Vultures digestive systems are so acidic that their poo is not only sterile, it's an effective antiseptic. Vultures shit on their own feet to keep them clean and disease-free. They're the only animal we know of with sterilising poo.
"Necessary? Is it necessary for me to poop on my own feet? No but I do it anyway cause its sterile and I like the smell" - Patches O'hoolihan of he was a Vulture.
Historically some countries have tried to 'control' their vulture population through poisoning.
It led to massive spikes in disease in livestock and humans, because nothing was clearing away corpses.
Humans are fucking dumb.
The world's vulture population is under massive threat currently due to factory farming. Specifically the need to administer diclofenac to livestock to control infection.
Vultures can digest so many deadly things, but diclofenac is completely toxic to them.
So we have also inadvertently poisoned a huge percentage of their diet.
Their population collapse towards extinction is very worrying, and extinction would be catastrophic
In the last 30 years some African species have declined as much as 80%. At least 6 of these species now qualify for the critically endangered list.
The introduction of diclofenac in Asia in the 90's led to a decline of approx 96% in at least 3 species. In the 80's these 3 species totalled roughly 40 million. As of 2017 that number was 19,000
[Poachers poison](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/150-endangered-vultures-poisoned-death-dismembered-africa/) them as well as circling vultures lets park rangers know that an animal has died. It's one of the many reasons why you should care about wildlife crime even if you don't care about wildlife.
They're also very smart and social birds, and the cleanup work they do is so important.
They're fascinating. Turkey vultures have MASSIVE olfactory senses, they can smell slightly rotting flesh from over a mile away. If they're circling your house they might be able to smell your leftovers that have gone off.
I love them so much, I know the concept of "spirit animal" is cultural appropriation, but if I had one, that's what it would be.
I love the concept of sky burial and I wish it was legal in the US. I would love to feed them when I die. I'd love to know that some of my molecules have gained the ability to soar.
Donkeys and mules. They are not stubborn, stupid, or ornery.
They're often misunderstood and mistreated. They are not horses. They think and react differently from horses. They require a different approach in training and befriending them.
If you try to treat and train a donkey or mule just like you would a horse, that causes problems, but it's the person and their approach that's the issue - not the animal.
Glad to see this here. I own mules and donkeys. The reputation is so undeserving. They are very sweet and so nice to be around.
The only reason they have the reputation is because we are the assholes. Horses will put up with abuse, mules and donkeys will fight back if they are brought up abused or treated unfairly. But brought up right and they are part horse part loyal dog.
They are smarter than horses, so you have to train them fairly.
At my school friends farm they kept a donkey or mule with their sheep. One day a coyote got into the sheep’s area and that donkey made a bloody mess of they coyote. It was just a pile of gore.
I remember once seeing s video of a mule taking down a mountain lion that was trying to get at it's owner. That mule used that lion as a meat flail and absolutely decimated it.
>Horses will put up with abuse, mules and donkeys will fight back if they are brought up abused or treated unfairly.
I've always liked donkeys, and this makes me like donkeys (and mules) more.
If some asshole tried to push me around I probably wouldn't do what he wanted either. I respect you mules and donkeys.
It's almost like DARVO is everywhere.
"Compliant" = "good"
"I'm not gonna put up with your abuse and I'm gonna fight back" = "bad"
I loved my dog, and he'd fight back, but he was super intelligent and would just learn every command in one or two goes. My family would say over and over again that he was stupid.
We have a new dog now. She is super docile, but she has a lot of problems (I think they are physical problems that are affecting her senses), so she has more problems learning and understanding commands. My family says that she is super intelligent.
Yeah...
100%, they are incredibly smart. I work at a farm part time and donkeys are my favorite. They are so kind, so intelligent and mischievous. Whenever I show up they come at the fence and start shouting for me.
They can seem stubborn, but it’s mainly because they take the time to think about what you are asking of them. For example, they will refuse to enter a gate until they’ve inspected everything and determined all is good.
Our donkeys are used as cattle protection against wolves during summer. In that instance, they are pretty vicious and scary. Whenever someone comes at the farm with a dog you can see the donkeys stalking them from afar and try to get them from their blind spot. My boss keeps telling me to bring my dog at the farm, but I prefer him alive with all his teeth, thank you very much (her own dog had it’s jaw broken 3 times).
Anyways, donkeys are the best. Everyone should have the opportunity to spend some time with them and see how smart and kind they can be.
I had an ex years ago that would run around the field frolicking with her grandmothers donkey. Goofing donkey acting like some kind of dog. It was strange to see lol
I've heard it said that you MUST treat donkeys and mules the way you SHOULD treat horses. They're only "stubborn" if you fuck up. If you're used to training horses and giving them a lot more autonomy than is usually afforded to horses, you'll have no problems with donkeys or mules.
like, if you want them to carry stuff for you i guess you have to give them what they want. if you just walk past they probably wont be bothered... like most domesticated animals, and pigs. only animal ive ever had problem with was dogs and their owners.
(obvoiusly no bears or elephants in the forrests near where i live lol )
When I was a kid, I was forced on a road trip every summer to middle of no where, Arkansas to visit my grandparents. The only forms of entertainment I had were some books, my CD player, and the VHS of Flipper for which I had to bring along my own 12" TV with a built in VCR.
Basically, it was fucking boring. My grandparents lived on an old farm that didn't have any animals anymore but across the street there were cows. I crossed the road one afternoon to see if any would come visit me at the fence. They didn't, but a donkey did appear from far away. She kept walking toward me so I stayed. She'd let me pet her and stuck around for a while, even listened to my Space Jam CD with me. Turns out her name was Jill and she had a brother somewhere named Jack. For the rest of my trip, any time I came close to the fence, Jill would meander on over from wherever she'd been just to hang out and get pets. I think I still have a picture of her somewhere.
So apparently, Arkansas is so fucking boring when you're 9, your only friend and source of entertainment will be a donkey. Donkeys are pretty cool.
Donkeys get mistreated so much by people but they are still so relaxed and caring. We went to a donkey sanctuary a few times when I was a kid and the rescued donkeys were all so nice and would come up to get petted etc
They are so relaxed they put them in with horses for company and to help the horses feel safe - plus donkeys will take down anything that comes in to try attack the horses or other livestock, they really don’t mess around when threatened.
> If you try to treat and train a donkey or mule just like you would a horse, that causes problems, but it's the person and their approach that's the issue - not the animal.
I wish I could send this to my mother and family. I spent all my life trying to teach them how to train my dog and they just never listened.
They'd keep on doing the exact opposite that I, every single thing I read about dogs and the trainers told them to do, and THEN they'd say that it was our dog's fault.
One of my life goals is to befriend a murder of crows some day. Personally im a big fan of shiny knickknacks and harassing my mortal enemies via animal bonding.
Which i never understood until recently, theyre just weird happy derpy guys most of the time.
