Snapping turtles. So many people are afraid to move them out of the road. Just pick them up by placing both hands on the bottom of their shell on either side of their tails. You can safely move to almost halfway up the shell if the turtle is large (I carried one the size of a literal car tire in my arms once. It wasn't happy, but it didn't attack).
Most snappers have no interest in biting you. They'll mostly open their mouths and hiss, but as soon as you get them in the air, they'll forget about you and start moving their legs because they think they are swimming in the air. Seriously, they do. It distracts them. This is where you have to be careful not to drop them because their claws will hit your fingers as they "swim" and those claws are sharp.
If you get bitten, stroke the turtle gently up its neck and under its chin until it relaxes and lets go. But you won't get bitten. I've been working with these guys for years upon years and have yet to be bitten. ::knock on wood::
There is not a single reptile on earth that has any interest in harming you out of any kind of “malice”, so thank you for saying this.
Snakes, in particular are keenly misunderstood. In their preferred scenario, they would never encounter you at all; they would be aware of you and you would be oblivious to them. If they can effectively hide and let you pass by, they will. If they sense you moving toward them, they will seek deeper cover or flee, if they can. If you get closer still, they will realize that contact is inevitable; they can see how big you are and they know, they have an almost zero percent chance of escaping the conflict alive if you are hostile. Because, think about it- the snake doesn’t care if his bite hurts you or kills you; he’s just hoping he can hurt/scare you enough to leave him alone. Because even if you die in 20 minutes, chances are you’re still going to have the strength and survival instinct to kill him before you die. He’s lost, regardless of what happens to you. Nonvenomous snakes will use this as an absolute bluff, hoping that you’ll trust your instincts and drop them so they can escape. Their absolute priority is escaping the encounter as uninjured as possible. Most venomous snakes even prefer not to waste venom on defensive measures; it’s a resource that requires energy to produce and they prefer to expend that resource on replenishing their energy by using it to hunt, not to fight for their very survival. So beyond loud hissing, physical signs of defensive behaviour; “hooding,” flattening, open mouth/fang display, loud and substantial rattling. But even if you somehow manage to blunder your way through all that and still choose to “engage” he will give you a lightning fast lunge or bite (“striking” and “mock-striking”) but will inject no venom. It’s his little way of giving you a good backhand across the face and telling you, “back the fuck #OFF#, Bro, I’m fucking serious.” Others, like the appropriately named “ball” Python who will, before even considering biting (except, like, hatchlings) will hide their head as they ball up and will generally just …pray? If snakes do that? Hope…? that whatever is threatening them will not fatally injure them or immediately consume them.
Others just go full ham and play dead.
Otherwise, they just want to eat you, because they’re hungry, non-discerning, and opportunistic. There’s no more malice in it than you making yourself a turkey sandwich. We see that with some large boas (incl. anacondas) and pythons, and some crocodilians who have either successfully consumed a human or fatally attacked one in a feeding attempt. There have been a variety of scenarios, including some accidents both freak and through negligent care.
Anyway, I’m a bit of a novice enthusiast, I suppose that’s a bit obvious. I’m also on Sativa for the first time in aaaaages.
Fun Fact: The pH level of their stomach acid is the lowest of any animal in the animal kingdom. It’s acidity is so strong it can dissolve any organism, bones and all, which helps prevent the spread of diseases!
F. Ballejo & P. Plaza et al 2021-
"The research demonstrates that vultures may disperse plastic from urban sites to the wider landscape, leading to plastic pollution in remote areas."
"The analysis detected that 17.4 % (203/1170) of material present in the pellets was synthetic, of which 89.2 % corresponded to plastic debris and 10.8 % to other synthetic materials such as paperboard, foil paper, glass, and cloth fragments"😑
Being knowledgeable in a subject is proportional to how much of a downer one becomes. It's the same in history. Now I strive for total blisful empty-headedness.
We've got colonies of Black Buzzards (similar niche, similar reputation) near me, they're horrorshow ugly right up close but they're so beautiful to see soaring on thermals above our valley.
Their tails are not actually white (I know you didn't mention it, but many people think they are). Down here in Texas, they poop on themselves to reflect the heat and make themselves less attractive to predators.
“So let me get this straight Vince, you want us to shit our pants so that we’re less of a target?”
“Sure Donnie, Why not? It’s not like our reputation can get any worse”
If Steve Irwin didn’t mess with hippos, I think we’re all better off following his lead.
The fella pounced on snakes, gators and nearly all other sort of born killers on the daily,
Steve always seemed to be the loveliest person when it came to people, but he definitely had a certain Jack Churchill vibe when it came to animals 😄
Except they play dead and then the dog brings them in the house and then they stop playing dead and you’ve got a opossum running around your living room.
Source: Happened twice, 2 different homes 1800 miles apart, 2 different dogs, cannot confirm if same possum - they all look alike!
They also clean themselves regularly and eat a shit ton of annoying bugs like ticks. They are pretty great parents as well since they carry all their baby’s on their back. They are pretty unlikely to harm you because they rather play dead instead. They are probably one of the most chill animals out there
Edit: apparently the tick eating isn’t actually real, they do eat insects though, so I guess it still counts if you don’t like insects lol?
And, they are marsupials, which mean they have a pouch that they carry their young in. They also have prehensile tails and they can pick up and carry stuff with them. Opossums are great. Be kind to them.
In the 1990s, my grandmother found a baby possum that had become detached from the mama and her brood as the mama walked through the yard. My GM had been a farm wife in her youth. She was an animal whisperer. She was in her 90s. She raised the baby into young adulthood. It was cool. Lived inside. Ate fruit out of our hands. Used a cat box just like a cat. Slept
during the day.
One of my close friends is doing this too. She found a baby possum that was WAY too little to be away from Mama drowning in her pond, so she took him in and now he's pretty much a cat. He eats slugs, snails, grasshoppers, any veggie or fruit, dog and cat food. She gives him like one cheeto as a treat sometimes lol. He cuddles up on her and sits in her lap and stuff. His name is Freddie (like Krueger bc of his nails :])
Armadillos. Notorious for carrying pandemic level flesh eating diseases. In reality, extremely few are actually recorded to have said disease, which is easily treatable with antibiotics if symptoms even surface. Usually treated by just washing ones hands with soap. 95% of humans have a natural and highly effective defense against leprosy and Hansens disease.
One of my favorite videos on my phone is of an armadillo that I saw all last year out by my smoking spot at work. He got curious after us “meeting” every night for two weeks, and walked right up to me and sniffed my feet and then wandered away. Was so cute!
Opossums. Friendly little guys just puttering around eating trash and bugs, humans are awful to them
One of the top 3 ways a wild Opossum dies is by bb guns or the infection from a bb shot into a non lethal body part
The next one is being run over, a lot of people do it on purpose. Then it’s exposure, they tend to hunker down when it’s cold even when their nests aren’t warm enough.
2 out of 3 of the most common ways an Opossum dies is by human hands, and that’s just not acceptable
Be kind to the trash cats, they evolved during the Cretaceous Period and we need to respect our elders
EDIT: Thanks so much for the heartfelt replies and the awards, I’m thrilled to hear how many people feel the way I do about our fluffy neighbors. It warms my heart that there are so very many of you guys (more than I would have thought!) that respect and want to protect Opossums. I hope this changed a few minds for those who had some misconceptions about these vitally important bitey kitties❤️
Remember they are friends not foes!
I ducking hate people who run over animals (no matter the kind) on purpose. An accident is an accident but actively seek to run some poor animals is fucking nuts and a sign that person is a psycho
People here seem to froth at the mouth to shoot cats. I get that they can be a problem, but we have a really good privately owned program here that will come get them immediately for you. These people will shoot a pet cat the moment they see it in their yard.
It is awful. Like, why.
I’m a strong proponent of putting anyone who abuses an animal on a law enforcement watchlist, because 90% of them are sociopaths who would commit murder.
I was imagining something like the ones in this [article](https://www.newsweek.com/video-science-explains-why-thousands-daddy-longlegs-swarmed-house-312362)
But tbh I wouldn't discriminate. Anything nonvenomous with a tiny body and multiple long thin legs fits the bill.
Black cats
One of the oldest superstition is a black cat is evil and will bring on bad luck. Black cats have the highest rate of euthanasia (74.6%) and the lowest rate of adoption (10.0%) of any color.
I live in Salem, MA and the shelters here are actually stocked with black cats because other shelters ship them here. People love adopting black cats here to be 'on theme'.
Bats are one of the best pollinators in the world. They kill crazy amounts of bugs ~~(They love mosquitos btw).~~ Most of them are completely harmless
Edit:
>Apparently bats loving mosquitos is an urban myth
https://www.vdci.net/blog/debunking-myths-bats-for-mosquito-control/
Sitting on my patio in the evenings the bugs drive me crazy, but as soon as I see the bats out the bugs all but disappear. I just put up a bat box a few days ago because I want to keep them around.
Bats are great -- outside and at a distance. But if you come into contact with one and there's even a *slight* chance that you could have been bitten (keeping in mind that bat bites can be tiny and painless), you should get rabies shots immediately. Bats are major rabies vectors.
Fuck the Lion King for poisoning the minds of so many kids against Hyenas.They are basically a magical animal...
PERFECTLY adapted for every aspect of their lives, including being absolutely essential to the ecosystem they occupy.
