Whats The Rarest Animal You Have Ever Seen In The Wild?

[Quixote1818]

For me it was a Gila Monster near Safford, Arizona last May:



We also saw a Mountain Lion on that same trip.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

1. a manatee while fishing on the FL gulf coast.

Quite a thrill!

[Robeson]

39. Yep, me too. But I saw them in a perserve, which I fear, is about the...

...only place they'll eventually survive.

[fishnfla]

76. I see manatees in the wild all the time

just about every time out in the boat in the summer

[Dookus]

2. A sea horse

while diving in the Sea of Cortez.

[Hatalles]

45. Did you get to ride it?

Yeah, okay. Stupid joke.

[LiberallyInclined]

101. I saw one while diving in Bonaire.

my wife saw several.

[arcos]

3. Humans...

;)

[Arugula Latte]

4. A quetzal bird in Costa Rica.

We got up at 5 to hike into the jungle to a quetzal hangout tree the guide knew about. There were a handful of them, and very spectacular, I must say, even though I'm not normally "into" birds. They have bright green iridescent plumage.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

58. I so envy you!

One of these days! :hi:

[Arugula Latte]

73. I hope you make it there soon!

We went on a tour with the Nature Conservancy, if I remember correctly. This was about 1989 or so.

I loved Costa Rica.

[Bronco69]

5. I saw a Tarantula just south of Flagstaff a few years ago. n/t

[Amfortas]

6. A Unicorn.

[Quixote1818]

8. What were you smoking?

[Amfortas]

10. No I'm serious ,they really exist !

president Kerry just signed a few days ago an executive order to put them on the endangered species list.

[Rabrrrrrr]

20. Was that after Speaker of the House George Carlin did his interpretive

dance on the SOTU on Fox News?

[Quixote1818]

50. Man, November 3rd really fucked you up. I feel for you friend.

:pals: It's all going to be OK, just hange in their.

[imenja]

106. that's a good one

DU alternate reality.

[Amfortas]

116. what alternate reality ?

you're scaring me ....

[Straight Shooter]

7. A bear. It was really cute, scampering away.

Really cute because it was scampering away :)

[LiberalVoice]

9. Not sure what kind of bird it was but...

a long time ago my family and I were on a roadtrip...I look up in the sky and I swear this bird/eagle/whatever must have had a wing span of 10 feet at least! Really amazing! :)

[Radical Activist]

11. peregrine falcon

Nearly extinct. I saw one in the Smoky Mountains where some were reintroduced.

[Dookus]

22. fortunately

they're no longer nearly extinct. In fact, they were removed from the Endangered Species list in 1999.

[Radical Activist]

26. That's good news

I saw it in 2001. I suppose its still a rare thing to have seen in the wild.

[Dookus]

30. yes...

there's still only a couple thousand breeding pairs.

[Lorien]

12. Saw a Timber Wolf in Yellowstone, several Manatees

and loads of Bald Eagle here in Florida (I guess bald eagles aren't as rare anymore), and found an Indigo constrictor in my front yard; amazing snake, but I had to relocate him because he would have terrified the neighbors (he was HUGE)!

I guess the rarest were three Whooping cranes that I saw in a field near a road in Kissimmee, FL- I later found out that a Whooping crane breeding program is located not far from where I saw the birds.

[lpbk2713]

13. A Florida panther

We both surprised each other. Walking thru some brushy terrain it opened up to a clearing and we were staring at each other maybe 30 feet apart. They are fairly rare and on the endangered species list.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

15. Very rare!

Wow!!

[Lorien]

18. I think there are less than 40 in the wild

So yes, they are VERY rare!

[Amfortas]

19. Are they dangerous ?

weren't you afraid it would attack you?

[Lorien]

23. If you run they will attack

otherwise, they usually try to avoid people.

[Dem2theMax]

14. Peregrine falcon, when they were still on endangered list in the U.S..

I had a friend who was a wildlife biologist and he was working with Peregrines. He took me to some of the aeries in the wild. I had to swear I'd never tell the locations of the nests. And I never have. :)

We were going to one of the nests and momma or daddy bird saw us approaching. Nothing like being dive bombed by a bird going 200 mph. We literally hit the dirt. Amazing.

[LiberallyInclined]

100. I was working on high-rise constrution in chicago-

and there were a couple of them roosting in the area- we were working late into the afternoon on a concrete pour, and one of them put on quite a show, swooping around our building.