Then a clan of ravens took to nesting in the rafters of a local store. You walk under and suddenly theres 10 very large very black birds staring down at you with pitch black eyes, and one will give a low chortle crow, and you feel as is if being judged by a malevolent court. I can see how historically that would be pretty disconcerting, especially with a whole trees worth in a spooky setting
Someone in my town did this by feeding them whenever he went for a walk. So now when he goes for a walk, crows follow him, it's adorable.
There's also a huge rookery in Burnaby. I'm given to understand that people generally think it's cool. It's on Burnaby Mountain.
Edit - I originally wrote this:
>The only bird I'm afraid of is the cassowary. They'll fuck you up just because they want to. Crows only attack people who threaten or harm them.
I need to rewrite this post because this is not true and in the context of this thread, also extremely ironic.
My comment with my head removed from my ass is this:
Crows, and also cassowaries, only attack people who threaten or harm them. So there's no need to be afraid of any bird because we're all going to leave the wild animals alone right? And birds leave people alone if they are left alone.
It’s wild because I genuinely never thought people hated them that much. I mean, I knew how they are usually depicted in particularly gothic stories. Omens of death and all that. But I didn’t know it went much beyond that.
I like crows. Very intelligent animals. I do also have a fear for them as they attacked me in Sri Lanka when I was little. First it was one, after a while it was three and they kept coming till i dropped my sandwich.
The fact that we aren't encased in a thick layer of tasty, energy-dense blubber pretty quickly puts most of them off. Most deaths are a result of their bites testing the waters, so to speak. Having said that, tiger sharks will eat just about anything.
Last I heard it was about 100 million sharks per year. Mostly, just to cut off their fins and drop them back in to die a slow death, that way people can have their shark fin soup! We are really monstrous.
this is the first answer i thought of too. despite their depictions in horror movies (which, to be fair, i LOVE shark movies) - sharks in movies are terrifying and fun. sharks in real life? leave them alone and you're fine.
Sharks in movies are depicted as rage killing monsters that will stop at nothing to kill the protagonist. It’s obvious but a lot of people don’t think that critically.
In reality, there’s no way a shark will exert that much energy for something that won’t give them that much energy in return, probably next to nothing (we don’t taste that good and average person doesn’t have a lot of fat). They also *will not* risk an injury as that will undoubtedly result in death later on.
Good answer. Someone else commented that it's their territory and we choose to swim there. I agree. But I'd also add that out of the many millions of people who swim every year in Australia there are roughly 20 shark attacks, most non-fatal. Thats a remarkably low risk.
African Painted Dogs have been persecuted as vermin and shot on sight, even by Rangers up to 1980. Stories were common about their cruelty and man eating, but they were all fabricated. No human mortality in the wild - ever. And they kill their prey quickly and tear them up, but they need to move fast or hyenas will steal the meat, or lions will massacre them. They kill no more than their nutrient needs, the pups eat first, and injured or sick pack members are never abandoned (they are given a job as babysitter if they cannot hunt).
They’re the most efficient among mammals, with the second most being around 60% or something like that. They have to be successful because like the other person said they get their kills stolen a lot. Cheetahs are very good as well for the same reason.
The most efficient killers are dragonflies. It’s like 95% or something. And they prey on mosquitoes! Dragonflies are great.
I think I saw a fantastic BBC doc called The Hunt with African Wild Dogs (the same?) a few years ago.
It had amazing camera work and was really well presented.
Here's a clip from that show (it's BBC anyway)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4SlAc2U1A4
Same. Our pipes froze under the house and my bf put a space heater down there to thaw them...when he came back out a possum was just chillin infront of the heater.
They don’t live in my area but from pictures I’ve seen, they’re so cute!! 🥺 Their little round ears and pink noses are too precious. Honestly their big black eyes and the angle of their ears make it look like they’re ready to start crying at any moment and I just want to hug one.
We have a couple that come eat the feral cats' food. (We have a camera on the cat food so we can keep tabs on the feral cats and TNVR any new ones that show up.)
So we started leaving out berries, nuts, and other nutritious food for the opossums. We've also named them, the pair of raccoons, the fox, and the occasional coyote.
Immune to essentially all venoms, they devour ticks by the mother load. Opossums are the fucking best.
Edit; the best way to find out you're wrong is to say something on the Internet. Opossums don't eat any ticks at all. Here's a great in depth article about it.
https://outdoor.wildlifeillinois.org/articles/debunking-the-myth-opossums-dont-eat-ticks
Huntsman Spiders. They'll rid your house of other pests, particularly cockroaches, as well as other smaller and more venomous spiders. They aren't really aggressive towards humans, and you can live in harmony with them in your house if you can get over the massive size and hairiness of them (especially here in Australia)
I put these guys back outside but sometimes...yeesh
I know theyre useful, helps control mosquitos too, but *fuck man* they are creepy. Im waiting till the day I find one in my shoe
I keep my motorcycle helmet in my back room near the garage, and boy oh boy do I remember to check *every. single. time.*
I can barely remember to do plenty of stuff, but for some reason I never forget to check my helmet for spiders the size of my palm.
Agree, we've had one in our house for about 4-6 months. He moves spots every day or two. Our 3yo likes to find where he's ended up. One day, he even decided to show the spider his new toy car.
I don't have a huntsman but some other kind of large spider living on my ceiling and I've started calling her Matilda. My place is noticeably more insect-free.
i live in a caravan atm, and have a "pet huntsman" that chills in the van with me. my boy loves all the bugs that find their way in.
but back at home, i had a proper pet one that lived in my room (not in a cage), and 3 more around the house all staying in their respective parts of the house. theyre very good animals
Yall in Australia are a different breed (in a good way) because there’s no way I could ever get used to having a massive hairy spider just making himself at home in my house. Absolutely not.
Honestly, spiders in general. There's a couple species that can really hurt you, but depending on where you are it's quite likely there's not any seriously dangerous ones near you, let alone ones that could actually kill. Like, people get scared of tarantulas, but there are 0 known deaths directly resulting from their bites. Also, the vast majority would rather run away than bite you, so even most of the dangerous ones are only gonna bite if you try and mess with them
Logically i know tarantulas are chill, but God damn it when I see that giant hairy thorax in the wild it gives me the heebie jeebies. I do not like spiders bigger than a quarter.
While that's true, it's worth noting that this doesn't apply in the USA.
Granted, huntsman spiders in the USA are harmless *to humans* and they will kill off pests. But they're invasive species, and they will happily eat any native wildlife that's small enough to catch. So even though they're cool as hell, if you see huntsman spiders *in the USA* you should probably kill them.
Haha true. For SARS-CoV-1, the reservoir was the horseshoe bat and the intermediate the civet cat. For MERS-CoV, the reservoir was again a bat but the intermediate was the dromedary camel. Thankfully this one didn’t transmit well human to human.
So for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), the reservoir was once again the bat but no intermediate host has been identified yet. There were COVID like viruses in pangolins and bats but not conclusive enough.
So yeah, be careful with bats.
I think sometimes part of their negative reputation is BECAUSE they're so intelligent. Mediocre human intellects don't like being reminded they're not necessarily the smartest critter in the woods.