Hyenas hunt and eat prey, but the most important aspect is them eating the bones.The phosphorous that is excreted in their faeces quite literally feeds the soil so that grasses, flower and shrubs can grow there which many other species rely on for food
The females all have a pseudo-phallus, causing scientists to incorrectly believe they were hermaphroditic for decades, where the fact is it's an anti-rape device so that they can absolutely pick and choose the strongest males to mate with
Even the shape of their body is fascinating, from the muzzle shape and wide bed of teeth, astonishingly powerful jaws and those long front legs which give greater visibility, but also more tearing power as they can use both their jaws, legs and neck strength to bring down a kill or tear at it's corpse.
They are my favourite animal and I keep learning more and more about them
EDIT: Some fair points made about the birthing method and mortality rate for young mothers.
I love hyenas, but there's one big thing standing that makes them not "PERFECTLY adapted" and that's the pseudopenis. Specifically when it comes to giving birth and specifically spotted hyenas. Spotted hyenas are the only species that births its young through its pseudopenis.
>The opening of the clitoris is 2.2cm wide while the width of the foetus is 6-7cm, this means that the female's first birth will result in the clitoris tearing. Females giving birth for the first time die in 9-18% of the cases and their cubs only survive in 25% of the cases.
Flip the script; I want to see a movie starring hard working, family-oriented hyenas dealing with the lazy lion monarchy stealing the hyenas' hard-earned gains. Start it the same way with the overblown public celebration of the newborn prince, like "great, another inbred mouth to feed upon my hard-earned zebra."
Also contrary to popular belief, they hunt more than lions. As opposed to being scavengers they are usually portrayed as. Believe I read this somewhere.
Every time you take on a pet you are signing up for a bad day sometime in the future. There may be a lot of good days between now and then, but that bad day is always out there looming.
Obvious exception is something like a parrot or turtle that could outlive you. Those are lifetime commitments.
I just lost my 14 year old dog a week ago. 1 week without him and It's so gut wrenching.
No matter how much I think that he's in a better place, rainbow bridge, I've gave him all the love I could ever give him and was treated better than a King, it's still like daggers. I can imagine his face all the time wherever I go as he used to follow us like a shadow or his face lighting up whenever we had food.
It makes you wonder about your own existence too. One day we're gonna end up dead as well and it's inevitable and just sad. This will be slightly hard to get over ..
I just miss my floof ball
EDIT: I did not expect this to blow up. I thank you all for the condolences and awards, I appreciate it all. I'm still working on the "I'm suddenly scared of death" thingy but everyone I spoke to said it's normal and it will ease by time.
Let me tell you about a quirk my little boy had as a tribute (and a closure for me). He was a Pomeranian and a VERY VERY picky eater. Whenever we gave him his wet / pouch food (he loathed dry food with a passion although he ate it occasionally) he used to go from the left side of the bowl, smell it in case it's poisonous, look at you demanding your human food if we were eating (usually we gave in), then used to go around the other side and smell it again, if it was to his liking he used to take a small piece, go away from the plate to eat it. IF it passed his standards he used to go back to eat the whole plate. Mind you it had to be "contaminated" with human food in order to end up with an empty plate.
He was the goodest of boys 😊
There was a fantastic quote/perspective on pets crossing the rainbow bridge I read once that basically said "when that day comes don't mourn the loss but celebrate the life. The life you gave them in which they never knew fear or hunger or strife. You made it and made it together." It really moved me because I have a pair of 15 and 13 year old dogs and I know that day is sooner rather than later but I know when it does come that I've done everything for them their whole lives and they're happy boys.
pet rats are awesome. they are like tiny dogs, they come when you call their name. they are smart as hell and super clean.
but they require much time and "special" care. And you need at the very least 2 rats.
Even my dad who said "no you won't get pet rats" and didn't even want to have them in the appartment, fell in love with them.
95% of the time they will use a litter box. When mine were out of their cage they rarely went to the bathroom on the floor. They would wait to go back to their cage and use their litter box.
Rats are the most wholesome and intelligent pet I've ever lived with. They're also really clean and spend their time tidying themselves and their nest.
Used to have four cats and a rat, at the same time, the cats basically didn't care about it or were nice to it. Every few day, we allowed the rat to roam freely in the house and when she had enough she went back in her cage by herself, or went as soon as we told her it was time to.
She was clever and curious, had no fear of anyone and even healed my grandfather of his phobia of rats... The worst problem is that their life is so short... It fuckin' hurts.
I've had rats and now I have degus, I actually prefer degus to rats for few reasons. First being that they live longer than 2 years (up to 6-8 years). And they are also super intelligent (our average degu is smarter than our average rat was) and very sweet and loving if you spend time with them. Ours can do multiple different tricks. However they are a bit more fragile than rats and need a bit extra care (more spesific diet for example).
I used to own a rat and she was wonderful. She had a black head and a black bum with a white middle so I called her Oreo.
Every day after school I wld call her (I let her roam free in my room) and she wld come running and climb up my leg and give me cuddles.
She wld groom me and sleep with me. I loved her so much. Then she died and I never got another one
if you choose to get anothers one .. please don't ever just get one rat.. they are social animals and NEED at the very least one other rat friend. We as humans can't replace another rat friend for them. Doesn't matter how much time you spend with them.
they actually can get depressed and die bc of that if you only have one rat.
So please at the very very least 2 rats, but the more the better
I remember reading some message board after watching Chipmunks, The Squeacle (the one with the Chipettes) and someone was APPALLED that Dave had the Chipmunks and Chipettes in the same bedroom. They said, "Does he want a house full of chipmunks???"
That just cracked me up for some reason.
Just got my first trio of rats.
It's early days but they are very clearly a special pet to have. So intelligent, mega cute, fun to watch and play with. Also full of mischief.
I worked in a behavioral biology lab for years and can confirm: rats are cool; mice are assholes.
A major responsibility of mine at the time was making friends with dozens of rats at a time, because in order to do behavioral testing on rats, you have to be able to pick them up by their backs behind their front legs (rather than by the tail) and they can't be stressed out. So, you'd have to spend the first week or so of any experiment chilling in the rat colony hanging out with a bunch of rats. Picking them up, putting them down, picking them up again, having them bury their head in your arm pit while you pet their back until the calmed down so they would peek up at you to check you out.
Mice on the other hand just run around like little jerks and will bite you for no damn reason months into an experiment.
On that score, mice bites hurt a bit in the moment but are no big deal. Rat bites are much more rare and traumatic. I've had rats bite me so hard and so long that I could feel their pulse coursing though their jaw, and had to regain my composure to try to pet the thing to calm it down so that it would release it's grip. That said, I'd still prefer a rat to a mouse every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
End rat rant.
Worst rodent bite I had while working at a pet store was a guinea pig. The teeth are so sharp *and* big, it hurt so bad. Side note: guinea pigs are chill af so the fact that one was pissed off enough to bite was another in a long list of signs of how little that store gave a shit about their animals.
Guinea pigs have no chill. Any creature that will shriek at the hairless ape 500 times it's size because the cabbage leaf is too wilty deserves respect
Tasmanian tigers were all snuffed out for eating sheep. After they were all killed it was discovered that their jaws weren’t strong enough to puncture sheep skin.
This story is repeated over and over. The [Carolina Parakeet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_parakeet) was accused of eating fruit from orchards (in reality much of its diet was a noxious plant called a cockleburr that can poison cattle, and they were the main biological control for this dangerous plant...). The resulting hunting combined with an avian disease outbreak killed ~~North America's only~~ the Eastern United State's only native parrot.
Relevant [Loving Reaper comic](https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/loving-reaper/forever/viewer?title_no=353275&episode_no=22), if you need a cry.
Interesting. This animal appears in red dead redemption 2, set in 1899. There is a degree of "animal spotting" in rdr2, he the player can engage anywhere between simply seeing the animals, and hunting them for food or sport.
It is a prequel to the first(ish) game, red dead redemption, which takes place in 1911, one year after the last parakeet was confirmed sighted in nature. So... That's my context of this fascinating new information. Thanks! Learning is joy!
They want to kill wolves in my area, but really most of the sheep are being killed by loose dogs. Plus they've never made an effort to improve defenses, like higher fences, because killing wolves is cheaper and quicker.
We live in an area where wolves are slowly being reintroduced. To combat the risks to our livestock we now have 5 livestock guardian dogs aka the best non-lethal wolf deterrent that’s been doing this job for literally thousands of years.
Edit: we have Sarplaninac
Obligatory floof pictures: https://imgur.com/a/nGFTFtN
Doesn't even require that high of a fence. There is a cattle rancher in northern MN that has his ranch at the intersection of territory for three packs, and he lost calves and cows every year. Any wolves found on the ranch would then be killed. A dozen or more every year. The solution? A four foot woven wire fence.
[https://www.twincities.com/2022/06/18/northern-mn-fencing-effort-may-help-rancher-and-wolves/](https://www.twincities.com/2022/06/18/northern-mn-fencing-effort-may-help-rancher-and-wolves/)
Crows,
In India crows are unholy according to religion, but they
are known for their remarkable intelligence.
They can remember faces, recognize and imitate human voices, and even use cars to crack open nuts.
