How do you perceive wild animals? Do you think they will hunt or attack you? Utterly harmless? In between?
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I volunteer with wild animals, so I purposely do a lot of things animals may or may not like that most people won't normally do.
Very few animals will want to hurt you. Animals will do very little they don't have to do. This comes down to 2 main things: calories are precious, and there is no medical care. If you aren't food or pose a potential threat, they want nothing to do with you. Wasting calories and getting injuries makes it harder to get a next meal.
The classic fight/flight response has evolved into something more along the lines of fight/flight/freeze/fawn. Animals aren't dumb, and in almost every way their muscles and abilities are better than yours, so there are multiple options they have, and they will pick what they think is best.
They also have unique personalities, and won't all react the same. I have more scary squirrels at work than I do raptors.
It is also common to have small songbirds drive off hawks or owls, and the raptors just move on instead of fighting because the energy required and the potential for injury to fight isn't worth it. If you're messing with a nest, they may go after you, they may not.
Animals get dangerous when you take away some of their options, like the classic cornered animal. If you take away the option to flee, why wouldn't they think you're there to hurt them, and they will hurt you to protect themselves. Most will make noise to scare you so you go away or back off and give them an opening. If you get your hands on them and you are calm, they will often wait to see what you're going to do.
Learning how animals react to things and seeing how unique their personalities/risk tolerances are is one of my favorite parts of working with them. People act like animals are generic NPCs, but they've got unique minds that are the results of their collected experiences, just like ours.
Thanks for sharing! This is fascinating to me, do you have any resource I can read more about this topic?
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Thought everyone understood that wild animals can be dangerous, but mostly hide or run away.
Only laid eyes on a panther once. It had checked me out ahead of time, utterly ignored me. Only seen one gator that wasn't hauling ass away from my canoe or kayak. Saw a mama black bear with tiny babies galumphing along behind as she ran off. Went back the next day, couldn't see her, but I heard the warning! Water moccasins hiss and pitch a fit, run away. You'd have to be deaf and step on one. (I've come close!)
Then you got people like my wife. She went to meet me at the trail entrance the other night, saw a small animal cross the path, got spooked and ran back to her car. Daughter and I saw a roll of teenage armadillos, up close! My wife asked if they would attack us.
Wife's friend came over from England. She was choking down panic and the sun set on our camp in the swamp. I assured her that speaking in a normal tone of voice would scare anything away. Never been in wild woods and never at night!
I've had people online act like I'm an idiot for getting into the uncivilized places I often go. Many people here in NW Florida won't go on the water unless it's a large body and in a large boat. They think I'm going to get attacked in my kayak.
So, what's your perception of the animals where you live? Do you think the people in your area feel the same?
Let me modify a quote, "To believe all animals harmless would be folly. To believe none so, is something worse."
All manner of creature is variable. That which hungers shall attempt to hunt justly, that which starves shall hunt foolishly. This is to mean the threat is that which has to make drastic decisions.
That which is comfortably fearful shall let the traveler pass. That which is burdened by doubt, fear, and pain shall doubt the traveler. This is to say, the temperament of their emotions impacts the behavior. Those at a loss to something else will lash out to feel a fleeting sense of control.
All animals are capable of harm, however the animal of the wilds know it is better to let beasts slumber and pick your fights. Another day shall be won if you act without unbridled necessity, haste, or pride. The insect that stings is the insect that is killed, the lion who eats man is the lion that is hunted.
It is the comfort of living unencumbered that makes the creature insidious. Social living and the security that makes one desire more than what they have.
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Thanks for sharing! This is fascinating to me, do you have any resource I can read more about this topic?
Glad you liked it! I'm always up for encouraging you all to learn about your animal neighbors.
This one focuses on Fawn.
This one is about Freeze in humans and animals. Skip the abstract and the rest isn't too bad to read. This one is a lot more technical but has good charts.
After that, if you want more, just searching "fight flight freeze" will give you a ton. The "fawn" gets called a few different things so leaving it off might get you more results and you can add "human" or "animal" if you want specific things for those categories.
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If the animal can physically hurt me, i will keep my distance. E.g. i don't mess with cows in a field, even though they are likely harmless. I usually have to cross fields when going to fishing spots. During the summer they are full of animals that could EASILY kill me by mistake. Therefore i keep my distance.
Smaller animals and bugs that i know aren't venomous don't bother me in the slightest.
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Thought everyone understood that wild animals can be dangerous, but mostly hide or run away.