[Dem2theMax]

119. I'm glad I was on land when I had my sighting. LOL.

I would have fallen off the building if I had been where you were. Then again, one of the nests was on the side of a cliff and we had to sort of hang over it to see the babies. I'm dizzy just thinking about it. :crazy:

[Blue in a Red State]

16. A female Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

Flying overhead in the Atchafalaya Basin around 1991. I swear it.

[Lorien]

21. What year were they said to have gone extinct?

I think it was sometime in the '90s, but I'm not sure.

[Blue in a Red State]

31. Last confirmed sightings

Were in Cuba in the mid nineties. Declared extinct in '96, I think, but a unsuccessful expedition for them occurred in 2002...

[BlackVelvetElvis]

38. I remember this on NPR a few years ago.

http://www.npr.org/programs/re/archivesdate/2002/march/

[amazona]

87. bird species officially extinct after 50 years MIA

The Cuban subspecies is likely extinct but was re-discovered in the 1980s. The area has been logged since, and as the birds need a specific habitat, they are likely gone.

The U.S. subspecies was last seen in the Singer Tract in the late 1930s, where the birds were filmed prior to the logging of their habitat and extinction of the species in the early 1940s.

Because there is a similar very common woodpecker species, the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker is the most commonly observed "extinct" species, but whenever the claims of sightings are investigated, they never prove out. A forestry student believed to be a credible observer reported seeing a pair in the Pearl River WMA on APril 1, 1999. A huge search of the area involving investigators around the world and sophisticated "listening devices" turned up zip. The bird is extinct. There were too many hard logging years that left this species no suitable habitat in which to reproduce. The much more adaptable Pileated Woodpecker is easily seen and, in a tricky light, can fool the eye to thinking it is an Ivory-Billed.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[Blue in a Red State]

95. Well...

Dr. Jerome Jackson, a professor of ornithology at Mississippi State University, claims to have had an IBW respond to a tape recording within 40 miles of the Singer Tract in 1987. And although the 1971 photos submitted to George Lowery were dismissed as somehow "staged", the photo below looks mighty authentic to me. In addition, the 2002 Zeiss sponsored search did turn up evidence of massive bark stripping, which is peculiar to Ivory-Bills and not to Pileateds.

What I and my spouse saw in the 90's was a very large, predominantly black bird in overhead flight with no red markings, flying in a extremely straight pattern (no undulation), with white feathers at the rear of the wing and a tail reminiscent of a pintail duck.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :)

[BlackVelvetElvis]

24. Listed in my bird guide as extinct.

I hope they do exist and that you were right!
WOW!

[Arwennick]

27. I saw one too!

In Honey Island swamp in St.Tammeny Parish around 1967.I was bream fishing on the Pearl River.I've never seen another since and I have fished all over South La. & Miss,Ala,NW Fla.

[Blue in a Red State]

47. That's the area where the last purported sightings were made

In 1999! I corresponded with Mary Scott during the early Pearl River expeditions prior to the 2002 Zeiss search. She has photos and stories on her site here, if you are interested: http://www.birdingamerica.com/Ivorybill/ivorybilledwoodpecker.htm

[Arwennick]

97. Thanks for the site.

I was 15 when I saw the Ivory-Bill.The only reason I know it was a Ivory-Bill was because the old man(about 75) in the boat with us(my dad and I)by the name of Bobby told us thats what it was.I also remember him saying he hadn't seen one for 8 years.This old man named Bobby(can't remember the last name)lived on the Pearl his whole life on a houseboat his daddy had built out of cypress.It was about 5 miles north of where the little Pearl and the Big Pearl seperate.I don't know if that is in the WMA mentioned on the sites,it could be. I guess I should write a story so my kids and grandkids can remember my story.I feel blessed in weird way now.

[Blue in a Red State]

99. By all means,

Write to Mary Scott there on the birdingamerica.com site as well. She'd absolutely love to hear your story!

[Rabrrrrrr]

17. No one will believe me, but I saw a pigeon in '98 in NYC. Really!

No one has ever believed me, but I know what I saw. And I know the pigeon is NOT extinct.

But I never saw it again.

[maveric]

25. California grey whale and a manatee.

Not in the same place though.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

28. Eric Burdon

at a concert in the '60's. The music and crowd got pretty wild, with extra help.

[salinen]

29. An Udad (sp?)

Yes, and a whole herd. What is an Udad you say? Well it's a type of Dall sheep, African variety. There was a zoo near where I live that had these sheep. This was back in the 1930's. Some escaped. They now thrive in this new habitat. They have long hair and curly horns and snort at you when they are frieghtened.