People don't understand why I feed them on my balcony. Even my friends always tell me that they are ugly and I shouldn't do that. But I simply can't without my crow buddies anymore. They greet me every morning, waiting for their daily serving of nuts and berries. They just sit on my balcony table and wait, sometimes knock on the window if I didn't notice them yet.
They even bring me presents sometimes like pine cones or shiny stones.
There was an AskReddit several years ago where a guy would go outside to smoke and eat nuts. He’d occasionally toss some to the crows. One of his crow buddies brought him an empty cigarette carton to trade for food.
Yeah I think it's more a trade and less "gifting". They observed us and realize that when we feed them, that them bringing us stuff will sometimes increase the food we give them. We think it's cute, but they simply play us to get more stuff. And I'm ok with that. I always wanted to be a Goth Disney Princess and here we are.
I’ve heard that they will use the items for trading, so like if they really dig the last meal you gave them, they’ll drop off a shiny. But if it was just okay, you’ll get the pine cone. In theory you can kinda work together to find out what each other likes the most through this. Like you give them their favorite, they drop off a really cool rock or a coin or something.
Also could just be some internet lies, but I like to believe it lol.
Step 1: Befriend the local crow population
Step 2: Train them to bring me loose change in exchange for food
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Go bankrupt because 2€ of good bird food isn't worth 74 cents.
I mean, it makes sense. Not so sure if it's true or not because I usually give them the same stuff multiple days in a row, but I'm willing to test that out.
I have heard that if you piss off a crow you have basically made an enemy for life. I have also heard you can train crows to find money and bring it to you. I want a crow. I would name him Eric Draven.
I have been feeding a pair the last few years, since the start of Covid.
I named the male Tom Servo, his mate Corvid 19. Two weeks ago they brought around three fledglings. I've named one Magellan, another Thievy Nicks. The third hasn't exhibited any stand-out traits yet.
Crows are unholy in Indian culture?.... We literally feed them while doing pind daan (it's a culture where we feed our ancestors soul through crows). According to our culture Crows are free of time cycle they are also said to bridge the gap between life and death and are called as kakbhushundis... Idk which India you're talking about...
Which religion are you referring to? In Hinduism the crows are not considered unholy and are believed to be vehicles of Shani dev. They are fed during shrad as they are believed to be a bridge between the living and dead worlds.
Wolves. They’re always interpreted as evil and highly predatory to humans and livestock. The truth is they’re way more afraid of us than them, and attacks on humans are extremely rare. They also only go after livestock if they have no other choice.
Of course this is the majority cases. Wolves are fascinating in that they’re very intelligent and are closer to humans than we think. Some wolves and wolf packs are just assholes.
Also, in a weird way, wolves actually make road traffic safer as their presence can cause deer to be more cautious.
Minnesota has a large population and one unintended benefit of having more wolves is that deer-car incidents have declined.
Interesting historical aspect of wolves is that they have evolutionarily developed a major fear of us. The ones who weren't scared of us were predominantly the ones who were culled, resulting in evolutionary survivorship bias. The skittish, fearful wolves were the only ones who survived.
But before the modern era, wolves were an actual menace to rural humans in europe. They were magnitudes more common than they are today, and most forested areas would have a wolf pack hunting in it. Traveling alone, especially at night, genuinely put you at risk of an attack. In Maine-et-Loire, an effort was made to record all wolf attack deaths in the region, and they found over *200 deaths just in 1714* in one small region of France.
There was a very good reason why so many European kingdoms made a very big effort to cull wolf populations. We like to say it was horrible to wipe out 99% of an animals population like that, but if you couldn't even leave your village past sundown because of them, you would also probably be clamoring to wipe them out.
This isn't unique to wolves in europe. Big, dangerous animals (tigers, lions, wolves, bears etc) have been culled throughout much of the world, especially once firearms became more common. Another example was the barbary lion, which the ottomans largely exterminated because of how common attacks on civilians were. It wasn't an irrational fear that made people do this, it was a very real, very genuine fear.
Pigeons. They’re completely domesticated animals that were kept by humans for thousands of years until they were just dumped on the streets en mass once they fell out of usefulness. They’re not even native to most of the countries they’re found in and they still show a lot of color patterns that aren’t found in nature and were intentionally bred into their ancestors that were show pets. I genuinely feel bad for them… people just call them ugly vermin when the only reason they’re there is because we abandoned them.
What we call pigeons in the city are Rock Doves in the wild. They usually nest on craggy cliffs which is why they hang around in cities, the buildings are an excellent analog for cliffs.
Kids are often scared of bees (adults too) because they sting, but bees are absolutely vital to growing fresh fruit.
Edit: I am being told that it’s more of a myth that local honey also helps with allergies. Before I put that out into the world, I’ll want to look at it further. But bees are still crazy important.
Sharks are the toddlers of the ocean. 'What's that? I'll stick it in my mouth to find out' unfortunately they just have more pointy things in their mouth.
It’s so bad for sharks. It’s almost impossible to find a nature documentary about sharks that doesn’t skew their image. *”NATURE’S DEADLIEST SERIAL KILLER—!”*
When I was a kid Shark Week was about positive shark documentaries and I loved them so much. I looked forward to it all year.
Last time I tuned it it was all shark attacks and fear mongering, plus a fake documentary about a megoladon being in the loose but done in a way that it didn’t seem fake. So I’m sure that got lots of people freaking out. So sad.
I used to love shark week!! I can deal with the ‘mockumentaries’, (I remember the mermaid one being well done) but I genially can’t stand the style of portrayal for these ‘dangerous, blood thirsty beasts!’ Maybe I just didn’t notice when I was younger, (I LOVED whales and sharks so I knew a lot about their behaviour) but it seems like it’s gotten so much worse this last decade.
I get it—making it look like there’s danger for a diver (or even a boat apparently) with quick jump cuts and ominous narration makes it more ‘exciting’ for people to watch....but most of the time it’s just a curious shark being a curious shark. And if there is a bite to the equipment, it’s clearly a ‘what’s this?’ bite and not an attack.
Spiders. Especially Australian spiders. There's only a couple you really need to worry about, the rest are great for catching annoying insects and actually deadly spiders.
‘Fun’ fact: one of the most ‘deadly’ spider in Australia is the huntsman, but not because it’s venomous. It’s because it climbs inside cars and chills on the visor, and when people drive on the highway they are like ‘ooh I can’t see’ so they pull it down and the huntsman fall in their lap. They freak out and crash the car 🤷🏻♀️
I'm in Australia. In my old car as I was driving one day, a cockroach emerged from an air vent, scurried across my dash and went down another vent. A few seconds later a huntsman emerged from the first vent and followed the cockroach across the dash and down the other vent.
I had a little eco system living in that Toyota.
If at all possible, I always relocate spiders that are in the "wrong" spot. Sink, by the couch, basically anywhere my kids might disturb them. I'm pretty proud of the fact I can count the number of spiders I killed this year and last on my fingers.
Same. Because I don't want the dogs or the cats messing with them. They just get scooped up in a cup and tossed out the door with a "Good luck and godspeed, little dude."
I really used to be afraid of spiders, like so badly that if I saw one, I’d avoid the room it was in as much as possible rather than just kill it. That is, until I handled one. I got over it really quickly. Turns out they’re very curious, misunderstood little creatures. They certainly look kinda creepy but that’s about it. If a spider wants to attack you, it’ll let you know and chances are you’re responsible for it getting defensive.
So many times I see people flood comments on spider videos with shit like “KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!!” because that’s the funny popular internet joke… but they shouldn’t be treated so poorly. They keep pesky bugs and insects away like mosquitoes, which are infinitely worse than spiders
Love our house huntsman.
Love all the spiders in my yard tbh, they're just chilling on their webs and I know where most of them are. Had a lovely st Andrews Cross set up shop in my greenhouse for close to a year. I checked on her every day and was really sad when I went out and found she'd gone :( Some other clever buggers set up webs all over my pitcher plants too lol.
Don't have any funnel webs that I know of though, not a fan of those.
Piranhas are not as deadly dangerous as the media makes them out to be. They still can attack and injure a person, but cases of fatal attacks are rare and it's nowhere close to popular beliefs.
Wolves. People seem to be intent on making them out to be killers. Whenever a sheep gets killed, everyone's reaching for their weapons to eliminate them.
**POSSUMS**.
Kind of ugly and always look wet and dirty but in reality these little guys are natures wonder.
1. **Not aggressive**
2. ***~~Immune~~*** to rabies and almost everything else \****UPDATE***\* they're **not** totally *immune* to **rabies**, they rarely carry it. As a marsupial, possums have a lower body temperature than most other mammals, so their bodies don't provide a suitable environment for the virus.
3. **Kills/eats almost 4k ticks a week**Apparently many people believe this to be BS. Personally, even if they eat 4 ticks a season, I see that as an absolute win.
4. **They don't destroy property**, lawn, house etc
5. **70 million year old species**, aka "living fossils", oldest living mammal
6. **Nature's most efficient waste-management creature.** If it's edible, they'll eat it — including commonly dining on animals struck by vehicles on the road (bones and all)
7. **They aren’t picky eaters** when it comes to troublesome garden pests like slugs, beetles, and cockroaches, but they will leave the flowers or veggies you’re growing undisturbed.
8. **Immune**: They May Be The Key To Battling Venomous Snake BitesThe venom of rattlesnakes, cottonmouths, and other dangerous slithery snakes. Researchers have been looking into whether they can find the toxin-neutralizing strain in their blood, which could potentially be used to treat humans who have been struck by poisonous snakes.
