Posts tagged animals
I take my young children (0-7 years) outside to local trails. It's not remote, virgin wilderness, just a few dozen hectares of forest and stream. The kids enjoy it, and the youngest one is still le...
I like to hike, and I have two large dogs (German Shepherd, Presa Canario). After a long hike I look reasonably homeless (long hair, unshaven, muddy). Combined with two large, potentially dangero...
I've recently learned of a local eagle cam and have been enjoying watching a pair of bald eagles and their three chicks. While I don't have access to many days of video to check (the site buffers ...
I was working today when I saw a small dog run across the road in front of my apartment, narrowly being missed by a car. I went out and lured the dog in with a hotdog, brought her to my apartment, ...
There are basically two bear-resistant containers meant for storing food while backpacking, bear canisters and Ursacks. What are the pros and cons of each?
Wolves are going to be removed from the list of animals protected by the Endangered Species Act (pending litigation). They were already delisted in Montana and Idaho and had a hunting season in Wy...
If one were to go looking for cottontail rabbits, what time of day would be the best? I have noticed that it seems like there are more out and about in the afternoon than in the early morning.
This weekend I was sitting next to a pond and multiple times there was a crow who had something white in his mouth flying down from a tree to within several feet of the pond's surface, drop the whi...
A few nights ago I saw some minks in the grass right next to a seasonal irrigation canal that is dry most of the year shortly after dark. The irrigation canal has no fish or crawdads in it, because...
As the summer goes on, the cottontail rabbits are getting bigger and at the same time I am seeing fewer of them, presumably as predators whittle their numbers down. What percentage of baby cottonta...
Sometimes a horse will become what is known as barn sour where all they want to do is hang around the stable/corrals and not go on rides. While on rides, they will keep trying to turn back and once...
Exactly that... I've done some searching and it looks like a catch-22 situation: To be able to move there you need to do commoning already. But to do commoning, you need live there already. (Hmm.....
I thought about trying unconventional breeds for hunting. I stumbled across the "Akita", which was initially cultured to hunt. However, it seems that it's pretty much a common house/pet dog nowaday...
I've been hanging these fat balls for a good while and they're intact. Previously I was hanging a feeder filled with seeds (for birds) in front of the window and that was also intact for a while; s...
There is a video on reddit where a skunk is chasing a woman around. It's not spraying or even threatening to spray, but it's sure trying to keep up with her. Why would a skunk be doing that?
Here is a whole bunch of ants gathered on a sidewalk around dusk, I have seen this before so its not totally uncommon. What would lead to ants doing this?
Sometimes a horse/pony will bite humans. They bite each other to establish dominance and sometimes they will bite humans too. How do you train a horse to stop biting humans?
I've just seen a documentary in which a guy trekks through some rugged terrain while he has his cargo on a donkey. It's a pretty cool and versatile animal overall. What are some pros and cons of t...
We prefer watching animals from a distance, to try and cause them the least disruption. Every so often I've seen an animal in a distant part of a large area that doesn't appear to feel right. For i...
For an older guy (say 65+) who likes to hike alone - are a mule or two a help or a hindrance? Maybe a mule for the pack, and a second mule to ride when I get really old? Historically people prefer...
My grandpa found this deer skull way out in the back of a golf course (he works there) and brought it home for me. I don't mind leaving the color the way it is, I just wonder, what is the best way...
Once in Nevada, I saw a sign on an old abandoned mine that said two things, Stay out, mines have noxious fumes. Stay out, bats live here. Both of those are good reasons to stay out, but it seem...
During rifle season, hunters are required to wear blaze orange (some states also allow bright pink). I have heard that deer and elk are color blind to blaze orange, is there scientific evidence to...
In Glacier National Park (USA), there are 63 backcountry campgrounds. I looked at the backcountry campground website including the map and campsite information. Are there bear poles/boxes at back...
When hiking in a rarely frequented area, trails may be very faint to the level of being essentially invisible. In such situations, it has happened more than once that I accidentally followed an an...