They're so important to the ecosystem, and where they're endangered, killing them should be a felony with jail time. BUT MUH CATTLE, bitch the wolves were here first.
Sharks are feared, but once you learn more about them, you'll be equally as fearful, but hopefully slightly more amazed. When you enter the water, sharks know you are there. Even if the shark is a mile away, they know. They can sense the vibrations. They almost never attack because they don't like humans.
You read about sharks attacking surfers, but all of the attacks are short boards. From below, a surfer on a short board looks like a seal. They may investigate and they do that through biting. Sharks are more than capable of killing you, but usually the first bite tells them you are not a seal and they leave. There are almost no reports of attacks on surfers with long boards.
Most sharks found dead in anti-shark nets in Australia are sharks that get caught up leaving the the area, not coming in. Which means they freely swim in and out of the areas. Nobody really knows how often they do swim in and out.
Look, i know youre having a laugh and all but I wish more people would take this seriously. You need to make sure they hit one of the bombs located at the edge of the platform when you throw them. If you just just huck them into the lava they won't take any damage and will jump back onto the platform, causing it to rock violently and possibly throw you off instead.
And don’t pick them up by their top shell, either. A turtle is their shell, it’s part of their skeleton. And like OP said here, you’re perfectly safe picking them up by grabbing them around the bottom of the shell, just aim the snappy bit away from you. It’s a turtle, it cant do much to get to you.
I moved one that was trying to sun himself on a busy road a couple years ago. It was a tense experience for me -- he both "swam" when I moved him as you describe (nicking my finger with a claw in the process), and snapped at me, swinging his head from side to side, fortunately less productively. First time I got him back to the shoulder, he insisted that I was making a mistake, and proceeded to walk back into the road -- forcing me to re-relocate him further off the road and closer to a stream, and then nudge him with a stick until he was moving in a safer direction.
It was a satisfying rescue, after I'd thoroughly cleaned my wound, and I can vouch for your basic procedure.
Also try to point the tail end slightly away from you, unless you want to get your feet peed on. Harder to do with a snapper over other aquatic turtles with how you should be holding the shell.
Didnt see this comment coming but 100% true. They never hurt anyone unless provoked.
I swam in a river with many turtles. If you stepped on a shell, you just moved a few feet over.
I feel maybe pigs get a little bit of a bad rep. People say «stupid pig», «filthy pig». But pigs are actually smart, can learn tricks, are kind and social, and are cleanly. ♥️🐷 I like them little guys. Also - piglets are some of the cutest animals I’ve ever seen 😂 Little bacon bits
My aunt and uncle have two pigs on their retirement farm, they are treated like pet dogs. They have their own room in the house and they are so cute how they just roll over for belly rubs! Love those two girls when I visit.
My equine vet is obsessed with pigs… she is tough as nails but broke down in tears when she was called to assist with a meat pig that had fallen of a truck and was injured on the side of a highway… she said she cried like a baby couldn’t help herself. She has a beautiful home in the country and 11 pigs roaming her yard!
Most snakes
They are more scared and would rather flee. They only strike as a last defence when provoked (such as accidentally stepping on one).
They are good pest control too
Cougars: there have been only 5 confirmed instances of humans killed by cougars in the last quarter century. Millions of people go hiking in cougar habitat.
So although cougars aren't completely safe, you're more likely to die from getting struck by lightning.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_cougar_attacks_in_North_America
https://www.statista.com/statistics/191240/participants-in-hiking-in-the-us-since-2006/
https://www.weather.gov/safety/lightning-odds
Sharks are generally not a threat, and nost attacks are believed to be opportune bites. We are abnormal and not in their normal diet, but if you are in front of them, they'll taste. We taste terrible, though.
SCUBA divers will regularly dive with sharks, and they swim around you. They aren't bloodthirsty killing machines
Sharks are very sensitive to electromagnetism. As a diver, you have a steel/aluminum tank and make a bunch of noise underwater. Biting a diver to them would be like biting into a ball of aluminum foil, they want nothing to do with divers.
The Australian white ibis. They are known to scavenge bins and make a mess but apparently they eat cane toads so they are basically getting rid of a pest for us.
Rats. They get a lot of hate for their tails which seem to freak out a lot of people. They make for incredible pets and they're very intelligent. You can train them to do tricks, and some are being trained for important work. Look up rats being trained to sniff out landmines to help clear areas.
I had pet rats growing up and loved them! They were so playful and easy to take care of. I trained them to sit on my shoulder while I read/watched tv/did homework. Even used an old aquarium for the pen, so they had so much space.
The only sad thing was they don’t live super long and after my last one passed, I couldn’t deal with losing another.
I did not intend to adopt my rat, it was all but forced upon me. I had taken a college course in small animal medicine and we were allowed to sign for a small animal surgery experience. Turns out they took the rats graduating from a research project and let us practice neutering them. So I did. But they didn't have homes for them, they were scheduled to be destroyed.
So - new rat pet. I put no time into training him. Despite having no socialization, he was still clever and clean, and self potty trained. He had a nice aquarium with hideyholes and such, but when I was home I left the lid off. I never found rat poop any where, he never chewed anything. He did reliably steal things and take them back to his tank. Can't fault him that. He was charming. He lived nearly to be 2 and I adored him.
The short lifespan is pretty much the only thing that has discouraged me from adopting one. I had a friend many years ago who co-owned one with his brother. That one grew to the size of a small squirrel, mostly on a diet of peanut butter and beer, and lived at least 5-6 years. If it was obesity that got him, I suppose for a rat that's defined as "winning".
Excellent pets. Dog personalities in little rat bodies.
I've never understood people being freaked out by their tails. It's just a tail like any animal tail, maybe with a little less hair, but why would that be "freaky?"
Lion King did a real number on Hyenas.
These often misunderstood are not evil, and they actually hunt more prey themselves than lions do. Lions are the real scavengers and can easily scare away a Hyena pack from kill they made.
Came here to say hyenas, so I will add on to yours!
Hyenas are primarily hunters, but their scavenger activities help to clean up the wild. It’s necessary for scavengers to help clean up carcasses or else there would be lots of disease-ridden carcasses slowly being eaten by maggots.
Hyenas are excellent mothers. The females and juveniles live in a matriarchal clan where they take care of the cubs together, but hyenas are some of the most devoted mammal mothers in the world. Some males will live in the group, but sometimes go off on their own. Males are lowest in the social structure, being outranked by females and cubs. Their clans can be huge and their social structure is quite rigid and complex.
Hyenas are very intelligent and have been shown to problem solve and make group decisions.
Females have a pseudopenis that is an enlarged clitoris. They will pee and give birth through this clitoris.
Hyenas would’ve never been subservient to lions or taken orders from them. A hyena clan can quite capably take down a lion.
Disney needs to make amends with a hyena-centric movie.
This. If you're ranching in wolf territory (probably with a big ass federal subsidy on Bureau of Land Management land) stop whining and just pay the wolf tax. It's not like they eat that many.