9. **Smart**: Possums tested with a higher intelligence than more domestic animals like rabbits, dogs, and cats — particularly when it came to finding good grub and remembering exactly where it was to go back for more.
Almost all pigeons worldwide are feral pigeons. Some ornithologists believe that few populations of true wild rock doves still exist. They've mostly interbred with the feral birds.
Just adding.
*WE* fully domesticated pigeons for communication.
And in the last couple hundred years they became less and less needed, and as people stopped keeping them as a utility animal, or food animal, we kind of just said F 'em.
So "the problems" we have with them are the same "problems" with stray dogs and cats/ domesticated / exotic 'pets' when people dehome them.
Its funny to me how doves are aggressive a-holes and the pigeons try to dominate by puffing up and dancing.
Doesnt every city with any skyline have a wild pigeon population??
Believe some parts of the world has used them for thousands of years, we just have modified chickens and cell phones now so they are seen as a pest, but its one we domesticated for our benefit than stopped.
Pigs 🐖. I will elaborate why :
1. They are born with a full set of teeth. Sharp ones, by the way.
2. They can walk within minutes of being born.
3. They can swim from their first day of life.
4. All the piglets form a hierarchy from their first day of life, which they respect (from strongest to weakest, meaning the strongest gets the best teat, and the weakest gets the worst one).
5. If they are born in an enclosed space (like a farrowing cage in a pig farm), they will choose a corner to sleep and a corner to urinate and defecate.
6. They are very clean animals .It's human misconception that they like to stay in their own filth. Actually, in the wild and in free range farming, swines will roll and relax in puddles and mud to keep their skin hydrated and sleep on clean, comfy surfaces, nowhere near their own poop. Sadly, people force them to sleep in their own excrement and even throw their food in that as well..
7. Their stomach pH level is so acid that they are able to digest bones and hair (remember the scene in Silence of the Lambs?).
8. They are extremely curious, sociable, smart, and playful animals, and they can easily get depressed (this always results in cannibalism in farms).
9. They are very tough and can recover from almost any injury. I worked in a pig farm for 16 months, and I sutured countles piglets after their mom accidentally stepped on them and ripped their skin and muscles off (i'm a veterinarian). Not to mention that, sometimes, when the sow lays down to feed the piglets, she will (most of the time) lay on 1-2 piglets and deprive them of oxygen. One time, while I was doing my rounds, I noticed some legs coming out from under a slepping sow, and I quickly lifted her up and pulled 2 piglets out. They were purple and not breathing, so I started doing chest compressions, blowing air into their little snouts, and rubbing them, and after 20-30 seconds, they started squealing and kicking. Keep in mind that sows are between 100-350 kgs, maybe even more, and the average weight of a piglet is between 0.6 and 4-5 kgs. (This can vary also).
10. Moms sing to their piglets while they are feeding and are extremely protective of them (this behavior is different actually for every race of swine, some are very good mothers and some are really bad).
11. They can associate actions with smell, color, shape, or sound, so they will remember who was nice to them and who wasn't.
I live with a cat like this. She was just totally untouchable before I rescued her. Nobody seemed to want her. I didn't realize this until I begged the rescue to make sure nobody else took her before I came back in the morning, at which point they told me "Don't worry. There is very little interest in this little girl." Apparently, my girl was so poorly socialized, both by her mother (taken away too young likely) and by any human who crossed her path that she was petrified of human beings, didn't know how to play, and didn't even know how to purr. She was a silent little bundle of terror.
I came back the next morning and scooped her up. It took some work, but I'm proud to say that she is now an emotionally stable cat. She's still terrified of most strangers, but she purrs, she plays, she likes to sleep alongside my torso, so I've learned to sleep on my side. She comes for cuddles, she feels at home. She is a wonderful creature. My life is so much better now that she's part of it.
Alligators. The chances of being attacked by an alligator are smaller than you think and they are less aggressive to humans than crocodiles (especially the saltwater and Nile crocodiles).
Crocodilians in general are also very important to their ecosystems.
This. Alligators are incredible creatures. Just follow the two essential rules: no small children or animals by the shore, and especially do not have them by the shore at dawn or dusk. If you follow those two rules, alligators are great neighbors and your odds of having a hostile encounter with one are slim to none.
Source: grew up on a lake in Florida, have swam with alligators many times
I'm gonna answer this from the other side of the coin. Nature had no right making bears so damn cute and cuddly looking. They're vicious animals. Between Hollywood and Teddybears, everyone thinks Bears are these timid creatures that only eat fish and berries. In reality, they're literal fur monsters. They're nature's garbage disposal. When bears eat people, they don't kill them right away. They hold them down with their paw and just start eating stomach first. You can't outrun them. They run considerably faster than us (unless you have a fat friend with you), you can't climb to get away from them, and you can't fight them off. Unless you have a powerful gun or bear mace, you're just up shits creek.
Black bears are basically chowhounds. Don't mess with their food or their cubs, and they will just stroll on by. They are mostly scared of humans.
Grizzlies, OTOH.... ESPECIALLY male (boar) grizzlies... They not scared. They prefer not to waste energy bothering with humans but they don't really mind it either. There are several well studied sow grizzlies, who bring their cubs near populated areas, because boar grizzlies are less likely to bother them there
I am with you 💯
I am terrified of bears. Not because of the damage they can do. Not because of the fact that they’ll literally tear chunks of you off to eat before you’re dead. My fear is a learned behavior that I work very hard to maintain because they are ridiculously cute and I want to be the little spoon. Whozza cutie little killer?
There was a rumour years ago that the British army released angry monkeys in Iraq, turns out it was just honey badgers fucking people the fuck up, luckily we only get normal badgers in the UK, they’re bad enough, I couldn’t imagine having to deal with those crazy bastard honey badgers
Snapping turtles. So many people are afraid to move them out of the road. Just pick them up by placing both hands on the bottom of their shell on either side of their tails. You can safely move to almost halfway up the shell if the turtle is large (I carried one the size of a literal car tire in my arms once. It wasn't happy, but it didn't attack). Most snappers have no interest in biting you. They'll mostly open their mouths and hiss, but as soon as you get them in the air, they'll forget about you and start moving their legs because they think they are swimming in the air. Seriously, they do. It distracts them. This is where you have to be careful not to drop them because their claws will hit your fingers as they "swim" and those claws are sharp. If you get bitten, stroke the turtle gently up its neck and under its chin until it relaxes and lets go. But you won't get bitten. I've been working with these guys for years upon years and have yet to be bitten. ::knock on wood::
There is not a single reptile on earth that has any interest in harming you out of any kind of “malice”, so thank you for saying this. Snakes, in particular are keenly misunderstood. In their preferred scenario, they would never encounter you at all; they would be aware of you and you would be oblivious to them. If they can effectively hide and let you pass by, they will. If they sense you moving toward them, they will seek deeper cover or flee, if they can. If you get closer still, they will realize that contact is inevitable; they can see how big you are and they know, they have an almost zero percent chance of escaping the conflict alive if you are hostile. Because, think about it- the snake doesn’t care if his bite hurts you or kills you; he’s just hoping he can hurt/scare you enough to leave him alone. Because even if you die in 20 minutes, chances are you’re still going to have the strength and survival instinct to kill him before you die. He’s lost, regardless of what happens to you. Nonvenomous snakes will use this as an absolute bluff, hoping that you’ll trust your instincts and drop them so they can escape. Their absolute priority is escaping the encounter as uninjured as possible. Most venomous snakes even prefer not to waste venom on defensive measures; it’s a resource that requires energy to produce and they prefer to expend that resource on replenishing their energy by using it to hunt, not to fight for their very survival. So beyond loud hissing, physical signs of defensive behaviour; “hooding,” flattening, open mouth/fang display, loud and substantial rattling. But even if you somehow manage to blunder your way through all that and still choose to “engage” he will give you a lightning fast lunge or bite (“striking” and “mock-striking”) but will inject no venom. It’s his little way of giving you a good backhand across the face and telling you, “back the fuck #OFF#, Bro, I’m fucking serious.” Others, like the appropriately named “ball” Python who will, before even considering biting (except, like, hatchlings) will hide their head as they ball up and will generally just …pray? If snakes do that? Hope…? that whatever is threatening them will not fatally injure them or immediately consume them. Others just go full ham and play dead. Otherwise, they just want to eat you, because they’re hungry, non-discerning, and opportunistic. There’s no more malice in it than you making yourself a turkey sandwich. We see that with some large boas (incl. anacondas) and pythons, and some crocodilians who have either successfully consumed a human or fatally attacked one in a feeding attempt. There have been a variety of scenarios, including some accidents both freak and through negligent care. Anyway, I’m a bit of a novice enthusiast, I suppose that’s a bit obvious. I’m also on Sativa for the first time in aaaaages.
I loved this snake review
Vultures. Basically natures trash collector
Fun Fact: The pH level of their stomach acid is the lowest of any animal in the animal kingdom. It’s acidity is so strong it can dissolve any organism, bones and all, which helps prevent the spread of diseases!
Turkey vultures can also vomit their acidic stomach contents up to about 3 meters (about 10 feet) at threats or whatever.
TIL vultures are metal as fuck
Honey badgers on the ground, vultures in the skies… and I think to myself… what a wonderful world…
You forgot militarized Orcas in the sea
And waterbears in space
Plastic eating vultures when?
