Getting close to a predator in nature

[Shinrin]

Just curious of what kind of predators people have seen in the wild and how close they've been to it without a Guide.(nor stuff like if a friend of yours is holding it)


Personally i havn't experienced much in that direction only stuff to come to mind:

Taking some spiders and the like in the hand and move em.

beeing 8 m from a fox

5-10 cm from a hawk(it grabed a bird around 15 cm from my head and killed it 30 cm from me)

40 cm from a grass snake(no venom)
:headscratch can't remember others atm.


So what's your exp?

[Rain]

Not many predators really.

The only one that comes to mind is a once when I was swimming in a lake and a snake swam right up beside me and scared me half to death. the snake was just a few inches from me.

[Shinrin]

I know that's scary, Actually had a nightmare about that once...

Only person in a flooded area 3 m deep only with straw buildings in the area that can't carrie once weight so no matter what you tryed to grab it couldn't support you... Then a 4 M Python swam toward the first thing it saw that might get it out of water= it tryed to get upon one draging one down whenever it tryed.

Good that one was just a nightmare


Edit: Just noticed i missed an important letter at my comment about the hawk ^^'
It was the hawk that grabed and killed the bird not me^^':rolleyes:

Some reflexses one should have to grabe a bird comming from behind and killing it 30 cm from oneself...

[Jaws]

I once mistook a bear as a car thief, it was in the wee hours of the night, and my dog was barking fiercely, so I thought maybe someone was trying to steal my car. I went out to take a look see ... it wasn't a thief, but there was a bear right beside me going through garbage ^^;

Lots of coyotes and racoons and skunks around my place too, so quite often I see them around my house. Actually, I've seen many wild animals when I'm driving, coyotes are the most troublesome since they like to dash across the streets out of nowhere, and I have to avoid running over them.

[Jhaxe]

I've been about say...4 inches from a large black snake?

I was going to feed my rabbit outside, and I wasn't paying attention. We'd recently had a storm, so I was looking at all the fallen branches and debris. Then I looked back towards the rabbit cage, and I was about 10 inches from it. There was a HUGE black snake wrapped in the wiring of the cage sticking it's head out towards me, hissing with it's tongue out .__.

I froze, then slowly backed up for like twenty feet, and ran away. When I came back with my dad later, it was gone...and we never found him >> -shudders-

[Rain]

Since it's not a predator it probably doesn't count but I remember one time when I was younger I was walking around through a cornfield (why, I don't know) and all of a sudden a deer appeared and ran past me. It was really scary.

[Shinrin]

I can imagin so, as said in V.1 "We fear that which we cannot see"

Oh and one thing that might freek you out if you read it:

From Animal planet i heard that around 90% of the houses in Australia got atleast 1 snake living at there ground, some just never see em, but they are there

Jaws, i'd be pretty shocked to find a bear in my trash.
THis is the kind of stuff you mainly hear about from Canada & Alaska oh were was it you were from:rolleyes:;)

[Ikkaku]

The only natural predators we have here are Neds with Tractors. Big tractors.

I woke up one morning a found a two foxes attacking my trash. The was kinda cool, cept i had to chase them off, and clean it up.

Actually, the most terrifying experiance was been attacked by a swan. In my defence, i thought at first it was an ornament. Then it bit me, and I peddled my little pedelo a fast as my little 9 year old legs would take me (Which, for the record, aint that fast).

[emoloz]

I went to a sea life center and a sting ray jumped out of the tank and landed on me. It could have killed me >.<.

Been near a few snakes before like in the grass and stuff scare the daylights outta me.

I have never seen a fox yet guess we don't get them in our area all the farmers have probabily shot them >.< poor things.

[Rain]

Another time, when I went up into my attic about a million (maybe only 50) bats started flying around. That was terrifing, I had no where to go and they were surronding me (i think my story just scared me).

Seeing snakes seem to be really common, seems like a lot of us have.

[negativzero]

once we had a cobra hiding under the sofa for a few days without knowing it.
when we realised it had been there for a while, we had to call the zoo to help us remove the beast. really scary tho, as it spat venom and the handler had a real rough time with it.

[Shadoblak]

Geez..I live in the city, these things rarely ever happen around here...Closest i ever got to a "Predator" in "nature" was a stray dog :p

[Frosted Heart]

Hmm, closest predator I can think of was a coyote. But it was about twenty feet away from me, and I was in a portable so there was no danger of attack. ^^;

Some Canadian geese were giving me dirty looks yesterday though. Then again I was pretty close to their group, like basically, right beside them. They were acclimated to humans though because I'm sure really wild geese would have attacked my by then. :p

[Teishu Soukutsu]

les see running through a forest jumped over a tree branch which later i saw was the most venomous snake there is in Estonia O_o not that dangerous...
Also a fox with rabies jumped against out car window i was sleeping so quite a shock... I've seen a moose from 10m away, chased deers with an ATV when i was 9... >_> it was a small field and they were doing 60mph.... Plus rabbits n stuff..really scary yknow..>_>