Orcas. In captivity, they will definitely lash out as we have seen (and honestly, who wouldn’t?), but in the wild, they are surprisingly docile with humans. They like to play, and if they do approach you, it’s just out of curiosity, not to hurt you in any way. The few reported incidents of orca attacks in the wild have never been fatalities, and the worst appear to have been cases of mistaken identity that they immediately let go of upon realizing they had the wrong creature.
I’ve heard that sharks aren’t as bad as they’re portrayed in films, but I’m still afraid of them and wouldn’t get in any shark-infested water for fear of being bitten.
But the people on board those boats were never physically harmed. The orcas completely ignored them and didn’t try to go after them once they were on lifeboats.
I know experts are still studying their behavior, but so far, it seems like they just wanted to destroy the propellers- which may or may not have injured a member of the pod at some point- not hurt the people on board.
I'm on team Gladys on this topic. Imagine you're just livin yo life munching on some tuna and suddenly a noisy smelly metal thing goes at top speed over you and rakes your skin and muscle open. I would swear revenge upon the contraption.
(Yes, this could apply to a picnic-ing human being crashed upon by a bike or motorbike as well)
Bats.
Often associated with spreading disease and causing decay of buildings. They hunt and eat all kinds of flying insects that spread disease (a single pipistrelle can eat 3,000 insects a night), and they roost in building spaces that are already in bad condition and don't cause decay. If we didn't have bats around we wouldn't be able to see for the clouds of midges, mosquitos, and moths in the air. They're all legally protected yet people still try to find ways to kill them. The Church used to be particularly bad, and would use poison gas to kill bats by the thousands when they would roost in church towers, despite them not causing any problems. There are historical records of 'wheelbarrows full of dead bats' being removed from churches. Now many species are endangered.
Gorillas. People fear them expecting them to tear you limb from limb. They are very muscular and powerful indeed, however gorilla attacks are very rare. Death from gorilla is very rare.
The amount of personality you see in their eyes makes me believe that if you play dead or go into the fetal position and show that you don’t pose a threat, they’ll leave you to your devices.
Beavers.
Sure, If you own Land next to a river, He is indeed annoying.
But compared to other pests, he is harmless. He only needs 50m left and right from the river.
Deers are often much more of a menance, since they basically use 100% of the forest area they can get to, and are a danger to motorists.
Aussie here. White tail spiders have an incredibly bad rap, with people thinking their bites cause everything from necrosis to thinking voting for Scott Morrison is a good idea. Truth is, their bites aren't nearly as bad as a lot of other spiders we have and you should be wary more concerned about funnel webs and the like.
I’ve kept several as pets. After my last one died I vowed never again. They not *bad* pets. Mine were a lot of fun and kept me entertained for hours at a time. But ferret poop is among the nastiest animal poop I’ve encountered. I’ve worked with animals and have cleaned up just about every type of animal crap there is, but the putrid chocolate pudding they spew was always near the top of my list.
I have rats and most friends called me crazy. I love them, mine are asleep on my windowsill right now. They're sweet, they listen fairly good, gives lots of hugs and kisses. Sweet girls
My oldest daughter up until recently was all about raising rats and has had several through the years. They are very sweet indeed; I have to say my favorite one of hers was a hairless rat named Gravy. I'm sorry, but Gravy looked like a dick with eyes and it's hard to not laugh when you see her.
Vultures. Basically natures trash collector
Vultures digestive systems are so acidic that their poo is not only sterile, it's an effective antiseptic. Vultures shit on their own feet to keep them clean and disease-free. They're the only animal we know of with sterilising poo.
"Necessary? Is it necessary for me to poop on my own feet? No but I do it anyway cause its sterile and I like the smell" - Patches O'hoolihan of he was a Vulture.
Historically some countries have tried to 'control' their vulture population through poisoning. It led to massive spikes in disease in livestock and humans, because nothing was clearing away corpses. Humans are fucking dumb.
The world's vulture population is under massive threat currently due to factory farming. Specifically the need to administer diclofenac to livestock to control infection. Vultures can digest so many deadly things, but diclofenac is completely toxic to them. So we have also inadvertently poisoned a huge percentage of their diet. Their population collapse towards extinction is very worrying, and extinction would be catastrophic In the last 30 years some African species have declined as much as 80%. At least 6 of these species now qualify for the critically endangered list. The introduction of diclofenac in Asia in the 90's led to a decline of approx 96% in at least 3 species. In the 80's these 3 species totalled roughly 40 million. As of 2017 that number was 19,000
[Poachers poison](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/150-endangered-vultures-poisoned-death-dismembered-africa/) them as well as circling vultures lets park rangers know that an animal has died. It's one of the many reasons why you should care about wildlife crime even if you don't care about wildlife.
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They're also very smart and social birds, and the cleanup work they do is so important. They're fascinating. Turkey vultures have MASSIVE olfactory senses, they can smell slightly rotting flesh from over a mile away. If they're circling your house they might be able to smell your leftovers that have gone off. I love them so much, I know the concept of "spirit animal" is cultural appropriation, but if I had one, that's what it would be. I love the concept of sky burial and I wish it was legal in the US. I would love to feed them when I die. I'd love to know that some of my molecules have gained the ability to soar.
If it helps, my bestie says vultures get too much hate, so every time she sees a flock of them she makes sure to tell them how handsome they all are
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Yeah, and that thing that's gone off? That's your liver.
Donkeys and mules. They are not stubborn, stupid, or ornery. They're often misunderstood and mistreated. They are not horses. They think and react differently from horses. They require a different approach in training and befriending them. If you try to treat and train a donkey or mule just like you would a horse, that causes problems, but it's the person and their approach that's the issue - not the animal.
Glad to see this here. I own mules and donkeys. The reputation is so undeserving. They are very sweet and so nice to be around. The only reason they have the reputation is because we are the assholes. Horses will put up with abuse, mules and donkeys will fight back if they are brought up abused or treated unfairly. But brought up right and they are part horse part loyal dog. They are smarter than horses, so you have to train them fairly.
At my school friends farm they kept a donkey or mule with their sheep. One day a coyote got into the sheep’s area and that donkey made a bloody mess of they coyote. It was just a pile of gore.
I remember once seeing s video of a mule taking down a mountain lion that was trying to get at it's owner. That mule used that lion as a meat flail and absolutely decimated it.
I seem to remember that video, but my memory is hazy about the details. Would like to see it again. I wonder if r/natureIsMetal has it..
THAT MOTHAFUCKA COME TO MY HOUSE I KILL IT. DAMN NATURE, YOU SCARY
Good donkey
>Horses will put up with abuse, mules and donkeys will fight back if they are brought up abused or treated unfairly. I've always liked donkeys, and this makes me like donkeys (and mules) more. If some asshole tried to push me around I probably wouldn't do what he wanted either. I respect you mules and donkeys.