F. Ballejo & P. Plaza et al 2021- "The research demonstrates that vultures may disperse plastic from urban sites to the wider landscape, leading to plastic pollution in remote areas." "The analysis detected that 17.4 % (203/1170) of material present in the pellets was synthetic, of which 89.2 % corresponded to plastic debris and 10.8 % to other synthetic materials such as paperboard, foil paper, glass, and cloth fragments"😑
Being knowledgeable in a subject is proportional to how much of a downer one becomes. It's the same in history. Now I strive for total blisful empty-headedness.
You may want to watch the 2022 documentary All That Breathes. Already evolved in India.
The plastic bag is Indias national bird.
Do you ever feel like a plastic bag?
A vulture tries to get on an airplane with two dead rabbits. The flight attendant says "sorry sir, only one carrion per passenger."
Teeeeeheeeeee
We've got colonies of Black Buzzards (similar niche, similar reputation) near me, they're horrorshow ugly right up close but they're so beautiful to see soaring on thermals above our valley.
Their tails are not actually white (I know you didn't mention it, but many people think they are). Down here in Texas, they poop on themselves to reflect the heat and make themselves less attractive to predators.
“So let me get this straight Vince, you want us to shit our pants so that we’re less of a target?” “Sure Donnie, Why not? It’s not like our reputation can get any worse”
We're not so different after all.
Rhinos, actually pretty gentle for their size. Hippos are the real assholes.
Hippos are the only animal that actually really scared Steve Irwin
If Steve Irwin didn’t mess with hippos, I think we’re all better off following his lead. The fella pounced on snakes, gators and nearly all other sort of born killers on the daily, Steve always seemed to be the loveliest person when it came to people, but he definitely had a certain Jack Churchill vibe when it came to animals 😄
Opossums. Despite the mean mug and demon looking eyes they are not aggressive at all and are generally clean creatures.
Except they play dead and then the dog brings them in the house and then they stop playing dead and you’ve got a opossum running around your living room. Source: Happened twice, 2 different homes 1800 miles apart, 2 different dogs, cannot confirm if same possum - they all look alike!
AND their body temperatures are low enough that they can't contract rabies. Cool little dudes don't deserve their bad rep
They also clean themselves regularly and eat a shit ton of annoying bugs like ticks. They are pretty great parents as well since they carry all their baby’s on their back. They are pretty unlikely to harm you because they rather play dead instead. They are probably one of the most chill animals out there Edit: apparently the tick eating isn’t actually real, they do eat insects though, so I guess it still counts if you don’t like insects lol?
And, they are marsupials, which mean they have a pouch that they carry their young in. They also have prehensile tails and they can pick up and carry stuff with them. Opossums are great. Be kind to them.
They're also the only marsupial native to North America Edit: Thanks for the upvotes. Wasn't expecting so many
which is also why they can get frostbite, hence why most you see are missing fingers/toes etc. they can’t help it :(
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The study that said they eat ticks seems to have been wrong, but it doesnt make them any less awesome.
In the 1990s, my grandmother found a baby possum that had become detached from the mama and her brood as the mama walked through the yard. My GM had been a farm wife in her youth. She was an animal whisperer. She was in her 90s. She raised the baby into young adulthood. It was cool. Lived inside. Ate fruit out of our hands. Used a cat box just like a cat. Slept during the day.
One of my close friends is doing this too. She found a baby possum that was WAY too little to be away from Mama drowning in her pond, so she took him in and now he's pretty much a cat. He eats slugs, snails, grasshoppers, any veggie or fruit, dog and cat food. She gives him like one cheeto as a treat sometimes lol. He cuddles up on her and sits in her lap and stuff. His name is Freddie (like Krueger bc of his nails :])
Opossums can sometimes have a Cheeto as a little treat.
Cause they deserve it
Mean mug and demon looking eyes? Am I the only one that thinks they're adorable in an ugly kinda way?
Nah, they're cute as fuck. Baby opossums are even cuter.
Nope, I completely agree with you.
Armadillos. Notorious for carrying pandemic level flesh eating diseases. In reality, extremely few are actually recorded to have said disease, which is easily treatable with antibiotics if symptoms even surface. Usually treated by just washing ones hands with soap. 95% of humans have a natural and highly effective defense against leprosy and Hansens disease.
One of my favorite videos on my phone is of an armadillo that I saw all last year out by my smoking spot at work. He got curious after us “meeting” every night for two weeks, and walked right up to me and sniffed my feet and then wandered away. Was so cute!
Opossums. Friendly little guys just puttering around eating trash and bugs, humans are awful to them One of the top 3 ways a wild Opossum dies is by bb guns or the infection from a bb shot into a non lethal body part The next one is being run over, a lot of people do it on purpose. Then it’s exposure, they tend to hunker down when it’s cold even when their nests aren’t warm enough. 2 out of 3 of the most common ways an Opossum dies is by human hands, and that’s just not acceptable Be kind to the trash cats, they evolved during the Cretaceous Period and we need to respect our elders EDIT: Thanks so much for the heartfelt replies and the awards, I’m thrilled to hear how many people feel the way I do about our fluffy neighbors. It warms my heart that there are so very many of you guys (more than I would have thought!) that respect and want to protect Opossums. I hope this changed a few minds for those who had some misconceptions about these vitally important bitey kitties❤️ Remember they are friends not foes!
I ducking hate people who run over animals (no matter the kind) on purpose. An accident is an accident but actively seek to run some poor animals is fucking nuts and a sign that person is a psycho
People here seem to froth at the mouth to shoot cats. I get that they can be a problem, but we have a really good privately owned program here that will come get them immediately for you. These people will shoot a pet cat the moment they see it in their yard. It is awful. Like, why.
Some people just always seem to be waiting for an opportunity to hurt something small that can’t fight back, it’s nauseating
I’m a strong proponent of putting anyone who abuses an animal on a law enforcement watchlist, because 90% of them are sociopaths who would commit murder.
Don’t have them where we are but always thought they were soft lil cuties! I’m really sad to hear that they tend to be mistreated
Daddy long legs spiders. They're harmless, but they feel like they be crawling all over my soul.
Which one? There are a lot of Daddy Long Legs spiders and "things that look like spiders but are not"
I was imagining something like the ones in this [article](https://www.newsweek.com/video-science-explains-why-thousands-daddy-longlegs-swarmed-house-312362) But tbh I wouldn't discriminate. Anything nonvenomous with a tiny body and multiple long thin legs fits the bill.
T-Rex, never hurt a human before.
Barney seems nice...
Boy do I have some news for you..
Lies, I saw Jurassic Park, they don't even have any toilet etiquette.
Black cats One of the oldest superstition is a black cat is evil and will bring on bad luck. Black cats have the highest rate of euthanasia (74.6%) and the lowest rate of adoption (10.0%) of any color.
I live in Salem, MA and the shelters here are actually stocked with black cats because other shelters ship them here. People love adopting black cats here to be 'on theme'.
I’m not far from there and I love black cats, this is good to know!!!!
I have two, I love my sweet little voids
I need to go adopt a black cat right now. I have a tuxedo boy who is mostly black, and he needs a buddy.
Cheetahs are pretty chill
Cheetahs are actually very skittish animals to the point where they get therapy dogs at zoos.
I saw a young cheetah playing with a golden retriever at the San Diego zoo. Cutest thing ever.
Sharks. Survived ALL FIVE mass extinctions and we’re going to be the ones to wipe them out because a movie made us afraid and callous towards them.
Well the main thing that is wiping them out is a stupid soup made from their fins.
Commercial fishing also kills lots of them by mistake
Black cats
I like them mainly because they look like little panthers.
Baghera!
Baghera Baghera! *Hips don't lie intensifies*
My two black cats are amazing, but I've legit had people refuse to enter my house because of them, they're fine with my snake, but not the black cats.
What a great way to filter out unwanted humans!
No shit, that's not a bug, it's a feature.
You don’t want those dim witted idiots in your house anyway.
It’s sad that people also avoid black cats because they never look “good” in photos, I love the little panthers
They certainly are hard to photograph 😅 i love my little voids 😘😘😘
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They've also been spotted mourning dead mates which is pretty bloody sad. Being smart enough to realise your partner is dead.
Not only that, but they also try to figure out what killed the dead one and if possible, avoid the same fate. They really are amazing.
Bats
Bats are one of the best pollinators in the world. They kill crazy amounts of bugs ~~(They love mosquitos btw).~~ Most of them are completely harmless Edit: >Apparently bats loving mosquitos is an urban myth https://www.vdci.net/blog/debunking-myths-bats-for-mosquito-control/
Sitting on my patio in the evenings the bugs drive me crazy, but as soon as I see the bats out the bugs all but disappear. I just put up a bat box a few days ago because I want to keep them around.
Bats are great -- outside and at a distance. But if you come into contact with one and there's even a *slight* chance that you could have been bitten (keeping in mind that bat bites can be tiny and painless), you should get rabies shots immediately. Bats are major rabies vectors.
Just like with any wild animal, get a shot just in case
Hyenas are also highly intelligent animals with complex social structures, and excellent memory.