Only laid eyes on a panther once. It had checked me out ahead of time, utterly ignored me. Only seen one gator that wasn't hauling ass away from my canoe or kayak. Saw a mama black bear with tiny babies galumphing along behind as she ran off. Went back the next day, couldn't see her, but I heard the warning! Water moccasins hiss and pitch a fit, run away. You'd have to be deaf and step on one. (I've come close!)
Then you got people like my wife. She went to meet me at the trail entrance the other night, saw a small animal cross the path, got spooked and ran back to her car. Daughter and I saw a roll of teenage armadillos, up close! My wife asked if they would attack us.
Wife's friend came over from England. She was choking down panic and the sun set on our camp in the swamp. I assured her that speaking in a normal tone of voice would scare anything away. Never been in wild woods and never at night!
I've had people online act like I'm an idiot for getting into the uncivilized places I often go. Many people here in NW Florida won't go on the water unless it's a large body and in a large boat. They think I'm going to get attacked in my kayak.
So, what's your perception of the animals where you live? Do you think the people in your area feel the same?
I'm in an urban Midwest area & most of the "scary" wildlife stays away. The raccoons are probably the most "dangerous" common thing I see, and they usually run off at loud noises, unless they're drunk.
I've seen coyotes, but never closer than about 20 yards or so, and at that range they are usually running away.
Deer are skittish, and mostly only dangerous jumping in front of your car.
The one encounter I had that I was actually afraid was trying to get an 18 inch wide snapping turtle out of the street. A big stick & a ratchet strap accomplished that with no one getting hurt.
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Thought everyone understood that wild animals can be dangerous, but mostly hide or run away.
Only laid eyes on a panther once. It had checked me out ahead of time, utterly ignored me. Only seen one gator that wasn't hauling ass away from my canoe or kayak. Saw a mama black bear with tiny babies galumphing along behind as she ran off. Went back the next day, couldn't see her, but I heard the warning! Water moccasins hiss and pitch a fit, run away. You'd have to be deaf and step on one. (I've come close!)
Then you got people like my wife. She went to meet me at the trail entrance the other night, saw a small animal cross the path, got spooked and ran back to her car. Daughter and I saw a roll of teenage armadillos, up close! My wife asked if they would attack us.
Wife's friend came over from England. She was choking down panic and the sun set on our camp in the swamp. I assured her that speaking in a normal tone of voice would scare anything away. Never been in wild woods and never at night!
I've had people online act like I'm an idiot for getting into the uncivilized places I often go. Many people here in NW Florida won't go on the water unless it's a large body and in a large boat. They think I'm going to get attacked in my kayak.
So, what's your perception of the animals where you live? Do you think the people in your area feel the same?
wrote last edited by [email protected]Panther or gator close in the wild, yup you seem crazy. Works out until it doesn't.
Oh and bear with younglings. Especially any animal with young ones!
You could not escape any of those three animals if things went south.
This is from a German perspective and we might only like have a wild boar that could massacre us (which are not just easy food as depicted in comics). Maybe you also just have the weaponry to feel safe.
But especially even knowing house cats very well I see a lot of people insanely overestimating themselves.
E.g thinking they could hold a candle to a (muscle only) shimpanzee or people trying to pet a wild horse, the latter being lucky to get away with their life and only bruises instead of easily broken arm and bleeding to death.
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Thought everyone understood that wild animals can be dangerous, but mostly hide or run away.
Only laid eyes on a panther once. It had checked me out ahead of time, utterly ignored me. Only seen one gator that wasn't hauling ass away from my canoe or kayak. Saw a mama black bear with tiny babies galumphing along behind as she ran off. Went back the next day, couldn't see her, but I heard the warning! Water moccasins hiss and pitch a fit, run away. You'd have to be deaf and step on one. (I've come close!)
Then you got people like my wife. She went to meet me at the trail entrance the other night, saw a small animal cross the path, got spooked and ran back to her car. Daughter and I saw a roll of teenage armadillos, up close! My wife asked if they would attack us.
Wife's friend came over from England. She was choking down panic and the sun set on our camp in the swamp. I assured her that speaking in a normal tone of voice would scare anything away. Never been in wild woods and never at night!
I've had people online act like I'm an idiot for getting into the uncivilized places I often go. Many people here in NW Florida won't go on the water unless it's a large body and in a large boat. They think I'm going to get attacked in my kayak.
