of the things I wouldn't have expected before working there:

- Fish are entirely capable of recognising a zoo keeper through the glass. I assume they recognise the clothing. Or at least, one of the smarter fish (like a puffer or a larger fish) will recognise it and suddenly they'll all go crazy hoping for food.

- Some of the larger/smarter fish will also come hang out when you're diving. It's a sort of mutual entertainment.

- Sharks are really cool and they seem even bigger when you're diving with them. But they're actually not that scary: they don't come near, and when they do, you wave a stick at them and they turn around. I found the barracudas and stingrays much spookier to swim with. The barracudas are curious and will come hang out with their impressive teeth right next to your head, and the stingrays just keep swimming their favourite routes not caring if you're in the way. Being bonked on the back of the head by an eagle ray that is wider than you're tall and has a poisonous barb the length of your forearm, really makes you think.

- Manatees can get kind of playful and sometimes like to push you around underwater. Given their weight, trying to push back does nothing. It is a fun game, but one you cannot win.

- Zookeeping is fun but it's mentally and physically exhausting. Most of the work is just boring routine cleaning and maintenance tasks, but it still requires a ton of skills and doesn't pay well. I am glad I did it as an experience, but the novelty does wear off after a few years. Maybe one day I'll pick it up again, but only as a side job for like two out of five days per week...

I might be able to upload some nice photos if I get on my pc later. I have so many.

 

[S.J.]

Aaaa, I love seeing kangaroos. I will never get tired of watching their behaviour. Kangaroos are truly so sweet and timid.

Some of my favourite memories of seeing wild animals are:
We were hiking in a national park and took a corner and came face to face with a family of emus, including babies! I've encountered a parent with baby emus twice now, and gosh they are so cute. Adult emus are quite tall (taller than me) so some people can be intimidated, but I’ve always found them very friendly.

When I moved to my current house, I found out that bearded dragons and blue tongued lizards live in my backyard! I’ve had to pick them up and move them a couple of times (to a different spot in my yard) to protect them from my dog, just in case. Less relevant, but I’ve also seen an owl and brushtail possums in my backyard, but it’s only been at night, and the possums are quite quick, so I didn’t see them well!

Echidnas hibernate in winter and also tend to be more active during dawn and dusk to regulate their temperature, so seeing one in the middle of the day (while out walking) was a surprise! It’s the only echidna I’ve seen in the wild, and it was very small compared to echidnas I have seen in captivity. I watched a documentary that tracked an echidna mother until her puggles left the burrow, and I would guess that the echidna we saw was quite young. It was slow moving and pushing its nose around to look for food, and it was heart-warming to see. Because they're so slow, very camouflaged and not out at all hours, I didn't expect to see one, so this one makes me quite happy!

I spent a lot of time at the beach or pier as a kid, so I've seen a lot of aquatic life, mostly fish, crabs, seals, dolphins, stingrays and jellyfish. As a kid, I swam through a swarm of (very stinging, but non-lethal obviously lol) jellyfish. It did not deter me at all, and I still love jellyfish.

In captivity:
In captivity, my favourite animal to see are Tasmanian devils, always.

Briefly getting to touch a rhinoceros was kind of amazing. The skin is so rough. I got to see the same rhino again recently, and we sat near his enclosure and ate lunch.

 

[LadyDestani]

Well, I love animals so every encounter is an interesting experience for me. I know I'll have a lot to say so I expect to break this into multiple posts.


To start with, beyond the typical dogs and cats, I have also had Russian hamsters, rats, and a variety of fish as pets. I had as many as 11 rats at one point, 2 rescues and their babies. I also had an outdoor pond with 12 large goldfish. Each of the goldfish was named after a character from the Arthurian Legend. Of all the fish, Arthur was my favorite. He was a vibrant red with black fins and black markings on his head. He was so friendly that he would feed from my hand and when I got in the pond to work on it he would approach me for pets.


