What kind of wild animals have you seen?

I am curious to know what kind of wild animals you've seen when you weren't at a place where you were expecting to see one :haha:

Lately, we've had a few cougar sightings in the nearby cities including our own so I'm hyper vigilant now! I love animals but don't want to worry about bears/cougars.

 

Where I wasn't expecting to see one?

I found a chameleon, a scorpion, and a cockroach in my condo in Mexico and I definitely did not expect the first two.

I have also seen a skunk just prior to hitting it with my car. Didn't expect that one either.

 

Yeah, I mean on a hike or a walk in your neighborhood, not a zoo or wildlife refuge (I'm just trying to clarify what I was asking to everyone).

 

We are out in the wild a lot (not to mention all the animals inhabiting the suburbs these days) but the weirest was my husband had the kids in his truck and he was checking out the wells in an orchard and came across a huge bobcat that was eating the avocados that had fallen on the ground. The farmer told him the bobcats and mountain lions all loved the avocados and he saw them regularly.

 

I've had a couple huge bison outside of my tent when camping with my class in the 7th grade. I've seen bears, elk and deer up close, along with a porcupine, a fox, oppossums, skunks,...

 

Well, in the last year we have had a menagerie on our front porch. It started with the skunk back in February, fighting with our dog. Then, a while back, we had a raccoon climbing our porch posts. Finally, Tuesday I turned the light on to find a deer standing on our steps. We have several deer that hike through our yard, as well as turkey, because our heat pump is a pump and dump and we pool the water.

 

A coyote crossed the road in front of me to go run in the field next to my school, a oppossum ran down the brick wall in my backyard two days ago. When I lived in Monterey CA wild turkeys called our neighborhood home.

Last school year a wild weasel lived under my classroom the first half of the year. He ate the wild rabbits that live around the school. At the end of the year Peter Rabbit and his family lived under my building.

 

In a place where I wasn't expecting a wild animal? That's a hard one.

 

I saw a racoon up in a tree just waiting for me to pass by to get to my car for the attack.

Oh and I saw those nasty crawly things - snakes. I ran!

 

The Bandit on our porch:





We also have a friend who raises buffalo, so we drive out to the pasture every now and then to feed them...they're...friendly...

 

wow!
very nice posting
i saw a tiger when i was sitting on the elephant.

 

OMG KC that is the same animal that I saw in the tree staring at me. lol I am afraid of those things look at the claws.

 

I love the buffalo photo!

When I moved to our current home I never dreamed I would see
-coyotes (daily)
-racoons
-bats (just last month quite a few)
-skunk
-my son saw a bobcat a few yards from my back door this summer
very rare.
-rabbits (lots in my yard)

I live in a semi-rual area.

 

Blessed, this one was just a pup. He was really cute, and scared to death of our teeny tiny miniature dauschund.

Dzenna, we also have all of those. We don't see bobcats, but they're out there.

This summer, my daughters were hitting golf balls in the yard, and left one out in the grass. When dh was mowing the yard, he went to pick up the ball, and found a turkey egg that had been laid next to the ball (they do that). He picked it up (it wasn't going to hatch, out there by itself), but left the ball to see what would happen. Next day, there was another egg! Determined turkey!

 

I've seen an opossum in the street a couple of times yrs & yrs ago. Also, in my old workplace's large parking lot, there were small hares hopping around.

 

The buffalo is cute!!

I've seen a couple of tiny Florida deer on the side of the turnpike. We had bobcats on our property when we lived on a farm. Armadillos like to walk through my backyard at night. And, of course, the requisite gators sunning themselves on canal banks! Actually, we had one that lived in the storm drain behind the restaurant I work at. His name was Wally and we would feed him chicken that was starting to turn... until we finally called Fish and Wildlife to let them know there was an 10 foot gator out there. Poor Wally.

 

In my yard have been deer, wild turkeys, bears, and a fox. A few months ago, while visiting a friend, I saw a raccoon in the daytime. We got out of there fast!

 

Several years ago, on a trip to the Badlands in South Dakota, my husband and I pulled over and decide to walk down this tiny path that went down and around, just to see where it went. We had to watch our footing very carefully, since it was so rocky. Imagine our surprise when we finally stopped to look around and there was a HUGE buffalo (bison) down at the end of the path, just lying there, looking at us. Boy, we sure got up that path alot faster than we got down. He didn't seem to care.

 

Deer, racoons, squirrels, rabbits, opposums, woodchucks, & yesterday 2 families of wild turkeys...I think I split up their morning walk!!!

Not really an animal, but there have been a ton of dragon flies around our house this fall!!!

