FAVORITE WILD ANIMAL

["Skeet" McD]

kitty kitty kitty kitty kitty kitty kitty kitty kitty kitty kitty kitty CHIC-KEN CHIC-KEN
FIIIIIISH FIIIIIISH whoooooa it's a FIIIIIISH lol

Or the sequella:
kitty kitty kitty kitty kitty kitty kitty kitty kitty kitty kitty kitty[/size] CHIC-KEN CHIC-KEN
FIIIIIISH FIIIII... whooAAAAAAAIIIIIEEESWEETJAYZUZ... [contented purring]

 

[Kermez]

I would like to change my vote from the badgerbadgerbadger to the South Asian Fishing Cat.

That's good because around here, we don't need no stinking badgers!

As for me, for reasons stated HERE, I'd have to go with:

 

[Paisley]

Foxes. They're cute, clever little thieves.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Without a doubt the beautiful and friendly Virginia Opossum. We brought up so many of these guys in Indiana. Our house was literally full of the squeaking little beggars. So cute!* How can you not love that face?

bk

*though I admit I counted 6 distinct abominations as regards the virginia opossum. There are probably more, and i'd like to hear them.

1) Waaayyyy too many teeth
2) Split vagina and penis
3) 13 nipples
4) Prehensile ******* tail.
5) In order to get pregnant they must fall over on their right side after copulation. Proven fact.
6) They are marsupials. Outside Australia. That's abominable in my book.

 

[Lensmaster]

My favorite is the american Bison. As a kid reading about Indians I learned how intertwined the Bison was in their lives. So then reading about Bison's I became fascinated with the creatures. I learned that at one time there were at least four breeds of Bison that stretched across nearly the entire North American continent. I've always wanted to be able to buy a ranch and raise a herd of Bison.

 

[Brinybay]

Ahh!! I love this thread!

And last but not least...
6. Octopus!!

Ditto the octopus! As an avid scuba diver, I see them from time to time in Puget Sound. Also the Wolf Eel: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2414279596854902333

 

[Mojito]

I'll third the occies - some of my experiences with the local Common Sydney (or Gloomy) octopus have recently been written up for inclusion in a Canadian book on animal enounters. Would that be the giant Pacific Octopus you see in Puget Sound, Brinbay? They're the main reason I dream of doing some diving up there one day.

Here's one of my other favourites:

I've dived with large numbers of "small" mantas in Yap and Ningaloo Reef over in WA (by "small" I mean up to 14 ft across their wingspan) and one *huge* one in the Red Sea - they can get to be 21 ft across, and I won't say this chap was that big, but he must have been getting close. They are so graceful in spite of their size - so calm, so gentle, so curious.

I'm also partial to sharks of many species - the wobbegongs we see locally (first time I saw one underwater, I thought the sea floor was coming up to meet me):

I was only in the water once with one of these - an oceanic white tip - and it's probably a good thing I didn't see him, as one of the other divers said he was acting aggressively (they are one of the handful of sharks dangerous to man):

I love seeing sharks out in the blue, the way they slip in and out of the edge of your vision, effortlessly elegant.

 

[Brinybay]

Would that be the giant Pacific Octopus you see in Puget Sound, Brinbay? They're the main reason I dream of doing some diving up there one day.

Yup. Only other one in these waters is the smaller red octopus. Occasionally see a stuby squid, but not very often.

 

[Foofoogal]

My favorite is the american Bison.

I also say Bison. I just saw a bunch in a pasture yesterday. They are fabulous. Zebra is my other first choice as I cannot decide. How anyone can say there is no God and look at a zebra is beyond me.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I don't know about 'favorite wild animal'...but I've always thought of the giraffe as one of the strangest land animals. Almost 'other worldly' in appearance. Very unique species compared to all others.........
HD

 

[SamMarlowPI]

for the bison folks...

there is a bison ranch behind my uncles spread and i snapped a couple of cellphone pictures of a bull(i think) about a year ago...i like 'em too...

i dunno how accurate the info is but i've heard that the bloodline of this herd goes back to an original herd from the great plains(or something to that effect)...

 

[Foofoogal]

When I make it to heaven the first ? I have to ask God was did the animals talk to each other. I just know they do.
I love seeing different animals but hate (detest) zoos and aquariums for larger sea animals.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

My favorite wild animal is the huemul.

.

 

[donCarlos]

Favourite wild animal? Must be this little thing, Australians will know...

 

[Baron Kurtz]

"Jesus Christ, would you just bloody leave me alone!"

 

[Kermez]

Great horny toads!

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

I came off a trail in Wyoming's Wind River Range a few years back and after two weeks of eating dehydrated mush and Raman Noodles I sat down at a restaurant to a great big bison burger. That day, the bison was my favorite animal.

 

[HungaryTom]

http://rewilding.org/rewildit/images/repoblamiento-mexico.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleistocene_Rewilding
Articles:
http://rewilding-symposium.weebly.com/

Pleistocene Rewilding - Lions and Elephants in U.S.A.

A rather new and controversial idea is circulating in the universe. A group of conservation biologists proposed to populate western North America with African and Asian megafauna, including lions, elephants, cheetahs, and camels, to create a facsimile of a species assemblage that disappeared from the continent some 13,000 years ago (Rubenstein et al., 2006). During the Pleistocene most of these large vertebrates died out , when humans from Eurasia began migrating to the continent (Donlan, 2007). Subsequently, one can think that humans have the moral responsability to bring back the evolutionary and ecological potential that our ancestors destroyed in the pleistocene (Rubenstein et al., 2006). Besides ethics, this concepts, of course, has a scientifically substantiated base. The founder of the Pleistocene Rewilding concept, Paul Martin (2005), states that present ecological communities in North America do not function appropriately in the absence of megafauna because many plant and animal species evolved under the influence of large mammals. Adherents believe that the introduction of megafauna holds the potential to reestablish key ecological processes, such as predation and browsing, that once thrived there and thus could promote biodiversity (Donlan, 2007). Thereby, the concept also occupies the conservation field much wider by directly providing a refuge for the often highly endangered species from Africa and Asia. However, this concept makes the rather debatable assumption that communities today are ecologically similar to communities in the Pleistocene 13,000 years ago.

Bactrian camels, Przewalski horses, Tibetan Kiangs - Camelids and Equids all originated in North America.
Bring 'em back.

***
Rewilding the wild horses happens already in my country.
http://www.largeherbivore.org/running-wild-przewalski-s-horses-in-hungary/


What do you think?

 

[BinkieBaumont]

Quoka

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quokka

 

[The Lonely Navigator]

Great White Shark