Other animals I've seen:

Bobcats
Foxes
Coyotes
Big horn sheep
Elk
Rattle snakes
Tarantulas
Wild turkeys
Wild pigs
Whales
Elephant seals
Bat rays
Wombat
Koala
Kangaroo

[Dem2theMax]

69. We've got bobcats, coyotes and rattlesnakes in the backyard. LOL.

Well, up in the hills, but it's pretty much considered the back yard. They end up in the actual back yard on occasion.

How about turkey vultures? Had three here this past year. The wing span on those birds is something else.

[bmbmd]

81. Aoudad- or Barbary sheep.

Transplanted to theUS from IRAQ!!!!

[yvr girl]

32. Sea turtle, Moose, shark

[faithfulcitizen]

121. mine's sea turtle too! huge one swam by my hubby in Fl, cool!

[BlackVelvetElvis]

33. A Fl. scrub jay

This was a treat. A friend of mine was in the Sierra Club and took me to see these birds. We picked up small acorns along the way. He called them and about a dozen of them came and landed on us. They took the acorns and hung around, flying about and landing all over us until a hawk scared them away.
All these birds were banded.

[lpbk2713]

60. They're mostly found in the Lake Wales area.

There aren't very many of them either.

[likesmountains 52]

34. A Moose,not common in Colorado.

Hiking along the Colorado Trail.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

83. I've seen Moose many times in Maine. n/t

[WCGreen]

35. A repulican....

Cause they only want to tame the wild to make some fucking money.....

[Crunchy Frog]

36. I saw an ermine

in Rocky Mtn. National Park, just off Trail Ridge Road, in the tundra.

I don't know if they're particularly rare, but I'd never seen one before. I couldn't believe how tiny it was. I thought it was a chipmunk at first.

[BikeWriter]

40. Ermines used to come into our barracks in Alaska. Pretty little guys!

[autorank]

37. California Mountain Lion

Damn, that was amazing. Just popped out of a tree and started hissing. It was in the Santa Barbara hills. Friends and I were taking a "nature walk" admiring nature, hint hint. All of a sudden, here is this mountain lion. He was amazing, beautiful. When he started speaking to us and quoting the Baghavagita it was just too much.

Yes, master!

[cags]

59. When I lived in CA we had one in our back yard

Had to call fish and game and they moved him

[Lucky Luciano]

41. I saw a right whale

near Cape Cod when I was a boy - we were on a whale watching trip....the people on board said the right whales were very rare.

[Us vs Them]

42. Animals I've seen in the wild

Humpback whales - many times. Close to the boat and far away
Dolphins. They like to swim with the bow wakes
Porpoises. Same

Hiking in Runyon Canyon (Small hill to the west of the famous Hollywood one) I stumbled upon a coyote in the midst of a rare fog. That was creepy.

[kodi]

43. once i caught a glimpse of liberal republican at boca raton,

but i could have been mistaken

[tyedyeto]

107. ROTFLMAO...and I thought that particular species was extinct..n/t

[Ladyhawk]

44. I've seen more than one blue whale...

-humpback and gray whales
-a few bald eagles (rare in California)
-a killer whale attacking a sea lion
-pileated woodpecker (I thought it was an ivory-bill at the time, but it was in the wrong geographical location for that)
-bears, mountain lions and bobcats (they aren't endangered...just secretive)

[SmileyBoy]

46. I once saw an albino squirrel in a neighbour's yard.

I literally FREAKED OUT. I was young at the time.

[bobthedrummer]

48. An albino deer in Michigan's UP.

[knitter4democracy]

78. No way! Really? That's super cool! nt

[AlienGirl]

111. There's a whole herd on Presque Isle. n/t

[barackmyworld]

114. Do you know where Boulder Junction is?

Northern Wis, vilas county (I live there in the summer sometimes). Well, the history book for Boulder Jct had a photo of THREE albino deer a couple feet away from each other. The photographer waited for a long ass time to get that shot, because the probability of seeing 3 albino deer in one place is literally less than one in a billion.

[Xithras]

49. California Riparian Brush Rabbit

These cute little bunnies used to be found throughout California, but today are mostly constrained to a single 250 acre state park a few miles from my house. A survey in the 1990's put the species population at less than 300 individuals, but the park has been completely inundated twice by floods since that time, and only a handful have been seen since. In prehuman times the rabbits would have fled their riparian homes for the surrounding grasslands, but those grasslands no longer exist. Today there may be less than 100 left.

I also saw a Nene in Maui a few years back. A Nene is a Hawaiian goose. There are only about 800 left in existence and are also in serious danger of extinction.

[guitar man]

51. Bald Eagles

They were magnificent to watch.

[bikebloke]

52. Desert lion and cubs

In the Negev Desert. They were crossing the road. I stopped the tractor and watched them lope off into the scrub.

