What's the rarest or most unusual animal you've seen?

[TreacherousCretin]

@Enginerd

I’ve worked with pupfish in Nevada and Death Valley for the better part of the last decade, looking at the interactions between climate change, groundwater management, and the ecosystems that the fishes occupy. Devils Hole pupfish would be the rarest species I’ve seen in the wild, with an unfortunately close second a tie between warm springs pupfish and Shoshone pupfish (thought be extinct until they were rediscovered in the mid-late '80s).

There are a couple of publicly accessible places to see pupfish, although not Desert pupfish. You can see Death Valley pupfish from the boardwalk at Salt Creek in Death Valley National Park, and Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge has a relatively new boardwalk/trail at Point of Rocks spring that takes you to the springhead where you can see Amargosa pupfish.

@Enginerd

Missed the edit window: You can’t swim with them, though. Don’t know any place where you can.

I’ve PM’d details to you. Please look into it, and tell me what you find. If they’re not Desert Pupfish, I’d like to know what (sub)? species they are. I’m respectfully serious, and curious.

[GusNSpot]

@blondebear

Not really rare, but I saw a badger in a field when I was driving the back roads near Soda Lake in central California.

Also not very rare, but I was really excited to see an echidna in Tasmania while hiking in Cradle Mountain National Park.

My brother & I came across a badger in Oklahoma in about 1957 on a dirt road near our cabin. He wanted to fight instead of leave so I thought I would use my belt from my shorts to make a loop to catch him.
He changed my mind on that right quick.
Never saw another one until 55+ years later in Arkansas. That one I did not try to approach. I am smarter in my old age.

[GusNSpot]

@Enginerd

I’ve worked with pupfish in Nevada and Death Valley for the better part of the last decade, looking at the interactions between climate change, groundwater management, and the ecosystems that the fishes occupy. Devils Hole pupfish would be the rarest species I’ve seen in the wild, with an unfortunately close second a tie between warm springs pupfish and Shoshone pupfish (thought be extinct until they were rediscovered in the mid-late '80s).

There are a couple of publicly accessible places to see pupfish, although not Desert pupfish. You can see Death Valley pupfish from the boardwalk at Salt Creek in Death Valley National Park, and Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge has a relatively new boardwalk/trail at Point of Rocks spring that takes you to the springhead where you can see Amargosa pupfish.

" Devils Hole pupfish would be the rarest species I’ve seen in the wild, "

On a family vacation in about 1975 we found Devils Hole and got to get right to the water and watch one that was visible.
So glad we got to go there before the idiots made them lock the place up like a prison to save the fish from people.

Back then, there was just one little sign and then on the dirt roads we had to stop at a ranch looking place for directions. When we got there, all you could see was a parking place with a sign that said to not damage the site. Followed the sorta dirt path around an outcrop and down to the water. No indication around that there would be water there. What a wonderful place it was then.

I have some slides from that trip I really need to get scanned.

[Chimera]

Saw a Snow Leopard at the Denver Zoo two years ago. In about a 12’x20’ enclosure. Dayum, was that completely depressing.

[GusNSpot]

Not in the wild nor a rare beast but not many in Arkansas get the chance nor want to do this kind of up close and personal.

It is fairly common tourist stuff in the Far East.

Glad he was mellow.

[GusNSpot]

In the ‘no proof’ category of unbelievable I was passed on the right side of my aircraft at 8500 feet MSL in central Kansas by a plain brown duck… with 4 ( four ) wings, the set in back were about ½ sized. It was using all 4 wings.

I was doing about 100 MPH indicated in a old C-150. ( mid 1970’s )

[Chefguy]

@GusNSpot

In the ‘no proof’ category of unbelievable I was passed on the right side of my aircraft at 8500 feet MSL in central Kansas by a plain brown duck… with 4 ( four ) wings, the set in back were about ½ sized. It was using all 4 wings.

I was doing about 100 MPH indicated in a old C-150. ( mid 1970’s )

Did it look like this?