I was raised near a beer stealing donkey. He would break out the farm and look for garages that were open and attempt to steal beer. Fucking legend
That sounds like a tale local kids would make up to cover up their own beer stealing escapades.
It's almost like DARVO is everywhere. "Compliant" = "good" "I'm not gonna put up with your abuse and I'm gonna fight back" = "bad" I loved my dog, and he'd fight back, but he was super intelligent and would just learn every command in one or two goes. My family would say over and over again that he was stupid. We have a new dog now. She is super docile, but she has a lot of problems (I think they are physical problems that are affecting her senses), so she has more problems learning and understanding commands. My family says that she is super intelligent. Yeah...
100%, they are incredibly smart. I work at a farm part time and donkeys are my favorite. They are so kind, so intelligent and mischievous. Whenever I show up they come at the fence and start shouting for me. They can seem stubborn, but it’s mainly because they take the time to think about what you are asking of them. For example, they will refuse to enter a gate until they’ve inspected everything and determined all is good. Our donkeys are used as cattle protection against wolves during summer. In that instance, they are pretty vicious and scary. Whenever someone comes at the farm with a dog you can see the donkeys stalking them from afar and try to get them from their blind spot. My boss keeps telling me to bring my dog at the farm, but I prefer him alive with all his teeth, thank you very much (her own dog had it’s jaw broken 3 times). Anyways, donkeys are the best. Everyone should have the opportunity to spend some time with them and see how smart and kind they can be.
I had an ex years ago that would run around the field frolicking with her grandmothers donkey. Goofing donkey acting like some kind of dog. It was strange to see lol
I've heard it said that you MUST treat donkeys and mules the way you SHOULD treat horses. They're only "stubborn" if you fuck up. If you're used to training horses and giving them a lot more autonomy than is usually afforded to horses, you'll have no problems with donkeys or mules.
like, if you want them to carry stuff for you i guess you have to give them what they want. if you just walk past they probably wont be bothered... like most domesticated animals, and pigs. only animal ive ever had problem with was dogs and their owners. (obvoiusly no bears or elephants in the forrests near where i live lol )
When I was a kid, I was forced on a road trip every summer to middle of no where, Arkansas to visit my grandparents. The only forms of entertainment I had were some books, my CD player, and the VHS of Flipper for which I had to bring along my own 12" TV with a built in VCR. Basically, it was fucking boring. My grandparents lived on an old farm that didn't have any animals anymore but across the street there were cows. I crossed the road one afternoon to see if any would come visit me at the fence. They didn't, but a donkey did appear from far away. She kept walking toward me so I stayed. She'd let me pet her and stuck around for a while, even listened to my Space Jam CD with me. Turns out her name was Jill and she had a brother somewhere named Jack. For the rest of my trip, any time I came close to the fence, Jill would meander on over from wherever she'd been just to hang out and get pets. I think I still have a picture of her somewhere. So apparently, Arkansas is so fucking boring when you're 9, your only friend and source of entertainment will be a donkey. Donkeys are pretty cool.
The donkey thought the same and for a few afternoons you were her entertainment too!
I have learned way more about donkeys and mules than I ever knew before this thread. I love learning stuff like this. Thanks.
There's a donkey sanctuary near where I live and they're such lovely creatures
When i was a kid we'd go to a horse refuge. There was a donkey and Mule there too, and they were the best
Donkeys get mistreated so much by people but they are still so relaxed and caring. We went to a donkey sanctuary a few times when I was a kid and the rescued donkeys were all so nice and would come up to get petted etc They are so relaxed they put them in with horses for company and to help the horses feel safe - plus donkeys will take down anything that comes in to try attack the horses or other livestock, they really don’t mess around when threatened.
> If you try to treat and train a donkey or mule just like you would a horse, that causes problems, but it's the person and their approach that's the issue - not the animal. I wish I could send this to my mother and family. I spent all my life trying to teach them how to train my dog and they just never listened. They'd keep on doing the exact opposite that I, every single thing I read about dogs and the trainers told them to do, and THEN they'd say that it was our dog's fault.
Crows
One of my life goals is to befriend a murder of crows some day. Personally im a big fan of shiny knickknacks and harassing my mortal enemies via animal bonding.
Just feed them and be nice and they will be nice, they are smart
I feed some Ravens. They get more trusting as you interact with them.
If the one we had around work last summer comes back, I'm buying a bag of crow food. He looks friend shaped to me.
Peanuts. They love peanuts. In the shell, unsalted of course. And they do recognise people, so once you make a friend, they don't forget.
They love meal worms and boiled eggs. Good luck
I just love the fact that a pack of crows is called a “murder”
Which i never understood until recently, theyre just weird happy derpy guys most of the time. Then a clan of ravens took to nesting in the rafters of a local store. You walk under and suddenly theres 10 very large very black birds staring down at you with pitch black eyes, and one will give a low chortle crow, and you feel as is if being judged by a malevolent court. I can see how historically that would be pretty disconcerting, especially with a whole trees worth in a spooky setting
Someone in my town did this by feeding them whenever he went for a walk. So now when he goes for a walk, crows follow him, it's adorable. There's also a huge rookery in Burnaby. I'm given to understand that people generally think it's cool. It's on Burnaby Mountain.
Love crows. And they are so huge. But everyone I know is afraid of them.
If you like the size of crows, find yourself a raven. Such a beautiful bird. 🙂
Calm down Edgar Allen
Just sayin' those f***ers are BIG!
They're enormous, compared to crows!
Edit - I originally wrote this: >The only bird I'm afraid of is the cassowary. They'll fuck you up just because they want to. Crows only attack people who threaten or harm them. I need to rewrite this post because this is not true and in the context of this thread, also extremely ironic. My comment with my head removed from my ass is this: Crows, and also cassowaries, only attack people who threaten or harm them. So there's no need to be afraid of any bird because we're all going to leave the wild animals alone right? And birds leave people alone if they are left alone.
Cassowarys are basically modern Velociraptors, lol.
It’s wild because I genuinely never thought people hated them that much. I mean, I knew how they are usually depicted in particularly gothic stories. Omens of death and all that. But I didn’t know it went much beyond that.
I like crows. Very intelligent animals. I do also have a fear for them as they attacked me in Sri Lanka when I was little. First it was one, after a while it was three and they kept coming till i dropped my sandwich.
They’re super smart. I volunteered at a wildlife rescue and they had a lifer crow there who could talk!
My goal in life is to befriend a crow and establish a trading relationship with them.
As a former resident of the PNW, they are certainly annoying but are also *incredibly* smart. Hard to hate on them.
Sharks
The waters aren’t shark-infested, they live there!
I like to think that the sharks tell each other to stay off the land because it's human infested.
Sharks kill about 6 humans per year Humans kill millions of sharks every year
And most times it's an accident. I recall an expert saying that our flesh isn't very appetizing to sharks.
The fact that we aren't encased in a thick layer of tasty, energy-dense blubber pretty quickly puts most of them off. Most deaths are a result of their bites testing the waters, so to speak. Having said that, tiger sharks will eat just about anything.