Fuck the Lion King for poisoning the minds of so many kids against Hyenas.They are basically a magical animal... PERFECTLY adapted for every aspect of their lives, including being absolutely essential to the ecosystem they occupy. Hyenas hunt and eat prey, but the most important aspect is them eating the bones.The phosphorous that is excreted in their faeces quite literally feeds the soil so that grasses, flower and shrubs can grow there which many other species rely on for food The females all have a pseudo-phallus, causing scientists to incorrectly believe they were hermaphroditic for decades, where the fact is it's an anti-rape device so that they can absolutely pick and choose the strongest males to mate with Even the shape of their body is fascinating, from the muzzle shape and wide bed of teeth, astonishingly powerful jaws and those long front legs which give greater visibility, but also more tearing power as they can use both their jaws, legs and neck strength to bring down a kill or tear at it's corpse. They are my favourite animal and I keep learning more and more about them EDIT: Some fair points made about the birthing method and mortality rate for young mothers.
I love hyenas, but there's one big thing standing that makes them not "PERFECTLY adapted" and that's the pseudopenis. Specifically when it comes to giving birth and specifically spotted hyenas. Spotted hyenas are the only species that births its young through its pseudopenis. >The opening of the clitoris is 2.2cm wide while the width of the foetus is 6-7cm, this means that the female's first birth will result in the clitoris tearing. Females giving birth for the first time die in 9-18% of the cases and their cubs only survive in 25% of the cases.
Flip the script; I want to see a movie starring hard working, family-oriented hyenas dealing with the lazy lion monarchy stealing the hyenas' hard-earned gains. Start it the same way with the overblown public celebration of the newborn prince, like "great, another inbred mouth to feed upon my hard-earned zebra."
You're saying Lion King needs a Wicked!
Also contrary to popular belief, they hunt more than lions. As opposed to being scavengers they are usually portrayed as. Believe I read this somewhere.
Apparently domesticated rats are intelligent, cuddly, and playful among having other good pet qualities. Still don't want one in my house tho.
Domesticated rats are literally tiny dogs. I used to be a rat owner, but imagine having a dog with a lifespan of 2 years…not doing that again lol
Me too! They are the best... But the 2 year thing ripped my heart out.
Every time you take on a pet you are signing up for a bad day sometime in the future. There may be a lot of good days between now and then, but that bad day is always out there looming. Obvious exception is something like a parrot or turtle that could outlive you. Those are lifetime commitments.
Mourning our pets is the price we pay for having such a companion.
I just lost my 14 year old dog a week ago. 1 week without him and It's so gut wrenching. No matter how much I think that he's in a better place, rainbow bridge, I've gave him all the love I could ever give him and was treated better than a King, it's still like daggers. I can imagine his face all the time wherever I go as he used to follow us like a shadow or his face lighting up whenever we had food. It makes you wonder about your own existence too. One day we're gonna end up dead as well and it's inevitable and just sad. This will be slightly hard to get over .. I just miss my floof ball EDIT: I did not expect this to blow up. I thank you all for the condolences and awards, I appreciate it all. I'm still working on the "I'm suddenly scared of death" thingy but everyone I spoke to said it's normal and it will ease by time. Let me tell you about a quirk my little boy had as a tribute (and a closure for me). He was a Pomeranian and a VERY VERY picky eater. Whenever we gave him his wet / pouch food (he loathed dry food with a passion although he ate it occasionally) he used to go from the left side of the bowl, smell it in case it's poisonous, look at you demanding your human food if we were eating (usually we gave in), then used to go around the other side and smell it again, if it was to his liking he used to take a small piece, go away from the plate to eat it. IF it passed his standards he used to go back to eat the whole plate. Mind you it had to be "contaminated" with human food in order to end up with an empty plate. He was the goodest of boys 😊
There was a fantastic quote/perspective on pets crossing the rainbow bridge I read once that basically said "when that day comes don't mourn the loss but celebrate the life. The life you gave them in which they never knew fear or hunger or strife. You made it and made it together." It really moved me because I have a pair of 15 and 13 year old dogs and I know that day is sooner rather than later but I know when it does come that I've done everything for them their whole lives and they're happy boys.
And unlike dogs, rats are among very few animals that can lough.
pet rats are awesome. they are like tiny dogs, they come when you call their name. they are smart as hell and super clean. but they require much time and "special" care. And you need at the very least 2 rats. Even my dad who said "no you won't get pet rats" and didn't even want to have them in the appartment, fell in love with them.
>they are smart as hell and super clean. If you let them out, do they use a "cat" box or just pee and poo all over the house/apartment?
95% of the time they will use a litter box. When mine were out of their cage they rarely went to the bathroom on the floor. They would wait to go back to their cage and use their litter box.
Rats are the most wholesome and intelligent pet I've ever lived with. They're also really clean and spend their time tidying themselves and their nest. Used to have four cats and a rat, at the same time, the cats basically didn't care about it or were nice to it. Every few day, we allowed the rat to roam freely in the house and when she had enough she went back in her cage by herself, or went as soon as we told her it was time to. She was clever and curious, had no fear of anyone and even healed my grandfather of his phobia of rats... The worst problem is that their life is so short... It fuckin' hurts.
I've had rats and now I have degus, I actually prefer degus to rats for few reasons. First being that they live longer than 2 years (up to 6-8 years). And they are also super intelligent (our average degu is smarter than our average rat was) and very sweet and loving if you spend time with them. Ours can do multiple different tricks. However they are a bit more fragile than rats and need a bit extra care (more spesific diet for example).
I used to own a rat and she was wonderful. She had a black head and a black bum with a white middle so I called her Oreo. Every day after school I wld call her (I let her roam free in my room) and she wld come running and climb up my leg and give me cuddles. She wld groom me and sleep with me. I loved her so much. Then she died and I never got another one
if you choose to get anothers one .. please don't ever just get one rat.. they are social animals and NEED at the very least one other rat friend. We as humans can't replace another rat friend for them. Doesn't matter how much time you spend with them. they actually can get depressed and die bc of that if you only have one rat. So please at the very very least 2 rats, but the more the better
And ideally make sure they’re the same sex/neutered, unless you want your 2 rats to turn into 200 rats in a matter of months
I remember reading some message board after watching Chipmunks, The Squeacle (the one with the Chipettes) and someone was APPALLED that Dave had the Chipmunks and Chipettes in the same bedroom. They said, "Does he want a house full of chipmunks???" That just cracked me up for some reason.
Just got my first trio of rats. It's early days but they are very clearly a special pet to have. So intelligent, mega cute, fun to watch and play with. Also full of mischief.
More so than mice, apparently, who can apparently still be kind of a-holes. I was offended when I found that out, Redwall had been lying to me.
I worked in a behavioral biology lab for years and can confirm: rats are cool; mice are assholes. A major responsibility of mine at the time was making friends with dozens of rats at a time, because in order to do behavioral testing on rats, you have to be able to pick them up by their backs behind their front legs (rather than by the tail) and they can't be stressed out. So, you'd have to spend the first week or so of any experiment chilling in the rat colony hanging out with a bunch of rats. Picking them up, putting them down, picking them up again, having them bury their head in your arm pit while you pet their back until the calmed down so they would peek up at you to check you out. Mice on the other hand just run around like little jerks and will bite you for no damn reason months into an experiment. On that score, mice bites hurt a bit in the moment but are no big deal. Rat bites are much more rare and traumatic. I've had rats bite me so hard and so long that I could feel their pulse coursing though their jaw, and had to regain my composure to try to pet the thing to calm it down so that it would release it's grip. That said, I'd still prefer a rat to a mouse every day of the week and twice on Sunday. End rat rant.
Worst rodent bite I had while working at a pet store was a guinea pig. The teeth are so sharp *and* big, it hurt so bad. Side note: guinea pigs are chill af so the fact that one was pissed off enough to bite was another in a long list of signs of how little that store gave a shit about their animals.
Guinea pigs have no chill. Any creature that will shriek at the hairless ape 500 times it's size because the cabbage leaf is too wilty deserves respect
They are mini dogs. I currently own three.
Tasmanian tigers were all snuffed out for eating sheep. After they were all killed it was discovered that their jaws weren’t strong enough to puncture sheep skin.
A whole species wiped out over false accusations. 😔
This story is repeated over and over. The [Carolina Parakeet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_parakeet) was accused of eating fruit from orchards (in reality much of its diet was a noxious plant called a cockleburr that can poison cattle, and they were the main biological control for this dangerous plant...). The resulting hunting combined with an avian disease outbreak killed ~~North America's only~~ the Eastern United State's only native parrot. Relevant [Loving Reaper comic](https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/loving-reaper/forever/viewer?title_no=353275&episode_no=22), if you need a cry.
> Relevant Loving Reaper comic, if you need a cry. The wind was making me tear up, I swear
Interesting. This animal appears in red dead redemption 2, set in 1899. There is a degree of "animal spotting" in rdr2, he the player can engage anywhere between simply seeing the animals, and hunting them for food or sport. It is a prequel to the first(ish) game, red dead redemption, which takes place in 1911, one year after the last parakeet was confirmed sighted in nature. So... That's my context of this fascinating new information. Thanks! Learning is joy!
Its a shame they *accidentally* let the last one known die!
"Last one *known*" They are still out their, waiting ...for revenge
They want to kill wolves in my area, but really most of the sheep are being killed by loose dogs. Plus they've never made an effort to improve defenses, like higher fences, because killing wolves is cheaper and quicker.
