Your Most Amazing Animal Experience!

I've got two
1: Feeding and patting a wild zebra in africa.
2: Whilst scuba diving in indonesia, getting up close and patting a rare wild Hawksbill turtle.

 

Best experiences

1. Being jumped over by a killer whale at the park where I worked in California.

2. A "kiss" from a fully grown walrus. They are huge!

I have had a chance to see many animals in both Africa and Asia which is amazing as well.

 

I dont have many but here it goes;

1) Rescuing injured or orphaned wildlife and releasing them ( muskrat, beaver, white tailed deer, opossum and racoons)

2) Feeding and petting a giraffe at the Maryland Zoo.

3) Petting and riding an Asian and African Elephant at a local fair.

 

I wouldn't call this cool but it is still something to add. At Seaworld FL, I was petting the dolphins when right away it turned feeding time. So I was bit by a younger dolphin and it gave me 5 holes in my hand.

Getting a free behind the scenes tour at the Newport Aquarium KY

Took the Serengeti Safari at Busch Gardens Tampa to go into Africa, you can marvel at all the many species on the African plains, be chased by a rhino and her baby, and getting looked down on by giraffes and feeding them.

And my #1, $200 In-water Dolphin Experience at the Indy Zoo.

 

My number 1.

The moment that I released the first of our captive bred Nactus coindemirensis from Durrell in Jersey, onto Ile Marianne, creating a new population.

You can see I was a bit emotional! lol

 

Non- Zoo: While eating my lunch on a beach in Costa Rica, a white faced capuchin came up to me, snached my juice box and climbed back into the tree. He took the straw out and tried to drink it only to discover it was already gone. He threw the juice box down and left.

Non- Zoo: Getting a breif glimps of a Quetzal while hiking in the Monte Verde Cloud Forest in Costa Rica.

Non- Zoo: Seeing a baby humpback whale off the coast of Gloucester Massachusetts.

 

A rather silly none zoo one:

Watching a tortoise walk down the gravel road used by the shuttle mobile launch platform at Kennedy Space Centre.... The tour guide suggested that the turtle was moving faster than the platform would (about 1 mile per hour)

 

Petting a Kinkajou & Tamandua!!!!!
Feeding a Giraffe!!!!
Going behind the scenes at the Florida Aquarium with African Penguins!!!!

 

Rhino wild in Nepal

Non-Zoo but still park: In 1987 I went to Nepal and in the Chitwan Jungle I went on an elephant (and by dugout canoe and on foot) looking for a rhinocerous. Amazing to see in the "wild". We were told that if the rhino chased us to take off our clothes one piece at a time, and the rhino would stop to sniff each one, which would slow it down a little!

 

My most amazing animal experience , was at edinburgh zoo .The zoo was starting to close up for the day so i decided to go and see the chimps while it was quite .There was a chimp by her self in one of the testing pods ,so i sat next to her and watched her for a while .Then a woman comes over and starts chatting and tells me to put my hand on the glass ,so i did .The chimp came over and kissed my hand ,this made me realize that these creatures are special ,and need protecting .

 

At the Vogelpark Walsrode we recieved during 1988 ( or around that time ) a transport-box which should contain 2 newly obtained wooly-necked storks. By releasing them in the quarantaine-enclosure I realized directly these 2 weren´t wooly-necked but the first Stormstorks in captivity ! The zoological director at that time wasn´t sure but I was sure of it and later this proofed right !

 

May have some photos of these birds?

 

Probably my best non-zoo experience was when a wild wolfwalked across the road in front of the RV me and my family were travelling in when visiting Yellowstone. It was about 5am and totally unexpected and just filled me with such awe. I took so many picture, however none were of a high quality due to the angle of the wolf in relation to us and sheen off the window

Best Zoo.... tricky. Probably when I did work experience at WMSP and had the chance to stroke and scratch some of the white lions through the mesh of their cage, and also being able to stroke and hand feed the 2 indian rhinos there.

 

Sitting in on an operation on a siberian tiger. I used to go face to face with this tiger through the mesh while she was awake, but one day I was told that if I came in early and got all my work done, I would be able to watch. When she was under, I was able to hold her massive head in my lap.

I'm not obsessed with big cats really, but that was pretty amazing!

 

Being 15 I haven't had too long of a time to have really great animal experiences. My two favorite for wild are seeing wild Atlantic Bluefin Tuna and a wild juvenile California Condor. My favorite zoo experiences so far would probably be seeing many of the rarities I've been lucky enough to see at zoos, especially Bronx.

~Thylo

 

The beauty of being 15, is that you have many many years ahead of you to have amazing wildlife experiences. With wildlife-related travel becoming more and more accessible and affordable, you have a lot to look forward to. The downside, of course, is that some animals might go extinct before.

I always wanted to see the snows and glaciers of Kilimanjaro, but with global warming, it will be ice-free by the time I can afford to go. Conversely, I just might be able to see a spix's macaw in the wild by then.

 

I know, I personally think I've accomplished quite a bit with the species I've seen (ex. Maleos) and am happy with what I've been able to accomplish in the few years since I really began taking my wildlife studies seriously (started in 2011).

One of my most precious and greatest animal memories is getting face to face with a rather tame wild Moose in Utah. Within the following 20-30mins, I spotted 2 more.

~Thylo

 

As a zookeeper my precious moment was carrying a few days old snow leopard cub in my lap. We had three cubs that year and they had just been examined by our vet and the press was present too. He was tiny but felt like a soft, big house-cat.

And of course every situation in my work with animals at a zoo is amazing. Every working day brings new things in front of me and I like it.

 

Oh, I just remembered another one! A few years back I was swimming at a beach in Puerto Rico and a pod of wild Caribbean Manatees swam up to me and my family!

~Thylo

 

Another 'amazing' experience I had when I was about 5 years old. My parents dicided that we should go with the time and obtain a new color TV instead of the old black and white we had at that time ( yes, I'm already THAT old ! ).
At that time, watching TV was still a short of event and we ( parents, sisters and me ) sat in front of it and put it on......... The first programm we got at our new COLOR TV was a film from Jacques Cousteau ( a French marine-scientist ) filming penguins in Antartica. Nice grey ocean, white snow and black and white penguins !!!! The only 'new' color we were able to see was the funny red woolen hat of Cousteau