[River_Hippie]

Not really an unusual animal but we don’t have them locally. I was on a kayak trip in northern Wisconsin and rounded a bend in the river to find a porcupine. The thing that shocked me is how big they are. I thought they were possum sized but this one was quite a bit bigger than that.

[elbows]

Pangolin, in Indonesia.

Slow loris, in Thailand. Climbed up my arm. Very cool.

[GusNSpot]

@Chefguy

Did it look like this?

No sad to say but I have wanted to get my hands on one since I first ever saw oe at the Merida Mexico airport in 1961. Why did I not ever get a job with Kermit Weeks?? :::: argh :::: :smack:

[WilyQuixote]

Snowy Egret in Cape Town, South Africa, June 2015.

No seriously; its a mega-rarity in the Southern African subregion and was only the second Snowy Egret ever recorded.

As for resident animals - probably Hottentot Buttonquail, recently split from Blackrumped Buttonquail; total population may be no more than 400 birds.

[Chefguy]

@WilyQuixote

As for resident animals - probably Hottentot Buttonquail, recently split from Blackrumped Buttonquail; total population may be no more than 400 birds.

Wins the thread for coolest name for a bird.

[Sangahyando]

@Loach

Some interesting animals are very common on the navy base at Gitmo that are apparently very hard to find in the rest of Cuba. We were told that it is because they are hunted and eaten on the rest of the island but I don’t know if that is true. On base it would be worth your career to harm the wildlife. I saw a Cuban Boa once. They are pretty shy and hard to find. Cuban Rock Iguanas tend to plop themselves in the middle of the road and can cause some problems. Banana Rats are every where and happen to like doritos.

Any solenodons (my favourite animal from Cuba)?

Cuban solenodon

[Enuma_Elish]

Three, four, five, and six years ago, There was a bald eagle that would sit on a branch of one of my cottonwood trees on occasion. I’m not sure if this could be called ‘rare’ anymore. I haven’t seen one for two years, but groups of crows have moved into the area and they are known to drive off raptors and such.

[Chefguy]

@Enuma_Elish

Three, four, five, and six years ago, There was a bald eagle that would sit on a branch of one of my cottonwood trees on occasion. I’m not sure if this could be called ‘rare’ anymore. I haven’t seen one for two years, but groups of crows have moved into the area and they are known to drive off raptors and such.

Depends on where you live. In Alaska, they were common as squirrels. We see them here in Portland all the time, as we live near a wildlife refuge near the Willamette River.

[Enuma_Elish]

@Chefguy

Depends on where you live. In Alaska, they were common as squirrels. We see them here in Portland all the time, as we live near a wildlife refuge near the Willamette River.

I live in Wisconsin, and up to 12-15 years ago, they were considered a rare sighting.

[urban1a]

Just heard about them for the first time today - Penis fish.

I am not sure how these escaped my attention for so many years.

Bob

[Chefguy]

@Enuma_Elish

I live in Wisconsin, and up to 12-15 years ago, they were considered a rare sighting.

They were in Oregon, also. Good to see them making a comeback.

[KRC]

I saw some sea otters off Los Lobos south of Monterey a few years back. They were doing like they do in Nature Movies, floating on their backs and banging abalones on a rock.

I also saw a ringtail cat on the west side of the Sandia Mountains in 1985. This was shortly before the sun set; in spite of spending a lot of time looking for wildlife I’ve never seen one since.

Whooping Cranes used to migrate to Bosque del Apache in NM and I saw a few out there before the conservationists decided to catch them and move them to Texas. Another time I got up early at a wildlife park in KY and arrived just in time to see a red cockaded woodpecker shoot out of it’s nest for a day of hunting bugs.

I’ve had a few close encounters with coyotes since I birdwatch in their territory, but nothing serious has come of it and anyway coyotes are not rare.

[zoogirl]

I think I may have seen a Rubber Boa when I was a child. They have the most northern range of the boas and are nocturnal, which makes them very hard to find.!m pretty sure it was not a Garter Snake. Too long, too thick and dark, with no markings. I’m very famillier with Garters, including melanistic, and I really think it wasn’t one.