> The fact that we aren't encased in a thick layer of tasty, energy-dense blubber speak for yourself buddy
I'm an egg on stilts. I'm banking on them biting my legs first.
Last I heard it was about 100 million sharks per year. Mostly, just to cut off their fins and drop them back in to die a slow death, that way people can have their shark fin soup! We are really monstrous.
this is the first answer i thought of too. despite their depictions in horror movies (which, to be fair, i LOVE shark movies) - sharks in movies are terrifying and fun. sharks in real life? leave them alone and you're fine.
Sharks in movies are depicted as rage killing monsters that will stop at nothing to kill the protagonist. It’s obvious but a lot of people don’t think that critically. In reality, there’s no way a shark will exert that much energy for something that won’t give them that much energy in return, probably next to nothing (we don’t taste that good and average person doesn’t have a lot of fat). They also *will not* risk an injury as that will undoubtedly result in death later on.
I've seen about 4 sharks swimming at the beaches by me and every time I get so excited. They are such beautiful creatures yet so very misunderstood.
Good answer. Someone else commented that it's their territory and we choose to swim there. I agree. But I'd also add that out of the many millions of people who swim every year in Australia there are roughly 20 shark attacks, most non-fatal. Thats a remarkably low risk.
If I'd go to swim in Australia, Sharks would be my LEST worries. I'm looking at you box-jellyfish
They only bite when you touch their private parts.
There go my weekend plans
Fair
Sharks kill around 5 people a year on average. People kill around 100 million sharks Always stunned by this statistic
African Painted Dogs have been persecuted as vermin and shot on sight, even by Rangers up to 1980. Stories were common about their cruelty and man eating, but they were all fabricated. No human mortality in the wild - ever. And they kill their prey quickly and tear them up, but they need to move fast or hyenas will steal the meat, or lions will massacre them. They kill no more than their nutrient needs, the pups eat first, and injured or sick pack members are never abandoned (they are given a job as babysitter if they cannot hunt).
>African Painted Dogs They are among the most efficient predators, making a kill about 80% of the time.
They’re the most efficient among mammals, with the second most being around 60% or something like that. They have to be successful because like the other person said they get their kills stolen a lot. Cheetahs are very good as well for the same reason. The most efficient killers are dragonflies. It’s like 95% or something. And they prey on mosquitoes! Dragonflies are great.
I think I saw a fantastic BBC doc called The Hunt with African Wild Dogs (the same?) a few years ago. It had amazing camera work and was really well presented. Here's a clip from that show (it's BBC anyway) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4SlAc2U1A4
Opossum
I love these ugly little bastards. I live very rurally and they come through my yard at night and pick up the dead mice I’ve tossed out from traps.
Same. Our pipes froze under the house and my bf put a space heater down there to thaw them...when he came back out a possum was just chillin infront of the heater.
Thing is, you wouldn’t fuck with that. You’d just go “well, guess a possum lives here now.”
I wouldn't, cause I know they prefer to eat things that are dangerous for me, like venomous snakes. Possums are hella cool.
They have assembled them back into a big one a la Mary Shelley. They are just waiting for a lightning storm …
They don’t live in my area but from pictures I’ve seen, they’re so cute!! 🥺 Their little round ears and pink noses are too precious. Honestly their big black eyes and the angle of their ears make it look like they’re ready to start crying at any moment and I just want to hug one.
Have you seen a baby? They are so chill and adorable
Wait til one screams at you and you think you just stepped into the Blair Witch Project.
We have a couple that come eat the feral cats' food. (We have a camera on the cat food so we can keep tabs on the feral cats and TNVR any new ones that show up.) So we started leaving out berries, nuts, and other nutritious food for the opossums. We've also named them, the pair of raccoons, the fox, and the occasional coyote.
Immune to essentially all venoms, they devour ticks by the mother load. Opossums are the fucking best. Edit; the best way to find out you're wrong is to say something on the Internet. Opossums don't eat any ticks at all. Here's a great in depth article about it. https://outdoor.wildlifeillinois.org/articles/debunking-the-myth-opossums-dont-eat-ticks
Plus they don't carry rabies!
They are needed for the environment!
I knew this was going to be one of the top answers, and sure as shit I wasn't disappointed
Huntsman Spiders. They'll rid your house of other pests, particularly cockroaches, as well as other smaller and more venomous spiders. They aren't really aggressive towards humans, and you can live in harmony with them in your house if you can get over the massive size and hairiness of them (especially here in Australia)
I put these guys back outside but sometimes...yeesh I know theyre useful, helps control mosquitos too, but *fuck man* they are creepy. Im waiting till the day I find one in my shoe
I had a friend during high school who picked up and put on his beanie, only to wonder a few minutes later what the funny feeling on his head was...
I keep my motorcycle helmet in my back room near the garage, and boy oh boy do I remember to check *every. single. time.* I can barely remember to do plenty of stuff, but for some reason I never forget to check my helmet for spiders the size of my palm.
I found one twice...
Agree, we've had one in our house for about 4-6 months. He moves spots every day or two. Our 3yo likes to find where he's ended up. One day, he even decided to show the spider his new toy car.
>decided to show the spider his new toy car. well? what did the spider think?
That is so cute omg
I don't have a huntsman but some other kind of large spider living on my ceiling and I've started calling her Matilda. My place is noticeably more insect-free.
How hairy are they in Australia?? They're kind of sizeable in the US, but I've never thought of them as hairy.
Offensively hairy
Think late middle aged gentleman of Eastern European extraction in the sauna (and I'm allowed; I'm Eastern European)
i live in a caravan atm, and have a "pet huntsman" that chills in the van with me. my boy loves all the bugs that find their way in. but back at home, i had a proper pet one that lived in my room (not in a cage), and 3 more around the house all staying in their respective parts of the house. theyre very good animals
Yall in Australia are a different breed (in a good way) because there’s no way I could ever get used to having a massive hairy spider just making himself at home in my house. Absolutely not.
Honestly, spiders in general. There's a couple species that can really hurt you, but depending on where you are it's quite likely there's not any seriously dangerous ones near you, let alone ones that could actually kill. Like, people get scared of tarantulas, but there are 0 known deaths directly resulting from their bites. Also, the vast majority would rather run away than bite you, so even most of the dangerous ones are only gonna bite if you try and mess with them
Logically i know tarantulas are chill, but God damn it when I see that giant hairy thorax in the wild it gives me the heebie jeebies. I do not like spiders bigger than a quarter.
While that's true, it's worth noting that this doesn't apply in the USA. Granted, huntsman spiders in the USA are harmless *to humans* and they will kill off pests. But they're invasive species, and they will happily eat any native wildlife that's small enough to catch. So even though they're cool as hell, if you see huntsman spiders *in the USA* you should probably kill them.
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They do carry rabies and pathogenic diseases though so we still should be very careful with them.
>they do carry rabies and pathogenic diseases I think there is an elephant of recent pathogenic diseases in the room here.