I feed the local birds quite a lot, and am wondering about the possibility of contracting any avian-related illnessess. How often is it for us to come across a disease-ridden bird anywhere, as well...
After watching this video of a man punching a kangaroo to rescue his dog, I am wondering how dangerous a kangaroo is to a human on foot? I am sure that there are a lot of other things in Australia ...
Yesterday I found a really old deer skull in a forest and I took it home in the hope to get it cleaned up. So I searched it up but I only saw how to clean up dead deer heads with skin on and those ...
There are a couple of crows that come around regularly, they come as a pair. One is larger than the other. Perhaps a couple? or parent and youth? or adult and older parent? When providing nuts/see...
This question is related to my earlier question about when it is safe, from the young chipmunks' point of view, to relocate a burrow of chipmunks. To recap the background of the earlier question: ...
The author of a question on our site referred to a certain type of goose as a Canadian goose. Some people thought that the correct name is Canada goose, rather than Canadian. Wikipedia refers to t...
This happened on one of my hikes. It was a hike with two villages en route. Somehow a dog from the first village decided to stick with us. We were OK with it. Then he was followed by a small Puppy...
I live in Colorado and love hiking alone, it's quiet and peaceful. I want to be more 'free' to hike in early morning or late evening when it's dark or backpack in remote places, but at this point ...
Next summer I am planning to ride a bike from Belarus to the north of Norway through Finland. What measures should I take to be protected against wild animals (bears and wolves)?
So I have camped in France, in the Vosges region, in the locality called "Le bonhomme". Where there are many wild boars. It was in a dense forest, with a freezy weather. (-5°C) My camp was just a...
Wild dogs appear to be dangerous. Should I be running if I come across one, or should I stand fast and defend myself? They are a social animal, so they will be in a pack almost all the times.
Recently there was a story about some people in Texas who brought three bobcat kittens home and then called animal control after the bobcats bit them. It's also happened once in California where a...
I saw a bird with an injured wing among the rocks on a beach in Portugal (Algarve). The bird has been on the beach since Friday evening, and her wing feathers have completely dropped off by now. I...
In Norway, Sweden, and Finland, there are resident bears, but they rarely go near people, nobody practices the kind of bear safety that is necessary in parts of North America, and this does not lea...
Some places I travel to have stray dogs in the city. Can a knife be used effectively if attacked by one or more of them? I've had creepy close encounters.
Like many people, we have bird feeders, and a bird-bath. We also have a feeding station (replenished in the mornings only) that attracts squirrels and chipmunks and some of the larger birds. Duri...
We saw this magnificent white tiger in a wildlife rehabilitation center in the United States. I don't like seeing animals out of their natural habitat, but all of these animals were rescued from ci...
I am not sure if this question fits here but since I like to travel and often face difficulties because of different weather conditions in different cities/countries so, I am hoping that somebody c...
A page like this one, as well as a number of questions on this site, discuss how to pack food safely from bears. What about other animals? This post advises a pretty sophisticated way to protect ...
I have heard about people using electricity to catch worms, mostly around catching worms for fishing. How does this work? Is it safe?
When I first saw a man get kicked by a kangaroo, I said "nope to Australia" because that is mainly where kangaroos are. Then, I looked on google and it said kangaroos are not dangerous. So now I'm ...
I'm relatively new to outdoors wear and was wondering if anyone had any advice on a lightweight outer layer/weatherproof jacket for my specific needs. I'd be layering it over a base layer, mid laye...
The young of cats are called kittens or cubs, depending partly on how large the cat is, and apparently partly on informal custom. Wikipedia, kitten says: The word "kitten" derives from the Mid...
We had a few white browed bulbuls visit us recently. One of them seemed to have a peculiar interest in the chillies that grew in one of our pots (I believe these are bird's eye chillies [no pun i...
When it gets colder while walking, I'd add an extra fleece as a mid layer and when we stop to eat, I would put it on too, or I'd wear a down jacket if it's dry. However when it's wet, it seems lik...
