Wildlife (mammals, reptiles etc) Pics

[Benjamin Fentens]

It's been three meters to the Brown one. It was a very small one. And that was awfully close. I still think the snake was more afraid than I was but that was before I learned that the small ones are even more deadly than the bigger ones.

[whulsey]

Something from fall trip to Cal to keep the thread alive. Was heading out in the morning and this was perched on the roof of the car.

[whulsey]

Was at the Saguaro Park Tractor Show today and they had some different style horsepower. Not really Wildlife, but a nice pair of Percheron draft horses.

[Ashrunner]

Central Oregon was graced with another Mountain Goat in the Dry River Canyon area. This time, I was able to get a bit closer and get some better shots.

This goat I figure was a three year old female. She basically ignored us as we fired off shot after shot and went about feeding and walking around. It was a lot of fun climbing down into that canyon to get the shots.

[whulsey]

Ash, those are beautiful shots.

[Kevin WS]

Really like the mountain goats! Very hairy!

[Kevin WS]

Here's a nice picture of an Epauletted Fruit Bat taken in the bush. Interesting to watch as they are quite active, including flight, during the day.

There are a couple of different Epauletted Fruit Bats - which one this is I do not know. The only way to check is open their mouths and count the ridges on the palate. True!

As the different species often roost together, matters become even more complicated!

[whulsey]

Assuming a fruit bat is not particularly aggressive and looks really small, but still not sure I'd feel comfortable doing anything close to their mouth.

[Kevin WS]

They look big in real life. That one is on a thatch roof.

I just looked up the sizes.

Up to 16cm - about 6.5 inches. So why do they look so big? Dunno. I would seriously have guessed 20cm plus.

Weight is 850gm (1.8 lbs).

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I have handled a lot of insectivous bats (but no big ones like this), and have never once been bitten. They seem very gentle and placid. The ones here anyway. I have had a very gentle exploratory nibble or two, no more.

Our Norwegian Forest Cat is an expert bat catcher (she jumps and catches them when they are in flight) and brings most of them to us. We then have repair their wings and nurse them back to health.

Very proud - to date we have not lost a bat!

[Kevin WS]

And tonight I have just heard frogs! Very excited! I am sure you know the environmental story re frogs as indicators of environmental damage..........