I love aviaries, and big birds, but that's one I would skip for sure!! That seems like a really stupid idea. The one at Dallas Zoo got really pissed off at the sound of my camera shutter (old film camera, can't turn it off) and started posturing and trying to stick its face through the fence at me. Of all the animals I've photographed with that camera, including thousands of dogs, this was the first time an animal had ever done more than glance or look a bit startled at the sound so I wouldn't have expected that reaction.
Clawed and bitten by a wee marmoset, scratched and attempted grabbed and stabbed by chimps (and spat at frequently!), close-call with a grabby pig-tailed macaque.
Wow! Marabous always get the bad rap, but the Saddlebill and the Black Necked Storks are the true badasses of the Ciconiidae! Also, Shoebills should be included too even though they're related to pelicans!
You want me to skip the part about cheetahs, my favorite animal?! that was interesting to watch. I still wouldn't want to be around one without a barrier of some sort, that beak is massive (plus the wings and talons). But they seemed to consider him a friend. I love shoebills but wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of one. Same with harpy eagles.
I recalled an incident with a friends boa, about 8 foot long. We were moving it from it's vivarium into the bathroom so he could clean out when it started to coil around my leg. I was cool, calm and collected (inside I was sh*tting myself! ) but fortunately once it realised it was getting a rabbit for dinner it lost interest in me. Snakes still don't bother me as much as parrots do though. See my earlier entry in the thread for details on that...
Sorry about that! I had no idea. About a year ago, a pair of Saddlebills was for sale on Enimalia.com for $25,000. Looking back and knowing from what @Stefan Verhoeven said, I guess its a good thing I didn't have the finances to afford them!
I have had three raccoons growl and chase me about their enclosure because they were hungry and wanted the yogurt in my hand. Have also had many types of pheasants attack me as I take their eggs, and a Llama chase me round a field as it spat at me and tried to kick me. It actually kicked the other person in with me and left a football size bruise on her stomach. Emus and rheas mistaking my fingers for food, and a coati scratched me once as it tried to climb up me.
I once stepped into a colony of sand crabs, got some painful chew marks on my ankle from my aunts dog, and 3 year old me got chased by a groundhog.
Thank you for your amazing ( and painful) animal experiences I didn’t think I would get so many replys to this thread. Many thanks Jake
Getting stung once hurts Getting stung twice hurts even more Getting stung 3 times or more is hell I was a unfortunate 3 timer
Cat bites and scratches. All the time. Sometimes I deserve it, usually I don't. My oldest cat likes to take her anger out on other living things. I was her favorite target for a long time (even if she was angry at someone else) cause she knows I won't fight back but the past few years she's been going after other people in the house. It's hard to find a vet who will give her full treatment. The youngest cat is friendly but likes to play rough. The middle cat rarely does any play fighting, but when she does, she puts almost no force into it, it's adorable. I went to a safari park and I didn't like the way the ostriches were approaching the car so I told my dad to dump the food on the ground and roll up the car window. The ostrich then attacked the sideview mirror. I used to have an extremely aggressive hamster that would draw blood. I later got a less aggressive dwarf hamster that would sometimes bite, but not so badly. I was too young to remember it when it happened, but a rampaging carnival elephant came close to knocking down our trailer.
Never misunderestimate wasps. You know what they say, "Sting me once, shame on ... shame on you; if you sting me, can't get stung again..."
Unfortunately birds seem to have a thing against me. I’ve been attacked by various chickens, pheasants and geese and had several scratches and bites. I’ve even had an ostrich bite me on the ear when I was younger. I’ve also had a llama jump on top of me and needed another person to help.