 

Kudos to kinder31 for noting it's actually a bison, not a buffalo.

I'm a bit surprised people are actually scared of raccoons. While they potentially dangerous, they're quite smart and have no interest in getting into a quarrel with people.

I've seen raccoons, foxes, squirrels, snakes, bats, deer, rabbits, and geckos.

priyaanka, there's a video on youtube of someone being attacked by a tiger while sitting on an elephant's back! (It doesn't show the whole thing, but I think the guy escapes with maybe a scratch).

 

Oh, I forgot we saw a salamander last weekend.

 

My friend and I were at a park when we saw the raccoon. Another person who was around said they called animal control because they thought it might be rabid since it was out in the daytime. That's why we high-tailed it out of there.

 

Okay, well I guess it's always wise to stay clear of a wild animal if you're unsure. However, the idea that raccoons out during the day are particularly likely to have rabies is a myth.

 

Moose on the trail while mountain biking in Alaska.

 

I've seen a number of coyotes and foxes. I once had something run in my car and I'm still not sure if it was a black fox or a fisher - I know they look different, but I couldn't get a good enough look to tell which it was. I saw baby silver foxes once that were really cute.

 

My parents had a LARGE (400+ lb.) black bear who liked to come up and lay right outside their living room window last year.

 

There are some great pictures in this thread!

My dad had a pair of raccoons take a running board off of his van a few years ago. I haven't any very odd animals, but just about any animal scares me, so anything is an experience. Around here there are lots of squirrels (mostly gray, but there are a few black ones), chipmunks, woodchucks, opossums, foxes, deer, rabbits, skunks, mice, moles, bats, wild turkeys, geese everywhere, ducks, lots of other birds and one time I am sure I saw a panther, but no one else saw it to corroborate.

The time it was most unexpected animal sighting (and I think I told about it here) was when I found a pregnant mouse in the midst of labor in the Pennysaver that I was bringing into the house.

 

Alan Shearer,the former Newcastle United football player...the man was an animal !

 

The bear pic (I would be frightened if a bear took up residence close by), reminded me of this pic I'd seen.

 

I have seen:
deer,fox,wild turkeys,racoons,squirrels,skinks, milk snakes, garter snakes, coyote,possoms,moles,rabbits,turtles,hawks, bald eagles, and dozens of other birds.
It's awesome to live in the country!

 

When I was a child my dad saved two raccoons...we named them Mario & Luigi. They were adorable. (ETA: And they were never in a cage...free just like a cat. )

Coyotes are very common, but I don't much care for them as I saw what they are capable of through our livestock. I don't guess I've seen anything out of the ordinary for a rural area...you expect to see a variety of wildlife.

 

I have raccoons, skunks, deer, and moose who live in my area. Also weasels and porcupines. Last spring we had a mom and two baby moose walking our street.
Yesterday we had inside recess at my school because a parents spotted a mountain lion in a field by school. My school is in a suburb by a 6 lane road! We think she just saw a big dog.

 

I have cows, a huge population of raccoons, white-tailed deer, opposums,armadillos, jack rabbits, cotton tails, and a few coyotes and bobcats. I usually see three to four copperheads in the yard. I've heard there are lots of rattlesnakes here but so far I have been lucky enough to avoid them.

 

I forgot about the taruntulas and wild hogs.

 

Unexpected wild animals: At my house in the city I've had a rat under my deck, an oppossum in my garbage can & the other day a stiff raccoon in the middle of the street. I don't think it had been hit by a car.

At my school in the city I've seen the occasional deer and we would always get a flock of Canadian Geese. Watch where you step!

Camping one time I saw a bat, it was up under the pop up part of our camper when we were closing up.

Those are the only unexpected animals I've seen. The rest have been expected: deer,mice, fox etc.

 

Several years ago in the neighborhood where I teach, wild peacocks roamed. They often would come to the school. When they would make their call it sounded like cats!

 

On a drive through northeastern PA on the way home from vacation in August, we saw 2 deer, a bear, a fox, and 2 bald eagles along the high way.

 

When I lived in Florida (almost 20 years ago) I used to see parrots in the trees. Being from California, I had never imagined anything so exotic. Now, we have flocks of parrots in the Los Angeles area. I've heard they originated from domestic parrots that escaped or were set free.

 

Well I live in the country and see my share of wild animals. In the yard we have had racoons, deer, bobcats, armadillos, opossum and a fox. A strange thing that came to visit one day was an ostrich from a farm down the road. We dh and I went to to the St Thomas we saw a huge iguana.

 

My son plays in basketball tournaments at a central Orange County high school. There is a flock of parrots there. It is the most amazing thing!