One of my aunts lived on a farm and they raised a lot of birds. When I would visit her, I got to play with the chickens, ducks, and geese. She also had a couple of peahens and a peacock. But the one I loved the most was a massive one-legged turkey. I was around 12 and he was nearly as tall as I was and so fat I couldn't have put my arms all the way around him if I tried. He had been rescued and was considered part of the family. He stayed in a barn most of the time and could hop around well enough on his one leg. I loved to visit him and he seemed to enjoy the company. He didn't like most people but he let me pet him and when I talked to him he 'talked' back.


Speaking of turkeys, I once encountered 3 wild turkeys on a side road. They had traffic halted, standing in the middle of the road and attacking any car that tried to pass them. They were quite aggressive and no one, including me, was willing to risk getting out of their car to try to herd them off the road. I'm rarely afraid of animals, but these turkeys meant business and could have very easily done some damage to a person or a vehicle, especially since they were going after the tires mostly. I don't know how things were ultimately resolved because I took the opportunity to go when they were preoccupied with a car in the other lane, but I hope they eventually went on their way.


Deer are extremely common in the area where I live. I often see them grazing in fields while driving, but I've also seen them in my own yard or my neighbor's yard. I live close to some mountains and both deer and black bears are prevalent if you are hiking or driving through the area. The black bears tend to hide so I've only seen a few of them, but there's a rest-stop where you can feed the deer and I've done that.

I think that's enough for now, but I have many more stories so I'll be back.

 

[daisyflowers]

deers usually visit our garden and monch on the raspberry leaves. my padre also was a bit disheartened when he found a deer's footprint in our vegetable garden which monched on some french bean stems that were trying to grow. also my madre also helped a bébé dear escape from our garden by opening a gate. kept trying to put its head through the fencing (was too smol to jump over it).

(not my experience with an animal) but one of my dad's relatives (i don't remember who) had a pet tiger back in the day.

i really want to go to the zoo soon - remember seeing some brown bears one time on a school trip and they were so FLOOFY AA

 

[.: Meri :.]

⦁ I got to ride a camel once! I was pretty little so I don't remember much about it, aside from that it was a kind of bumpy ride, no pun intended. I went on some pony and horse rides too around that same age.
⦁ For a while (I think I was in my early teens?) we had a couple of peahens wandering around the area! They were pretty shy, but I really wanted to see them up close, so I dressed up in green, went out a little before the time they usually came through, and laid really still in the grass. Just a few minutes later I heard them talking in the woods, and they came out and walked right past me.
⦁ At the zoo, I had a coatimundi get really curious about me. I leaned up close to the edge of the glass of the exhibit and it started trying to sniff me. I could hear the snuffling through the glass and it was just really cute
⦁ We see oppossums, raccoons, and deer around here every so often—I've seen fawns a couple times too. ;v; If the lawn gets out of hand for too long, the moms start hiding their babies in the grass lol. It's cute, but we do try and upkeep it for that reason also.
⦁ More regularly, we see rabbits, squirrels, and various birds, but crows especially. You can actually watch rabbits playing in the spring and it's pretty adorable. Once in a while you'll see a heron standing by ponds or other bodies of water, and pretty recently actually I saw one swoop by.
⦁ There's a hawk of some sort (possibly a second generation at this point) that nests around here during certain parts of the year.

 

[LadyDestani]

I'm back to post again. This time I'm going to focus on what I call my 'wild animal friends'. These are wild animals that I've seen often enough to name them and build some sort of relationship with them, or if I only saw them once it was a very memorable interaction.


Ms. Potter is a rabbit currently making her home in my backyard. I see her at least once a week, sometimes more. At first, she would bolt as soon as I opened the door, but now she's grown to trust me. She'll keep an eye on my dog and I when I walk him around the yard, but she'll keep nibbling on the grass and only move if we get too close. She'll tolerate us being only a few feet away as long as my dog doesn't lunge at her.


Mortimer is a brown bat that often perches on my back porch in the late evening during the latter half of summer. I've been seeing him regularly for the past two years now. He used to fly away as soon as I would open the back door, but now he just hangs there and lets me walk past him. I speak to him every time I see him.