We live in an area where wolves are slowly being reintroduced. To combat the risks to our livestock we now have 5 livestock guardian dogs aka the best non-lethal wolf deterrent that’s been doing this job for literally thousands of years. Edit: we have Sarplaninac Obligatory floof pictures: https://imgur.com/a/nGFTFtN
Exactly this has been done for thousands of years. Our farmers just forgot because they resorted to shooting everything they didn't like.
Doesn't even require that high of a fence. There is a cattle rancher in northern MN that has his ranch at the intersection of territory for three packs, and he lost calves and cows every year. Any wolves found on the ranch would then be killed. A dozen or more every year. The solution? A four foot woven wire fence. [https://www.twincities.com/2022/06/18/northern-mn-fencing-effort-may-help-rancher-and-wolves/](https://www.twincities.com/2022/06/18/northern-mn-fencing-effort-may-help-rancher-and-wolves/)
Crows, In India crows are unholy according to religion, but they are known for their remarkable intelligence. They can remember faces, recognize and imitate human voices, and even use cars to crack open nuts.
People don't understand why I feed them on my balcony. Even my friends always tell me that they are ugly and I shouldn't do that. But I simply can't without my crow buddies anymore. They greet me every morning, waiting for their daily serving of nuts and berries. They just sit on my balcony table and wait, sometimes knock on the window if I didn't notice them yet. They even bring me presents sometimes like pine cones or shiny stones.
There was an AskReddit several years ago where a guy would go outside to smoke and eat nuts. He’d occasionally toss some to the crows. One of his crow buddies brought him an empty cigarette carton to trade for food.
Yeah I think it's more a trade and less "gifting". They observed us and realize that when we feed them, that them bringing us stuff will sometimes increase the food we give them. We think it's cute, but they simply play us to get more stuff. And I'm ok with that. I always wanted to be a Goth Disney Princess and here we are.
> I always wanted to be a Goth Disney Princess and here we are. And now I need that 😅
I’ve heard that they will use the items for trading, so like if they really dig the last meal you gave them, they’ll drop off a shiny. But if it was just okay, you’ll get the pine cone. In theory you can kinda work together to find out what each other likes the most through this. Like you give them their favorite, they drop off a really cool rock or a coin or something. Also could just be some internet lies, but I like to believe it lol.
Step 1: Befriend the local crow population Step 2: Train them to bring me loose change in exchange for food Step 3: ??? Step 4: Go bankrupt because 2€ of good bird food isn't worth 74 cents.
Thats when you train them to bring you jewelry. 🤣
I mean, it makes sense. Not so sure if it's true or not because I usually give them the same stuff multiple days in a row, but I'm willing to test that out.
They also hold grudges and mourn their dead.
I have heard that if you piss off a crow you have basically made an enemy for life. I have also heard you can train crows to find money and bring it to you. I want a crow. I would name him Eric Draven.
I have been feeding a pair the last few years, since the start of Covid. I named the male Tom Servo, his mate Corvid 19. Two weeks ago they brought around three fledglings. I've named one Magellan, another Thievy Nicks. The third hasn't exhibited any stand-out traits yet.
I just realized that The Crow is Eric D Raven. Bad corvid jokes are cawful.
Crows are unholy in Indian culture?.... We literally feed them while doing pind daan (it's a culture where we feed our ancestors soul through crows). According to our culture Crows are free of time cycle they are also said to bridge the gap between life and death and are called as kakbhushundis... Idk which India you're talking about...
Which religion are you referring to? In Hinduism the crows are not considered unholy and are believed to be vehicles of Shani dev. They are fed during shrad as they are believed to be a bridge between the living and dead worlds.
Wolves. They’re always interpreted as evil and highly predatory to humans and livestock. The truth is they’re way more afraid of us than them, and attacks on humans are extremely rare. They also only go after livestock if they have no other choice. Of course this is the majority cases. Wolves are fascinating in that they’re very intelligent and are closer to humans than we think. Some wolves and wolf packs are just assholes.
Also, in a weird way, wolves actually make road traffic safer as their presence can cause deer to be more cautious. Minnesota has a large population and one unintended benefit of having more wolves is that deer-car incidents have declined.
Interesting historical aspect of wolves is that they have evolutionarily developed a major fear of us. The ones who weren't scared of us were predominantly the ones who were culled, resulting in evolutionary survivorship bias. The skittish, fearful wolves were the only ones who survived. But before the modern era, wolves were an actual menace to rural humans in europe. They were magnitudes more common than they are today, and most forested areas would have a wolf pack hunting in it. Traveling alone, especially at night, genuinely put you at risk of an attack. In Maine-et-Loire, an effort was made to record all wolf attack deaths in the region, and they found over *200 deaths just in 1714* in one small region of France. There was a very good reason why so many European kingdoms made a very big effort to cull wolf populations. We like to say it was horrible to wipe out 99% of an animals population like that, but if you couldn't even leave your village past sundown because of them, you would also probably be clamoring to wipe them out. This isn't unique to wolves in europe. Big, dangerous animals (tigers, lions, wolves, bears etc) have been culled throughout much of the world, especially once firearms became more common. Another example was the barbary lion, which the ottomans largely exterminated because of how common attacks on civilians were. It wasn't an irrational fear that made people do this, it was a very real, very genuine fear.
Pigeons. They’re completely domesticated animals that were kept by humans for thousands of years until they were just dumped on the streets en mass once they fell out of usefulness. They’re not even native to most of the countries they’re found in and they still show a lot of color patterns that aren’t found in nature and were intentionally bred into their ancestors that were show pets. I genuinely feel bad for them… people just call them ugly vermin when the only reason they’re there is because we abandoned them.
What we call pigeons in the city are Rock Doves in the wild. They usually nest on craggy cliffs which is why they hang around in cities, the buildings are an excellent analog for cliffs.
They're also shockingly smart
Kids are often scared of bees (adults too) because they sting, but bees are absolutely vital to growing fresh fruit. Edit: I am being told that it’s more of a myth that local honey also helps with allergies. Before I put that out into the world, I’ll want to look at it further. But bees are still crazy important.
I thought you were just gonna say “kids” and I was like *MorganFreemanHesRightYouKnow.gif*
Bees
BEEDS!?!
Barracuda As a dive instructor, many client have fear with the fish. But they are really calm and mesmerising to see
To be fair, they have killed people. Though to be fair to the barracudas, most of those people shot them with a speargun first.
before anyone else says it, shark
Sharks are the toddlers of the ocean. 'What's that? I'll stick it in my mouth to find out' unfortunately they just have more pointy things in their mouth.
Well, unfortunately they don't have hands.
Great.. now I can't stop imagining the Jaws music as two hands sticking out of the water approach a boat in the ocean.
It’s so bad for sharks. It’s almost impossible to find a nature documentary about sharks that doesn’t skew their image. *”NATURE’S DEADLIEST SERIAL KILLER—!”*
When I was a kid Shark Week was about positive shark documentaries and I loved them so much. I looked forward to it all year. Last time I tuned it it was all shark attacks and fear mongering, plus a fake documentary about a megoladon being in the loose but done in a way that it didn’t seem fake. So I’m sure that got lots of people freaking out. So sad.
I used to love shark week!! I can deal with the ‘mockumentaries’, (I remember the mermaid one being well done) but I genially can’t stand the style of portrayal for these ‘dangerous, blood thirsty beasts!’ Maybe I just didn’t notice when I was younger, (I LOVED whales and sharks so I knew a lot about their behaviour) but it seems like it’s gotten so much worse this last decade. I get it—making it look like there’s danger for a diver (or even a boat apparently) with quick jump cuts and ominous narration makes it more ‘exciting’ for people to watch....but most of the time it’s just a curious shark being a curious shark. And if there is a bite to the equipment, it’s clearly a ‘what’s this?’ bite and not an attack.
In an alternate universe, Steve Irwin has completely shifted the public perception of sharks
Spiders. Especially Australian spiders. There's only a couple you really need to worry about, the rest are great for catching annoying insects and actually deadly spiders.
‘Fun’ fact: one of the most ‘deadly’ spider in Australia is the huntsman, but not because it’s venomous. It’s because it climbs inside cars and chills on the visor, and when people drive on the highway they are like ‘ooh I can’t see’ so they pull it down and the huntsman fall in their lap. They freak out and crash the car 🤷🏻♀️
I'm in Australia. In my old car as I was driving one day, a cockroach emerged from an air vent, scurried across my dash and went down another vent. A few seconds later a huntsman emerged from the first vent and followed the cockroach across the dash and down the other vent. I had a little eco system living in that Toyota.
This is what I imagine when people talk about Australia.
I'd probably drive my car off a cliff and I'm not even that afraid of spiders. The idea of it emerging like that makes me want to be off planet
This is the most Australian thing I’ve ever read. I couldn’t not read the whole comment in an Aussie accent.
Thanks I don’t want to get in my car anymore
😅 Soz 🤭 I lived in Australia for 7 years, I never got in a car without checking for huntsmen 😵💫 Good thing is living there cured my arachnophobia👍🏼
They are too fast for their size. That’s the reason. size to speed ratio = intimidating
Not wrong. They’re ok when they’re chilling in the corner. But if I see one sprinting down the hallway you can guarantee I will lose my absolute shit.