[Tikki]

53. Hiked alot in the Northwest as a kid and saw....

..the illusive 'whistling marmot".

[TX-RAT]

54. Jaguarundi

Was in a deer blind outside of El Indio TX, 2 of them came by the blind at a distance of 20 yards. When i showed the video to the rancher, he said he'd lived there all his life and had never seen one. The game warden said they are so rare, theres now way of determining the population.
They are a very strange looking cat, rather stocky, both of these had a red tint to them.

[Quixote1818]

57. I hear they come into Arizona from time to time. A Jaguar

(different from a Jaguarundi) was photographed in the mountains south of Tucson a few years ago. Their use to be quite a few in Arizona and New Mexico aound the turn of the century.

[necso]

70. Walking in an industrial park here in SoCal

that was right up against the "bush" on a quiet Sunday, I surprised a very strange looking (wild) cat of some type. (If you are quiet and have your eyes open you can see all sorts of things -- in all sorts of places.)

It wasn't a mountain lion or a bobcat -- I have seen plenty of both. And when I looked up the kinds of cats that supposedly live around here, I saw nothing remotely like it.

The animal had a rather strange looking face, but it was obviously a cat. The legs and body seemed somewhat poorly matched, and I remember thinking that the tail was odd. But the entire incident was over in a few seconds and I was as surprised as the cat (it wasn't big enough to be scary).

Your post got me thinking that maybe it was a jaguarundi. I can't be sure as it was some time ago, but this would be the best match so far judging by pictures -- and fading memory.

[Worst Username Ever]

55. It wasn't so much the animal as the circumstances

I slept in a tent for 10 weeks when I was working as a medic at a boy scount reservation. I would wake up a couple times a week earlier than I was suppsoed to because or this running noise I kept hearing outside. I would blearily fall back asleep till one morning I got frustrated and looked outside the tent flap. A mother dear and 3 fawns were "romping" (that is the best word I can think for it.. running, playing, leaping, etc) around the woods right ouside my tent. One of the babies was running around in a circle and was repeatedly coming within 2-3 feet of my tent. I could have reached out and touched it. I watched them for a full 5 minutes before they moved on. It was an amazing sight to see, one I will never forget.

[plcdude]

56. Bird of Paradise

http://www.honoluluzoo.org/birds_of_paradise.htm

check them out.

[AngryAmish]

61. Barking Spider

[meganmonkey]

62. I saw armadillos in Mississippi!

I guess they aren't very rare, unless you're from Michigan like me!

[amazona]

88. heh armadillos are NOT rare

You can have the ones from my yard, and I might even pay the shipping if you ask nicely. :-)

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[meganmonkey]

93. Thanks for the offer!

I think I'll pass, though. My dog doesn't get along with them :)

[short bus president]

63. maybe not the rarest, but some of the hardest to spot...

seahorses.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

64. A bobcat along Skyline Drive

about 5 or 6 years ago. It was about 8:00 on a winter evening. There was hardly any traffic on the Drive when he crossed the road right in front of our car. We were at the southern end of the northern section.

[gollygee]

65. A lyre bird

[Quixote1818]

115. I don't believe you nt

[gollygee]

123. Why not?

Only one kind of lyre bird is endangered. The kind I saw isn't as unusual. You just have to travel a ways from here to see it.

[Goathead]

66. Palila

Finch-billed endangered 'honeycreeper' found only on Hawai'i island, northwest slope of Mauna Kea. There are only about 3000 in the wild.

[7th_Sephiroth]

67. bald eagle

flying over florida panther near a manatee eating pitcher plants

[Goathead]

68. Actually, make that the Kakerori

In the Takitumu Conservation Area on the island of Rarotonga, Cook Islands. There are only about 259 Kakerori or Rarotonga flycatchers in the wild.

[progmom]

71. hope to see sniffa in april...

[Hand]

72. Also Bald Eagles...

Dozens of them!



More here:
Eagles at Sheffield Mills, NS

[Reverend_Smitty]

74. a moose...

up on vacation in NH a few years ago. Big ugly sucker on the side of the road.

We also saw bears up there all the time. Last year we were going into the trash shed and we saw one (probably about a year old) just sitting by a tree about 20 yards from us. I guess he was waiting for us to leave so he could try to break in and steal some lunch. It was almost surreal how non shalant that bear was around people

[4_Legs_Good]

75. CONDOR CONDOR CONDOR CONDOR CALIFORNIA CONDOR CONDOR

I swore to myself when I was like 8 that I would see a California Condor in the wild, and after about 25 years that dream came true last year at Pinnacles National Monument...