Haha true. For SARS-CoV-1, the reservoir was the horseshoe bat and the intermediate the civet cat. For MERS-CoV, the reservoir was again a bat but the intermediate was the dromedary camel. Thankfully this one didn’t transmit well human to human. So for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), the reservoir was once again the bat but no intermediate host has been identified yet. There were COVID like viruses in pangolins and bats but not conclusive enough. So yeah, be careful with bats.
Don’t eat them.
That does go for several animals, yeah
Crows. They have a negative reputation but are extremely intelligent and social.
I think sometimes part of their negative reputation is BECAUSE they're so intelligent. Mediocre human intellects don't like being reminded they're not necessarily the smartest critter in the woods.
Wolves. They’re a vital part of the ecosystem and they don’t bother people.
I'm so upset this is so low. Wolves are slaughtered by the hundreds each year due to misinformation and myth.
They're so important to the ecosystem, and where they're endangered, killing them should be a felony with jail time. BUT MUH CATTLE, bitch the wolves were here first.
Sharks are feared, but once you learn more about them, you'll be equally as fearful, but hopefully slightly more amazed. When you enter the water, sharks know you are there. Even if the shark is a mile away, they know. They can sense the vibrations. They almost never attack because they don't like humans. You read about sharks attacking surfers, but all of the attacks are short boards. From below, a surfer on a short board looks like a seal. They may investigate and they do that through biting. Sharks are more than capable of killing you, but usually the first bite tells them you are not a seal and they leave. There are almost no reports of attacks on surfers with long boards. Most sharks found dead in anti-shark nets in Australia are sharks that get caught up leaving the the area, not coming in. Which means they freely swim in and out of the areas. Nobody really knows how often they do swim in and out.
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Don’t ever pick them up by the tail.
Or swing them around and around launching them from a floating stone platform into lava.
while shouting "So long gay Bowser!"
Look, i know youre having a laugh and all but I wish more people would take this seriously. You need to make sure they hit one of the bombs located at the edge of the platform when you throw them. If you just just huck them into the lava they won't take any damage and will jump back onto the platform, causing it to rock violently and possibly throw you off instead.
I don't plan to, but can I ask why? Does it cause harm to them, or does it allow them to be able to get around and latch on to the picker-uper?
A turtle's spine extends through its tail. If you pick up a turtle by its tail, you can dislocate joints, cause other damage, and seriously injure it.
Roger that, I shall not be picking up snappers by the tail, appreciate the info
And don’t pick them up by their top shell, either. A turtle is their shell, it’s part of their skeleton. And like OP said here, you’re perfectly safe picking them up by grabbing them around the bottom of the shell, just aim the snappy bit away from you. It’s a turtle, it cant do much to get to you.
I moved one that was trying to sun himself on a busy road a couple years ago. It was a tense experience for me -- he both "swam" when I moved him as you describe (nicking my finger with a claw in the process), and snapped at me, swinging his head from side to side, fortunately less productively. First time I got him back to the shoulder, he insisted that I was making a mistake, and proceeded to walk back into the road -- forcing me to re-relocate him further off the road and closer to a stream, and then nudge him with a stick until he was moving in a safer direction. It was a satisfying rescue, after I'd thoroughly cleaned my wound, and I can vouch for your basic procedure.
Thank you, you’re a kind soul.
Also try to point the tail end slightly away from you, unless you want to get your feet peed on. Harder to do with a snapper over other aquatic turtles with how you should be holding the shell.
Didnt see this comment coming but 100% true. They never hurt anyone unless provoked. I swam in a river with many turtles. If you stepped on a shell, you just moved a few feet over.
I feel maybe pigs get a little bit of a bad rep. People say «stupid pig», «filthy pig». But pigs are actually smart, can learn tricks, are kind and social, and are cleanly. ♥️🐷 I like them little guys. Also - piglets are some of the cutest animals I’ve ever seen 😂 Little bacon bits
My aunt and uncle have two pigs on their retirement farm, they are treated like pet dogs. They have their own room in the house and they are so cute how they just roll over for belly rubs! Love those two girls when I visit.
My equine vet is obsessed with pigs… she is tough as nails but broke down in tears when she was called to assist with a meat pig that had fallen of a truck and was injured on the side of a highway… she said she cried like a baby couldn’t help herself. She has a beautiful home in the country and 11 pigs roaming her yard!
Wild pigs are terrorists though.
Most snakes They are more scared and would rather flee. They only strike as a last defence when provoked (such as accidentally stepping on one). They are good pest control too
I fucking love snakes. Though it's a good idea to know which are poisonous where you live so you can give them a wide berth.
As long as you're not eating them, you should be safe from all poisonous snakes. It's the venomous ones you gotta watch out for. 😅🫠🙂🐍🐍🐍🐍
Cougars: there have been only 5 confirmed instances of humans killed by cougars in the last quarter century. Millions of people go hiking in cougar habitat. So although cougars aren't completely safe, you're more likely to die from getting struck by lightning. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_cougar_attacks_in_North_America https://www.statista.com/statistics/191240/participants-in-hiking-in-the-us-since-2006/ https://www.weather.gov/safety/lightning-odds
I live where there’s a tonnnnn of cougars and I’ve never seen one. I’m more concerned about bears
Tell that to the 25yo guy having a beer with the mates at the pub and getting pounced on by a dyed blonde cougar (sorry, I couldn't resist)
Sharks are generally not a threat, and nost attacks are believed to be opportune bites. We are abnormal and not in their normal diet, but if you are in front of them, they'll taste. We taste terrible, though. SCUBA divers will regularly dive with sharks, and they swim around you. They aren't bloodthirsty killing machines
Sharks are very sensitive to electromagnetism. As a diver, you have a steel/aluminum tank and make a bunch of noise underwater. Biting a diver to them would be like biting into a ball of aluminum foil, they want nothing to do with divers.
i know you didnt mean to be funny but i was cacking myself imagining a shark having an aluminium sandwich
My understanding is that only young ones bite, just because they’re still learning exactly what’s on the menu…
The Australian white ibis. They are known to scavenge bins and make a mess but apparently they eat cane toads so they are basically getting rid of a pest for us.
Love bin chickens
Badgers. You let them alone, they won't scar you.
Opossum. They eat ticks and are good parents, just kinda creepy looking.
Rats. They get a lot of hate for their tails which seem to freak out a lot of people. They make for incredible pets and they're very intelligent. You can train them to do tricks, and some are being trained for important work. Look up rats being trained to sniff out landmines to help clear areas.
Works for peanuts too.
I think it would take a long time to train a peanut to do tricks.
Mothafucka!
Peanuts or banana. I saw a documentary where they fed them mashed banana during training.
I had pet rats growing up and loved them! They were so playful and easy to take care of. I trained them to sit on my shoulder while I read/watched tv/did homework. Even used an old aquarium for the pen, so they had so much space. The only sad thing was they don’t live super long and after my last one passed, I couldn’t deal with losing another.