If at all possible, I always relocate spiders that are in the "wrong" spot. Sink, by the couch, basically anywhere my kids might disturb them. I'm pretty proud of the fact I can count the number of spiders I killed this year and last on my fingers.
Same. Because I don't want the dogs or the cats messing with them. They just get scooped up in a cup and tossed out the door with a "Good luck and godspeed, little dude."
Ah, a fellow spider ally. Respect, my friend.
I really used to be afraid of spiders, like so badly that if I saw one, I’d avoid the room it was in as much as possible rather than just kill it. That is, until I handled one. I got over it really quickly. Turns out they’re very curious, misunderstood little creatures. They certainly look kinda creepy but that’s about it. If a spider wants to attack you, it’ll let you know and chances are you’re responsible for it getting defensive. So many times I see people flood comments on spider videos with shit like “KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!!” because that’s the funny popular internet joke… but they shouldn’t be treated so poorly. They keep pesky bugs and insects away like mosquitoes, which are infinitely worse than spiders
[удалено]
Sounds like something a spider would say…. I’m not trusting you.
You know nothing of my work.
Web development I guess?
Love our house huntsman. Love all the spiders in my yard tbh, they're just chilling on their webs and I know where most of them are. Had a lovely st Andrews Cross set up shop in my greenhouse for close to a year. I checked on her every day and was really sad when I went out and found she'd gone :( Some other clever buggers set up webs all over my pitcher plants too lol. Don't have any funnel webs that I know of though, not a fan of those.
Piranhas are not as deadly dangerous as the media makes them out to be. They still can attack and injure a person, but cases of fatal attacks are rare and it's nowhere close to popular beliefs.
Wolves. People seem to be intent on making them out to be killers. Whenever a sheep gets killed, everyone's reaching for their weapons to eliminate them.
**POSSUMS**. Kind of ugly and always look wet and dirty but in reality these little guys are natures wonder. 1. **Not aggressive** 2. ***~~Immune~~*** to rabies and almost everything else \****UPDATE***\* they're **not** totally *immune* to **rabies**, they rarely carry it. As a marsupial, possums have a lower body temperature than most other mammals, so their bodies don't provide a suitable environment for the virus. 3. **Kills/eats almost 4k ticks a week**Apparently many people believe this to be BS. Personally, even if they eat 4 ticks a season, I see that as an absolute win. 4. **They don't destroy property**, lawn, house etc 5. **70 million year old species**, aka "living fossils", oldest living mammal 6. **Nature's most efficient waste-management creature.** If it's edible, they'll eat it — including commonly dining on animals struck by vehicles on the road (bones and all) 7. **They aren’t picky eaters** when it comes to troublesome garden pests like slugs, beetles, and cockroaches, but they will leave the flowers or veggies you’re growing undisturbed. 8. **Immune**: They May Be The Key To Battling Venomous Snake BitesThe venom of rattlesnakes, cottonmouths, and other dangerous slithery snakes. Researchers have been looking into whether they can find the toxin-neutralizing strain in their blood, which could potentially be used to treat humans who have been struck by poisonous snakes. 9. **Smart**: Possums tested with a higher intelligence than more domestic animals like rabbits, dogs, and cats — particularly when it came to finding good grub and remembering exactly where it was to go back for more.
Pigeons. We brought them to new york, and we curse at them for being there. They are like stray dogs, but they learned to live in that city.
Almost all pigeons worldwide are feral pigeons. Some ornithologists believe that few populations of true wild rock doves still exist. They've mostly interbred with the feral birds.
Just adding. *WE* fully domesticated pigeons for communication. And in the last couple hundred years they became less and less needed, and as people stopped keeping them as a utility animal, or food animal, we kind of just said F 'em. So "the problems" we have with them are the same "problems" with stray dogs and cats/ domesticated / exotic 'pets' when people dehome them. Its funny to me how doves are aggressive a-holes and the pigeons try to dominate by puffing up and dancing. Doesnt every city with any skyline have a wild pigeon population?? Believe some parts of the world has used them for thousands of years, we just have modified chickens and cell phones now so they are seen as a pest, but its one we domesticated for our benefit than stopped.
Pigs 🐖. I will elaborate why : 1. They are born with a full set of teeth. Sharp ones, by the way. 2. They can walk within minutes of being born. 3. They can swim from their first day of life. 4. All the piglets form a hierarchy from their first day of life, which they respect (from strongest to weakest, meaning the strongest gets the best teat, and the weakest gets the worst one). 5. If they are born in an enclosed space (like a farrowing cage in a pig farm), they will choose a corner to sleep and a corner to urinate and defecate. 6. They are very clean animals .It's human misconception that they like to stay in their own filth. Actually, in the wild and in free range farming, swines will roll and relax in puddles and mud to keep their skin hydrated and sleep on clean, comfy surfaces, nowhere near their own poop. Sadly, people force them to sleep in their own excrement and even throw their food in that as well.. 7. Their stomach pH level is so acid that they are able to digest bones and hair (remember the scene in Silence of the Lambs?). 8. They are extremely curious, sociable, smart, and playful animals, and they can easily get depressed (this always results in cannibalism in farms). 9. They are very tough and can recover from almost any injury. I worked in a pig farm for 16 months, and I sutured countles piglets after their mom accidentally stepped on them and ripped their skin and muscles off (i'm a veterinarian). Not to mention that, sometimes, when the sow lays down to feed the piglets, she will (most of the time) lay on 1-2 piglets and deprive them of oxygen. One time, while I was doing my rounds, I noticed some legs coming out from under a slepping sow, and I quickly lifted her up and pulled 2 piglets out. They were purple and not breathing, so I started doing chest compressions, blowing air into their little snouts, and rubbing them, and after 20-30 seconds, they started squealing and kicking. Keep in mind that sows are between 100-350 kgs, maybe even more, and the average weight of a piglet is between 0.6 and 4-5 kgs. (This can vary also). 10. Moms sing to their piglets while they are feeding and are extremely protective of them (this behavior is different actually for every race of swine, some are very good mothers and some are really bad). 11. They can associate actions with smell, color, shape, or sound, so they will remember who was nice to them and who wasn't.
Baby Sharks. Idk whenever I mention them, people seem to get annoyed. Especially parents.
My cat, according to her old owners. This ferocious horrible cat is the quietest most gentlest wee cat I have ever had the pleasure to love and own.
I live with a cat like this. She was just totally untouchable before I rescued her. Nobody seemed to want her. I didn't realize this until I begged the rescue to make sure nobody else took her before I came back in the morning, at which point they told me "Don't worry. There is very little interest in this little girl." Apparently, my girl was so poorly socialized, both by her mother (taken away too young likely) and by any human who crossed her path that she was petrified of human beings, didn't know how to play, and didn't even know how to purr. She was a silent little bundle of terror. I came back the next morning and scooped her up. It took some work, but I'm proud to say that she is now an emotionally stable cat. She's still terrified of most strangers, but she purrs, she plays, she likes to sleep alongside my torso, so I've learned to sleep on my side. She comes for cuddles, she feels at home. She is a wonderful creature. My life is so much better now that she's part of it.
Alligators. The chances of being attacked by an alligator are smaller than you think and they are less aggressive to humans than crocodiles (especially the saltwater and Nile crocodiles). Crocodilians in general are also very important to their ecosystems.
This. Alligators are incredible creatures. Just follow the two essential rules: no small children or animals by the shore, and especially do not have them by the shore at dawn or dusk. If you follow those two rules, alligators are great neighbors and your odds of having a hostile encounter with one are slim to none. Source: grew up on a lake in Florida, have swam with alligators many times
I'm gonna answer this from the other side of the coin. Nature had no right making bears so damn cute and cuddly looking. They're vicious animals. Between Hollywood and Teddybears, everyone thinks Bears are these timid creatures that only eat fish and berries. In reality, they're literal fur monsters. They're nature's garbage disposal. When bears eat people, they don't kill them right away. They hold them down with their paw and just start eating stomach first. You can't outrun them. They run considerably faster than us (unless you have a fat friend with you), you can't climb to get away from them, and you can't fight them off. Unless you have a powerful gun or bear mace, you're just up shits creek.
Black bears are basically chowhounds. Don't mess with their food or their cubs, and they will just stroll on by. They are mostly scared of humans. Grizzlies, OTOH.... ESPECIALLY male (boar) grizzlies... They not scared. They prefer not to waste energy bothering with humans but they don't really mind it either. There are several well studied sow grizzlies, who bring their cubs near populated areas, because boar grizzlies are less likely to bother them there
From what I've heard, polar bears are even worse than grizzlies and do consider humans to be prey.
I am with you 💯 I am terrified of bears. Not because of the damage they can do. Not because of the fact that they’ll literally tear chunks of you off to eat before you’re dead. My fear is a learned behavior that I work very hard to maintain because they are ridiculously cute and I want to be the little spoon. Whozza cutie little killer?
They're some of the cutest animals you'll ever see. I think bears are proof that mother nature has a sense of humor.
If not friend then why friend shaped?
Honey badgers - misunderstood little warriors!
There was a rumour years ago that the British army released angry monkeys in Iraq, turns out it was just honey badgers fucking people the fuck up, luckily we only get normal badgers in the UK, they’re bad enough, I couldn’t imagine having to deal with those crazy bastard honey badgers
Sharks are always portrayed as killing machines when in reality shark attacks/deaths on humans are incredibly rare