[Riekie]

Hmm...let's just name all of the wild animals then:D hahaha

a bear on the side of the road in canada...about 10 m away.
Mountain goats between Banff and Jasper in Canada..5 m away
400 dolphins in canada 1 m away
american sea eagles 20 m away
deer 15 m away near our cabin
bears 50 m away

and probably much more animals I've seenXD hahaha

[spacecat]

I've seen a lot in the zoo and also out of the zoo, many dangerous snakes and such but the scariest was when i was diving once and i swam very close to a giant shark. I dunno what type it was but i turned and swam for my life luckily it didn't seem interested in me at all @_@

[speedphantom]

I can imagin so, as said in V.1 "We fear that which we cannot see"

Oh and one thing that might freek you out if you read it:

From Animal planet i heard that around 90% of the houses in Australia got atleast 1 snake living at there ground, some just never see em, but they are there

Jaws, i'd be pretty shocked to find a bear in my trash.
THis is the kind of stuff you mainly hear about from Canada & Alaska oh were was it you were from:rolleyes:;)Haha about the snake living on my property, I don't think so:p. Not in the city. Must be in the 10% without XD.

1994, holidaying in Penang, I was 5 at the time. My family and I were about to go into this pool off the side of the road in the forest, a stream pool sorta thing. Just as we were about to step in this big python falls from the trees, splashes in the water about 3m infront of us and swims away. I was quite scared to get back in the water but we didn't encounter it thankfully haha ^^;

If you count magpies as predators, of various types of bugs I'd guess haha. XD.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/10/Magpie.jpg/250px-Magpie.jpg
Thats the Aussie magpie. One time I was cycling to work, unfortunately KFC haha XD and it was during spring time so its mating season for magpies. I looked up and saw the magpie following me like gliding 2m above me head. A few seconds later it swooped me and clattered into my helmet. Scratched the side of my head, barely scratched but there was a spot of blood. So thats my encounter, fearsome tale. XD

[Jaws]

Well ... if you've never seen a dumbfounded bear before ....
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa209/tseyii/Dumbfoundedbear_1_1_4_1.jpg
After 2 weeks of stalking and sleep deprivation, I finally managed to snap ONE shot of one of the cubs that's been roaming around our housing area. There were 3 bears in total, mama and 2 cubs.

Photo was taken with not more than 10 seconds ... bear came, I sneakily opened the window, poked my head out with camera ... it looked up surprised ... camera flash went off ( I probably blinded it ) ... it went dumbfounded for a few seconds ... stood up growled at me, and I slammed my window shut as fast as I could!!!

Not sure where mama bear was, but the other cub was having a grand buffet over at neighbour's garbage, so I wasn't about to stick around to see what it's reaction will be after I blinded it >_<!

Not the greatest quality pic here since it was pitch black outside, and I was shaking throughout the whole time! This is as close as it gets, and I'm not about to risk my life a second time >_<!

[tari101190]

hmmm...thers no predators in london i think...wel not real ones atleast.
i've seen 3 foxes so far, but they run away as son as u get near them. i didn't no that the first time though so i was kinda nervous (and running away).

2 birds hav been in my house by accident b4 (no not pigeons)...and thers dogs everywhere...can't say i've sen any predators though...

oh in australia/africca i've seen liizards and snakes though...no sure if they count...

[Ileenka]

Was walking along the neighbourhood streets around 7-8pm one day when I came across a dark male lion who was stalking along the opposite street. Turned my heels and ran but came across two black panthers who jumped at me instead. It was a deam, but it was so real. I even felt coarse whiskers brushing past my neck. :cry

[laurie b.]

Well, even if I live in the city, our old ancestral home had a huge backyard -- almost a mini-forest -- that was left to grow wild with fruit trees and what-not. It was only pruned once a year, and it was really unruly. My family was one of the first to move to our area in Manila, so that our backyard was pretty much undisturbed land. So a lot of wildlife moved in over the years when more houses were built up and then things got crowded.

Anyway, growing up I was used to find the occasional fruitbat flying around, trying to get in (or out) of my bedroom. There was a regular flock of bird, and then a pair of macaws (probably a neighbors' pets who escaped captivity) moved in too. And then there were the giant rats, and the huge toads that my dog kept trying to attack -- he always lost out, due to the poison, we kept bringing him to vet for shots which pissed off my older sister immensely (she was the one paying for the vet bills) :p

We had a whole ecosystem going on in our backyard. It was pretty cool.

The worst encounter, though, was when a huge snake (I don't know what kind) just kind of slithered out of the backyard into the driveway. He kind of just parked himself there. The snake was really long and scary, and we had to call for outside help because no one wanted to deal with it.

Since we sold the old house, I haven't encountered a lot of wildlife. I kind of miss the non-threatening ones. All the predators I encounter now are the sleazoids at clubs and restos when I go out with my girl friends. :D I'd take the fruit bats over them, any night.