Sorry to be so enthusiastic, but when a lifelong dream comes true, it's just plain wonderful.

david

[amazona]

89. wow great pictures

That's terrific!

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[4_Legs_Good]

94. If only I had taken them!

Those are just stock pictures. When I got to Pinnacles (they were having a release), my camera's battery had mysteriously died. They were so far away, too, that they woulda been just little dots.

Someday, though, someday...

david

[donheld]

77. Yo Mama

:evilgrin:

[knitter4democracy]

79. Indigo Bunting

And they're not supposed to be in mid-Michigan, so it must've been lost. Brightest blue you've ever seen.

[fishnfla]

80. Keys deer, swallow-tailed kite,salwater croc, gopher tortoise

right whales, pilot whales, loggerhead turtles, atlantic sturgeon

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

82. Manatee or Bald Eagle. n/t

[alarimer]

84. Whooping cranes

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Now there are more than 200.

[Blue in a Red State]

103. Saw one

At the San Antonio zoo, so that doesn't count. Gotta get down to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge one of these years. I'd also like to visit the Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge if they ever allow the public to view the birds again before they're gone.

[imenja]

104. me too!

beautiful creatures.

[Lorien]

110. Saw three in Kissimmee, FL

about five miles from a breeding facility down here, so I shouldn't have been TOO surprised!

[LeftyMom]

85. Humpback whale

We don't get them in the Sacramento valley too often. :)

[sakabatou]

86. CA grey whale and a pink polar bear!

[amazona]

90. not sure

I thought Cheetah and Black Rhino were super-rare but I just googled it and actually there are lots more of them than there are Whooping Cranes, which don't seem so rare because they are so easily observed if you go to Aransas at the right time of year.

I don't know the relative rarity of all the species I've seen, so I'm not too sure.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[imenja]

105. yes, but Aransas is the only place to see them

unless you catch them while they are up North.

[WoodrowFan]

91. otters in Maine?

and a bald eagle here in DC.

[alittlelark]

92. A Galapagos penguin.

They were right there while we were snorkling. They are very small, and very cute.
We saw quite a few rare animals in the Galapagos.

[last_texas_dem]

96. Bluebird

I think these must be rare, or it may just be where I live, but I've only seen one bluebird in my entire life. Still remember what a beautiful color of blue its feathers were.

[Quixote1818]

117. Was Mr. Bluebird on your shoulder? nt

[hickman1937]

98. A Snowy Owl, in Mt. Pleasant Mich.

It was in the 70's. Sitting on top of a barn. My friend told his ornithology professor who didn't believe him. Apparently they don't usually come that far south. So my friend took him out, and there he was, big as life, sitting in a naked tree in the middle of a farm field.

[imenja]

102. Whooping Crane

in the Aransas wild life refuge on the Gulf Coast of Texas.

I saw sloths in the Amazon, but they are far from rare.

[BearClaws]

108. I've Spent Lots Of Time In Alaska

Grizzlies, Wolverine, Lots of Wolves.
Here in California I've seen two Mountain Lions, Bobcats, Fox, Coyote, Tule Elk deer etc.

[tyedyeto]

109. A rare species of Salamander that only lives on top of.......

Half Dome in Yosemite.

I've seen many other endangered species over the years but that one is my all time favorite.

[Quixote1818]

113. Did it look like this?

Mount Lyell Salamander

[AlienGirl]

112. A wolverine in Wyoming

The only time I ever saw a wolverine was when one crossed a desolate road in the boondocks in Wyoming. It was smaller than I expected.

There was a mink who lived on the same road as me in Olympia, WA. I used to see him occasionally; I followed his trail to the lake.

I've seen signs of foxes often, but only caught a glimpse of the actual fox once. Tremendously beautiful.

I've seen luna moths in Michigan a few times; they are rare and very pretty.

Tucker

[NV Whino]

118. A baby sperm whale in the surf at Gualala

and a shrew (not really rare, but I had never seen one before), which are apparently not very tasty since my cat didn't eat it. Just brought it for show and tell.

[foxy]

120. I saw a white deer it was beautiful and graceful.

It had jumped the fence of the game range it was from and was exploring. I almost hit it as it crossed the road. I turned around to see if I had really seen it and there it went again it ran at a really fast run and just went airborne and landed smoothly on the other side.

I thought it was the coolest creature I had ever seen.

[SoCalDem]

122. Toucans, parrots, tapirs, sloths, leopard, panther, capybara

cougar, hammerhead shark, leopard shark, and probably a bunch I forgot :)