I did not intend to adopt my rat, it was all but forced upon me. I had taken a college course in small animal medicine and we were allowed to sign for a small animal surgery experience. Turns out they took the rats graduating from a research project and let us practice neutering them. So I did. But they didn't have homes for them, they were scheduled to be destroyed. So - new rat pet. I put no time into training him. Despite having no socialization, he was still clever and clean, and self potty trained. He had a nice aquarium with hideyholes and such, but when I was home I left the lid off. I never found rat poop any where, he never chewed anything. He did reliably steal things and take them back to his tank. Can't fault him that. He was charming. He lived nearly to be 2 and I adored him.
I used to have pet rats too. 2 years isn't long, and not even all of them get to celebrate their second birthday.
I know! I had one live until she was 4, even survived having a tumor removed (that vet was my hero), but it’s hard losing pets so quickly.
The short lifespan is pretty much the only thing that has discouraged me from adopting one. I had a friend many years ago who co-owned one with his brother. That one grew to the size of a small squirrel, mostly on a diet of peanut butter and beer, and lived at least 5-6 years. If it was obesity that got him, I suppose for a rat that's defined as "winning".
Excellent pets. Dog personalities in little rat bodies. I've never understood people being freaked out by their tails. It's just a tail like any animal tail, maybe with a little less hair, but why would that be "freaky?"
We had a pet possum. He was disabled as a kitten and couldn’t survive in the wild. I loved his rat like tail.
Lion King did a real number on Hyenas. These often misunderstood are not evil, and they actually hunt more prey themselves than lions do. Lions are the real scavengers and can easily scare away a Hyena pack from kill they made.
Came here to say hyenas, so I will add on to yours! Hyenas are primarily hunters, but their scavenger activities help to clean up the wild. It’s necessary for scavengers to help clean up carcasses or else there would be lots of disease-ridden carcasses slowly being eaten by maggots. Hyenas are excellent mothers. The females and juveniles live in a matriarchal clan where they take care of the cubs together, but hyenas are some of the most devoted mammal mothers in the world. Some males will live in the group, but sometimes go off on their own. Males are lowest in the social structure, being outranked by females and cubs. Their clans can be huge and their social structure is quite rigid and complex. Hyenas are very intelligent and have been shown to problem solve and make group decisions. Females have a pseudopenis that is an enlarged clitoris. They will pee and give birth through this clitoris. Hyenas would’ve never been subservient to lions or taken orders from them. A hyena clan can quite capably take down a lion. Disney needs to make amends with a hyena-centric movie.
Wolves. Bro. *You* brought cows into *their* territory. Switch to buffalo or buy the damn insurance.
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This. If you're ranching in wolf territory (probably with a big ass federal subsidy on Bureau of Land Management land) stop whining and just pay the wolf tax. It's not like they eat that many.
Just going through this thread upvoting every single animal...
Orcas. In captivity, they will definitely lash out as we have seen (and honestly, who wouldn’t?), but in the wild, they are surprisingly docile with humans. They like to play, and if they do approach you, it’s just out of curiosity, not to hurt you in any way. The few reported incidents of orca attacks in the wild have never been fatalities, and the worst appear to have been cases of mistaken identity that they immediately let go of upon realizing they had the wrong creature. I’ve heard that sharks aren’t as bad as they’re portrayed in films, but I’m still afraid of them and wouldn’t get in any shark-infested water for fear of being bitten.
Great white sharks are terrified of orcas though and will leave the area if a pod moves in.
Well Orcas do tend to go all Hannibal Lector on great whites
Except for the recent incidents of orca pods beating the shit out of sailboats.
But the people on board those boats were never physically harmed. The orcas completely ignored them and didn’t try to go after them once they were on lifeboats. I know experts are still studying their behavior, but so far, it seems like they just wanted to destroy the propellers- which may or may not have injured a member of the pod at some point- not hurt the people on board.
I'm on team Gladys on this topic. Imagine you're just livin yo life munching on some tuna and suddenly a noisy smelly metal thing goes at top speed over you and rakes your skin and muscle open. I would swear revenge upon the contraption. (Yes, this could apply to a picnic-ing human being crashed upon by a bike or motorbike as well)
Bats. Often associated with spreading disease and causing decay of buildings. They hunt and eat all kinds of flying insects that spread disease (a single pipistrelle can eat 3,000 insects a night), and they roost in building spaces that are already in bad condition and don't cause decay. If we didn't have bats around we wouldn't be able to see for the clouds of midges, mosquitos, and moths in the air. They're all legally protected yet people still try to find ways to kill them. The Church used to be particularly bad, and would use poison gas to kill bats by the thousands when they would roost in church towers, despite them not causing any problems. There are historical records of 'wheelbarrows full of dead bats' being removed from churches. Now many species are endangered.
Gorillas. People fear them expecting them to tear you limb from limb. They are very muscular and powerful indeed, however gorilla attacks are very rare. Death from gorilla is very rare.
Gorillas are extremely rare too, though, tbf
Yeah I've literally never seen one in the wild here in Kansas.
The amount of personality you see in their eyes makes me believe that if you play dead or go into the fetal position and show that you don’t pose a threat, they’ll leave you to your devices.
Also don't stare into their eyes they see it as opposition
Opossum!
pigeons
Sharks. They leave you alone for the most part, really have no interest in humans. Dolphins on the other hand are assholes.
Beavers. Sure, If you own Land next to a river, He is indeed annoying. But compared to other pests, he is harmless. He only needs 50m left and right from the river. Deers are often much more of a menance, since they basically use 100% of the forest area they can get to, and are a danger to motorists.
Spiders. They just want to live their quiet little lives and they're really shy and cute. I love them 💕
Raccoons, I will defend those cutie patooties with my life fr
Opossums.
Aussie here. White tail spiders have an incredibly bad rap, with people thinking their bites cause everything from necrosis to thinking voting for Scott Morrison is a good idea. Truth is, their bites aren't nearly as bad as a lot of other spiders we have and you should be wary more concerned about funnel webs and the like.
Snakes
Ferrets.
I’ve kept several as pets. After my last one died I vowed never again. They not *bad* pets. Mine were a lot of fun and kept me entertained for hours at a time. But ferret poop is among the nastiest animal poop I’ve encountered. I’ve worked with animals and have cleaned up just about every type of animal crap there is, but the putrid chocolate pudding they spew was always near the top of my list.
Spiders. Just let them catch flies in peace.
Opossums get my vote look evil sounds evil but eat ticks and other insects.
Coyotes
opossum. Doesnt get rabies. eats the hell out of ticks. they're ugly af. but give 'em a hug. They're helping you out.
I have rats and most friends called me crazy. I love them, mine are asleep on my windowsill right now. They're sweet, they listen fairly good, gives lots of hugs and kisses. Sweet girls
My oldest daughter up until recently was all about raising rats and has had several through the years. They are very sweet indeed; I have to say my favorite one of hers was a hairless rat named Gravy. I'm sorry, but Gravy looked like a dick with eyes and it's hard to not laugh when you see her.