(no subject)

[zesty_pinto]

Have another comic from Bird and Moon's Our Wild City.


Never tangled with a cottonmouth, but I have with timber rattlers. I almost stepped on one and only realized it after the fact. That was the only time I seen one even try thinking of attacking me since I was stuck in the rain and was seeking cover a few feet away under a table umbrella.


Did lead to this neat photo, though!

Comments

[iwouldbegood]

Awww the drawings are so cute! Nope nope nope hahaha! And the censored one ;)

[zesty_pinto]

I love her work; she makes everything look so adorable and always tries hard to inform people about ecology.

[iwouldbegood]

I checked the link to livingalongsidewildlife.com and I think such websites/projects are so important! We had a series of billboard info points set up across the city recently to make people more aware and respectful towards wildlife - mostly foxes, weasels, hedgehogs, squirrels. The loss of habitat is such a disheartening fact and it's only getting worse :(

[zesty_pinto]

Too true. On the bright side, some animals adapt too, thankfully. For example, when I lived in NJ alongside a landfilled residential community, yellow crown night herons ended up adapting by setting up nests in the atriums there instead of in the tall grass that once occupied the wetlands this place now covered. It was nice to see (although most of the residents there did not care because nature is boring to them, I guess).

[finding_tobias]

I like snakes actually. I think they're cool, and they feel weird. Weird as in not as how I expected them to feel. Most of the snakes that I've seen around here are your normal black/garden snakes. We have copperheads along with rattlesnakes.

[dooriya]

i've had two encounters with diamondbacks in the southwest, and even though i didn't get bit, i would not care to repeat either.

[zesty_pinto]

I'm not disapproving of them either, unless they get into the house and create health hazards.

Garter snakes I've dealt with before and they're fine. I'm told they eat small prey and whatnot and it's neat following them with a camera too. My encounters with rattlesnakes though do remind me to be careful on some established trails though, especially ones that don't see much foot traffic but have a lot of rodents around.

[zesty_pinto]

Ha, I wouldn't either! That snake wanted to run as much as I did and I would have been okay if the snake just ran away completely! As I mentioned above, I need to put more effort in being careful around trails that don't see much foot traffic as a result.

[paynesgrey]

Wow, cool info about Cottonmouths. I did not know any of it. <3

[iwouldbegood]

Awww that's encouraging and great to hear! :)

I've seen different efforts even in a big city to help animals adapt and have a higher quality of life - info about what hedgehogs eat, feeding birds, planting flowers that bees are attracted to. I think general awareness is one the most important things. You don't have to actively help if you don't want to, just leave wildlife be.

[jesse_dylan]

I feel bad for snakes. :( I was going to say, it reminds me of the rattlesnakes here, hunted nearly to extinction. The only time I've ever seen one was as it hustled across the road in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. All my hiking there, and I never encountered one. They may have been around, but they kept away and heard me before I saw/hear them. Guess I could have just been lucky, but... Like cottonmouths, they really have no reason to attack people unless they're threatened, and even then, striking is their absolute last resort since it can easily lead to their own death/injury. (in my grand opinion--who am I, Steve Irwin?)

[zesty_pinto]

That's another reason why they discouraged kids from "hunting" the snakes. I think the general consensus is not to run around these places. Buddy system is valuable for that reason too.