The first summer after we bought our house, a caterpillar made a cocoon just inside the door frame of our back door. I tried to keep an eye on it, hoping I'd get to see the butterfly emerge. One morning, I had gotten up earlier than usual and decided to check on the cocoon. A Monarch butterfly was hanging from the now open cocoon, gently flapping its wings. I rushed out of the front door so that I wouldn't disturb it and raced around to the back of the house. I watched it for a while as it slowly built up its strength before trying to fly. It took off but didn't make it very far on the first attempt. It landed in the grass nearby and started to flap its wings again. Since it didn't look like it was going to make a second attempt soon, I put my finger down on the ground and the butterfly climbed onto it. I was able to hold it like that while it continued to dry its wings. It finally took flight again and this time made it all the way across the yard before pausing on a tree limb. I waited until it made its third attempt and flew out of sight before I went back inside.

Silas was a gray squirrel that I became acquainted with back when I was a teenager living with my parents. He used our flower beds to hide his nuts. My dad would get so mad because every time he planted something, Silas would come along and dig it out to bury his nuts. Then, my dad would find his nuts and toss them out of the flower bed but get mad because Silas would tear up the whole area looking for the missing nuts. Silas was by no means hurting for food, though. Even in the early spring, he was always the chunkiest squirrel around. He was a bold little squirrel, too. When he couldn't find his nuts in the flower bed, he would hop up on the porch railing and tell us off. I told him it wasn't my fault. Eventually, he got comfortable sitting on the porch with us to eat his nuts. As long as we didn't make any sudden movements, we could sit within arm's reach of him. The funniest experience I ever had with Silas was when he was trying to get intimate with a lady friend. I usually peeked out the window before opening the front door to make sure I wasn't disturbing him, but this time I was late for work so I just rushed out. I saw Silas on the porch railing with another squirrel who immediately ran off. Silas turned to face me, literally put his paws on his hips, and gave me a very stern lecture in his cute little squirrel bark. I knew it was a lady that I had accidentally chased away because, um, I saw more of the little guy than I wanted to.

 

[Jhine7]

Not sure about "interesting", but I have been fortunate enough to visit 3 of the top 8 largest zoos in the world.

#1 - Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska. Took 2 days to get through it all!
#5 - Toronto Zoo - took about 5-6 hours to see everything!
#8 - Columbus Zoo and Aquarium - another exhausting day.

Overall, they're all amazing. My ranking: Henry Doorly, Columbus, Toronto.

Amazingly, there are two more on this top 8 list that are very doable for my wife and I:
#4 Bronx Zoo - same state!
#6 San Diego Zoo - same country!

I'd say #2 Berlin, #3 Beijing, and #7 Moscow would be difficult to achieve. Maybe someday!

Something interesting we did together earlier this year though: a sloth encounter! Tons of fun getting to interact, hold, and learn about sloths!

 

[nightglow]

Most interesting wild animals I've seen are opossums, raccoons, groundhogs, deer, herons, crawfish, hawks, owls, turkey buzzards, squirrels, rabbits, snapping turtles, snakes, coyotes, and wolves running around. I don't really have any cool stories about them. Just that I have to keep an eye on my smallest dog when hawks are near because they do swoop at him. Well actually I have kind of a funny story. My yellow dog for about two years would find harmless snakes in the yard and follow them around and bark at the highest pitch he possibly could over and over right in their face. They would run away. He tormented those poor things. He'd get hoarse from doing so. It was hard to get him back in the house lol. They eventually left for good
My grandpa use to hand feed a wild squirrel peanuts and corn cobs in his backyard.
My aunt saw a mountain lion in her back yard.
Growing up there was an old church where bats would come out of in the evening. You could hear them click if they were close enough to you.
Most interesting pets I've had are Russian hamsters, guinea pigs, and rats.
The coolest animal I've seen in person was the Okapi in a zoo. I feel super lucky to have seen them even though they were far in their pen.
I wouldn't mind going to a zoo or some type preservation place again. I think the last one I went to was a huge aquarium which was awesome.

 

[Dim]

I see a few red fox every now and then. One had a dead animal in it’s mouth and dropped it on my neighbors driveway. Another decided to take a nap on the driveway.