[Closed] Best wild animal you ever saw

white tip reef shark - internally shat myself

A Coyote and a Racoon in Yosemite, but no bears - a bit too early in spring. 🙁

badger

best of the animals by far

followed by basking shark, otter, bear

this country and adder lying asleep in the path it just slithered off but I was within 3 feet of it

my wife, drunk, in the bedroom 😉

A group of VERY large carp.. all potential UK record breakers..

not very exciting for some but hugely so for me..

King Snake in Tasmania - I was scared.
Adder asleep in my local wood.
Golden Eagle flying high in Torridon - huge wingspan

Would love to encounter a bear - kinda.

+1 for headfirsts wife BTW

Cobra (in kitchen) in Thailand.

Moose in Canada.

Fox at entrance to shed door yesterday.

A moose by the road in Canada. In this country, a pine marten on the Learnie trails on the black isle near inverness.

A Hammerhead shark, while swimming out to a boat mooring 100 yards out to sea, swam back a darn sight quicker, I can tell you 😉

Bike related:

Cycling in the Wyre Forest down a narrow fern lined trail, watching a load of deer running parallel to us with their heads just visiable over the ferns, for maybe 50-100 yards.

yunki - oh that was you she was with? I never did get your name. Good show my man!!

A group of VERY large carp.. all potential UK record breakers..

not very exciting for some but hugely so for me..

Ooh where was that?! I remember seeing a group of 3 40lb+ carp when I was in France at Nash Resorts.... Trouble is, they were up at one end of the lake and my kit was over at the other!

a herd of Bison in Yellowstone follwed closely by a bear crossing the road with its family in Yosemite!

I have a few, Cheetah on safari in Africa, troop of over 50 elephants on the same trip

killer whale inside passage off the coast of Vancouver island and killer dolphins running with the boat same trip

a bear on vancouver island watching traffic drive past on ther road between euclet and toffino (prob spelt wrong) on vancouver island

Some very large Iguana that roamed the grounds of our hotel in Mexico

Oh and cant forget Charlie the semi wild monkey at an elephant sanctuary in thailand

I had a pee in a ditch in France, should probably have looked first as disturbed one of these - nearly 2 metres long.

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Grizzly

In Europe - elk in Norway

Huge (and antlered) stag on some fire road at Kielder - he looked at me, i stopped very quickly!

a bear on vancouver island watching traffic drive past on ther road between euclet and toffino

that doesn't count, that road is known as bear alley, they aren't really bears, they are draught dodgers from toffino that have got a bit too beardy

oh missed from my list a Barracuda whilst snorkelling in mexico, i went the other way.......

A Wombat

A big cat in Brittany about 50m from the road we were on, it casually walked into the woods.

Red Kites

amazing

Anyone seen a mole? I've only ever seen a dead one. I've had a disappointing life.

Diving with these in the Maldives (not my photo)

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Not seen many...bald eagles in Canada were cool.

But most special recently was an otter quietly swimming along by the bank when out on a night row earlier this year. Me and the guy behind me nearly wet ourselves we were so delighted to see it.

DezB - Member

Anyone seen a mole? I've only ever seen a dead one. I've had a disappointing life.

Yep, you would be amazed how quickly they can move and dig 😉

Being serious now, as a kid living in S Africa I saw a blue whale

I saw my first great white shark on a flat calm day off S Africa - we'd been chumming the water and I still remember seeing a dark shadow underwater then two little whirlpools appeared on the surface just before the fin broke the water in a classic Jaws style. Shame that one cleared off before we could get the cage in as it was about 5.5m. Superb animals.

Golden Eagle flying high in Torridon - huge wingspan

yep, I've seen one up there too - it was way up but looked huge

In this country I've spotted a Pine Marten while cycling down a forestry track into Killin.

Abroad. An otter while snorkelling in Menorca. And the scariest of the lot...... a skunk in a park in Vancouver. It could have been a great white as far as I was concerned! 🙂

Probably Red Kite in the UK, saw all sorts of odd critters in Aus.

I've also seen most UK species of bat, but they're not particularly impressive in looks.

Lions eating an elephant's afterbirth in Zimbabwe

A lynx here in Switzerland (whilst biking). Never get tired of seeing wild mountain ponies either.

Swordfish - big one swimming along beside the boat for ages - very cool

Saw Ospreys, Golden eagles, Capercaillie and red squirrels when up in Aviemore last month, fabulous.

Seen the red kites @ Nant yr-arian, but that's a bit false as there's a breeding / feeding centre - not proper wild stuff. Still a fantastic sight though

Red Kites and some seriously testosteroned up stags in the UK.

LOADS of black bears in Canada some pretty close up - they look quite cuddly. 3 adolescent grizzlys whilst out in the back country. Very definitely NOT cuddly!

red kite
badger
bittern
red squirrel (not that rare but still cool)
avocet
Stoats (on a regular basis on Win Hill)
Mole

Mother and baby elephant in Kenya, leopard too.
Bear and moose in the mountains in USA
Wolf fish while diving in UK
Grey whales and Orcas in North Pacific
Baby Robin in the woods behind the Natwest bank in Swindon

thepurist - Member

I saw my first great white shark on a flat calm day off S Africa - we'd been chumming the water and I still remember seeing a dark shadow underwater then two little whirlpools appeared on the surface just before the fin broke the water in a classic Jaws style. Shame that one cleared off before we could get the cage in as it was about 5.5m. Superb animals.

Now that's something I would love to see, safe on a boat that is!

😉

I've swum with Grey Nurse Sharks in Manly Aquarium near Sydney.
And a huge school of dolphins off the coast of New Zealand.

I've stroked a moray eel with my bare hands in Malaysia; released a newly born turtle into the sea in Borneo and tracked lions on foot in Africa.

All this will be lost, like tears in the rain...

A white deer.. and a almost as good, a herd of deer running parallel to me, very cool until I realised I was heading into a downhill section very very fast (as I wasn't paying attention to the track)..

Red kites big groups of them, ravens are cool, panda in the zoo if that counts

In Kenya - lions, cheetahs (beautiful animals) and even a leopard.

At home - a deer jumping through long grass as I watched from my kitchen window.

In captivity - meerkats at Tropical World in Leeds or any kind of fish in any Sea Life Centre

Saw an otter last week for the first time ever. That was great.

Heffalumps, warthogs and giraffe in Kenya

I do love big birds of prey tho - Sea Eagles on Mull are fantastic