You know it’s funny, because although I can’t say any animal scares the shit out of me, one does intimidate me. And it’s not one you’d expect.
Unlike Guinastasia I love snakes. All things scaly or slimy really. Lizards, snakes, frogs, salamanders etc. And I’ve bitten so many times, by some many critters, I scarcely notice any more unless it’s really bad. Heck I got tagged in the eyeball once by a pissy rat snake ( long story ) - Bled like a stuck pig and turned half my sclera a deep red-black for a week ( the wags at work started referring to me as ‘snake-eyes’ ). That didn’t freak me out at all.
But for some reason Tokay Geckos just intimidate the crap out of me . I get nervous if I have to mess with them. Gotta be that they about the most pugnacious looking ( and acting ) critter I’ve ever run across.
Mountain Lion. I live out in the country and seeing one cross my private road gave me nightmares for a long time. Seeing one in the zoo isn’t scary, you know it’s not going to have the chance to get you. Seeing one where you go walking at night and realizing what those tracks in the dirt a hundered feet from the house are made by is terrifying. You start to wonder how close you have walked to it, and not known it was there.
Irrationally, since I know they’re not that much of a danger to me, I find octopi revolting (unless they’re part of a nice Greek salad). They’re squishy, they can get into tiny places, and they’re reasonably intelligent, for an animal anyway.
Apart from that, my cat. I know he’s just waiting for me to die in my sleep, so he can eat me. I can see it in his beady little eyes.
I’m not really the squeamish type, and I’m what most would call an animal lover, so there’s not -much- that can frighten me…
except…
I’ve been arachnophobic longer than I can remember. And I also get jumpy when I’m around dogs that I’m unfamiliar with. (I witnessed a dog attack at a young age, and can’t seem to get over it, which is otherwise pretty odd since I absolutely adore dogs.)
There is one animal which absolutely terrifies me to no end for it’s sheer evilness. I beg all of you to research the Camel Spider that TheNerd mentioned. I also provide this link, which is a first-hand account of a soldier’s experience with them while on duty.
Rattlesnakes and Gila monsters. Don’t like poisonous critters at all. And they show up constantly in my backyard. (Don’t care for scorpions either, but that’s a bug, not an animal.)
Chalk up another vote for grizzly bears. Great to watch from a distance but just too unbeleivably powerful. One of my few unpleasant dreams involves an enraged grizzly tearing through any obstacle to get me.
I’ll second the June bugs since it’s doubtfull I’ll encounter anything more exotic. Oh, and Jack Nicholson. For some weird reason that guy scares the liver out of me.
Moose. I always forget how big they are. I"m 6 foot, so it’s not often I have to look up at an animal.
This time of year I’m fishing in lot of creek bottoms. Wandering through dense brush, fishing and not paying attention to anything but the water (That noise? Must be the dog.)
I’ve walked within five feet of a resting bull before I realized it. Had to do a little float into a log pile a few years back when I got on the wrong side of a cow/calf pair and wanted to be non-threatening. Even skied up over a hill and met a moose head on one-time. Always been lucky, but Monday when I’m fishing, I’ll be getting the heebie-jeebies a couple of times an hour.
). That didn’t freak me out at all.
. I get nervous if I have to mess with them. Gotta be that they about the most pugnacious looking ( and acting ) critter I’ve ever run across.