So, what's your perception of the animals where you live? Do you think the people in your area feel the same?
wrote last edited by [email protected]Mostly harmless if you leave them alone, but I wouldn’t want to fight any of them. And isuppose when it’s mating season or there are cubs, all bets are off. I have to admit I back away from geese though
It probably helps that I live where there really aren’t dangerous animals. Technically there could be rattlesnakes but I don’t know anyone who’s encountered one. Black bears don’t want to bother. Moose are mostly dangerous while driving. Coyotes don’t want to deal with adults, unless you’re with snack on a leash
When I was a kid, the adults always stressed not to have food in your tent while camping because “it’ll attract bears”. Aside from a few places where bears have gotten fat off trash they don’t want to deal with people. It’s the raccoons and mice that will chew through your tent to get the food, and the most likely problem is now you need a new tent
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Everyone just stays inside pretty much. As in... 99% of the population lives in a city and there just aren't any snakes.
There's a bunch of other reasons too though. Snakes are reclusive by nature. They're well camouflaged and easily hide themselves among leaves and bushes and plants on the ground. They actively avoid being seen by humans, they do not want an interaction with a human because it will always be a negative outcome, in that they can't eat a human.
You could walk 10km through the bush, be reasonably observant, walk within 2m of a dozen snakes, but not see a single one.
OTOH there's mountainbike trails where you'll encounter several in a day. You're moving quicker, and they can't feel your footfalls so don't have time to hide.
The thing is... 99% of the snakes I've encountered are deadly venomous. We have pythons but I never seem to see them. Here it's always Tiger snakes or Dugites which are both "stop moving and call an ambulance" type emergencies if you get bit.
We have somewhat the opposite here. 99% of snakes are not dangerous. We used to catch them for fun, although their bite is still painful so eventually I grew up. Of course then I also found out that technically there could be venomous snakes so I decided that activity was stupid
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Thought everyone understood that wild animals can be dangerous, but mostly hide or run away.
Only laid eyes on a panther once. It had checked me out ahead of time, utterly ignored me. Only seen one gator that wasn't hauling ass away from my canoe or kayak. Saw a mama black bear with tiny babies galumphing along behind as she ran off. Went back the next day, couldn't see her, but I heard the warning! Water moccasins hiss and pitch a fit, run away. You'd have to be deaf and step on one. (I've come close!)
Then you got people like my wife. She went to meet me at the trail entrance the other night, saw a small animal cross the path, got spooked and ran back to her car. Daughter and I saw a roll of teenage armadillos, up close! My wife asked if they would attack us.
Wife's friend came over from England. She was choking down panic and the sun set on our camp in the swamp. I assured her that speaking in a normal tone of voice would scare anything away. Never been in wild woods and never at night!
I've had people online act like I'm an idiot for getting into the uncivilized places I often go. Many people here in NW Florida won't go on the water unless it's a large body and in a large boat. They think I'm going to get attacked in my kayak.
So, what's your perception of the animals where you live? Do you think the people in your area feel the same?
wrote last edited by [email protected]I spent a month counting animals in a small African preserve. The way it worked was that each member of the team would walk in a given direction for a few hours and make a note of all the animals we'd see in a two hundred metres radius. Also we all had one ranger which came with a 1940s rifle and one bullet.
There were one or two countings per day. We saw lots of animals. I never saw any large predators, although I saw lion tracks a few times. Hippos were probably the most dangerous animals we regularly met, so the banks of lakes and rivers were avoided. The other animals ignored us or avoided us.
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I spent a month counting animals in a small African preserve. The way it worked was that each member of the team would walk in a given direction for a few hours and make a note of all the animals we'd see in a two hundred metres radius. Also we all had one ranger which came with a 1940s rifle and one bullet.
There were one or two countings per day. We saw lots of animals. I never saw any large predators, although I saw lion tracks a few times. Hippos were probably the most dangerous animals we regularly met, so the banks of lakes and rivers were avoided. The other animals ignored us or avoided us.
Always fascinated to learn how animal populations are counted! Kayaking with my gf, we ran into a nerdy college student on the river's edge with a clipboard. He was tallying soft-shell turtles! Neat! Funny thing is, I have no idea how he got to where he was, and he certainly wasn't dressed for the mission.
Anyway, nice to hear about people like you, out in the field doing the work.
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Always fascinated to learn how animal populations are counted! Kayaking with my gf, we ran into a nerdy college student on the river's edge with a clipboard. He was tallying soft-shell turtles! Neat! Funny thing is, I have no idea how he got to where he was, and he certainly wasn't dressed for the mission.
Anyway, nice to hear about people like you, out in the field doing the work.
That's (a small part) of how wild populations get classified by the IUCN
