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So yesterday I was biking from work, and since the weather was nice, I decided to stop by the river park, where people often feed the ducks (and squirrels) I've noticed. I didn't go there for that reason of course, but when I've found a bag of old biscotties I've emptied it out for little birds flying around. Then I sat on the bench, close to the river, enjoying the sun for a while. A little guy ( a chickadee I guess) landed close to me and looked at me with expression sort of "I hope you are not sitting there for nothing, so what have you got for me?" I told him that I was out of biscotties already, but he waited patiently, so I remembered that I still had a small package of slim-fast - something crunchy loaded with cinnamon and sugar that I didn't use for lunch three months ago. So I pulled out a package, crunched a piece a bit and threw it on the ground. The little guy was happy, and so were the twenty of his brethren who showed up near the bench right away. Then the single duck came by; I offered him slim-fast, but he sniffed it ( if ducks ever do such thing) and rejected it with contempt; may be he was against the idea of reduced calories, no matter how much sugar of cinnamon I had to offer. Then another animal showed up; he emerged straight from the rocks or the water, or wherever he was spending his fine afternoon. All I can say that it was kinda brownish, with tail, with flat-looking head. Not the most attractive animal I've ever seen, but not the ugliest one either. Following the guidelines of the "Fashion and Beauty" forum may be like five on a scale from one to ten. He sat on his hind legs, stared me up and down for a moment and kinda let me know that I should share that slim-fast with him. Or else. Since I am originally from a big city ( a very big city) and I am not all that familiar with the wild life, I was trying to figure out who/ what it was in front of me. First I thought that it must be a beaver ( if he lives near the water,) but then I thought that the beavers have shorter tails or may be longer, and the fir supposed to be longer ( or may be shorter.) Then I remembered that there should be two types of beavers may be, - European and American one, but how either one of them looked - that I couldn't remember for the life of me. Then to make matters worse, I thought of my friend who was always telling me how aggressive the woodchucks were around his house ( he lives out in the boonies as far as I'm concerned.) Not being sure what woodchucks look like either, it added to my concern right there, while the animal in question was chomping down my slim-fast, nearing closer and closer to my toes. I mean may be him and the duck were on the different diet plans, but he was definitely after my slim-fast, and if I were wearing tennis shoes that day, not sandals, I'd be probably less concerned. At the end I politely ( but hurriedly) backed out of the sticky situation and biked away. Today I looked up on the internet how the beavers and woodchucks look like, and arrived to the conclusion I think, that it was a woodchuck after all. Now my question to those of you who are familiar with these animals; do they attack? Do they bite? Do they come that close to humans looking for food, or was mine woodchuck kinda special?
( Don't get me wrong, I like the wildlife and all, I am just not sure who is who... )
Now my question to those of you who are familiar with these animals; do they attack? Do they bite? Do they come that close to humans looking for food, or was mine woodchuck kinda special?
( Don't get me wrong, I like the wildlife and all, I am just not sure who is who... )
Woodchucks generally avoid people. They will most likely bite if you try to touch or handle them. I never heard of one approaching a person for food. You may be thinking of ground-squirrels. These will beg for food and may bite of you try to touch them.
Didn't know that such thing even exists, before I looked it up.
No, this creature is more squirrely - looking, with more distinctive coloring I think.
Besides, it looks like they live in more mountainous areas, and I am in the ( upper?) Mid-West.
Sure enough yesterday I saw yet another couple of beaver-woodchuck-mormot- looking animals in the river park, standing on their hind legs and waiting for handouts from children in the same area where everyone feeds the ducks. But they were nowhere as close to people as mine was; and that's what startled me at the first place as I've already mentioned.
Noooooooo)))))
This one is more ratty looking and the tail is too long. ( And skinny.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by erasure
Nope.
This one is too wet and "swimmy." ( I mean he definitely looks like someone who swims a lot.)
Well, I tried.
My son runs into river otters fairly frequently when he's fishing. He says they're not particularly afraid of people so that's what made me think your little friend might be one.
Oh, well........
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Then another animal showed up; he emerged straight from the rocks or the water, or wherever he was spending his fine afternoon. All I can say that it was kinda brownish, with tail, with flat-looking head. Not the most attractive animal I've ever seen, but not the ugliest one either. 
Following the guidelines of the "Fashion and Beauty" forum may be like five on a scale from one to ten. He sat on his hind legs, stared me up and down for a moment and kinda let me know that I should share that slim-fast with him. Or else. Since I am originally from a big city ( a very big city) and I am not all that familiar with the wild life, I was trying to figure out who/ what it was in front of me. First I thought that it must be a beaver ( if he lives near the water,) but then I thought that the beavers have shorter tails or may be longer, and the fir supposed to be longer ( or may be shorter.) Then I remembered that there should be two types of beavers may be, - European and American one, but how either one of them looked - that I couldn't remember for the life of me. Then to make matters worse, I thought of my friend who was always telling me how aggressive the woodchucks were around his house ( he lives out in the boonies as far as I'm concerned.) Not being sure what woodchucks look like either, it added to my concern right there, while the animal in question was chomping down my slim-fast, nearing closer and closer to my toes. I mean may be him and the duck were on the different diet plans, but he was definitely after my slim-fast, and if I were wearing tennis shoes that day, not sandals, I'd be probably less concerned. At the end I politely ( but hurriedly) backed out of the sticky situation and biked away. Today I looked up on the internet how the beavers and woodchucks look like, and arrived to the conclusion I think, that it was a woodchuck after all. Now my question to those of you who are familiar with these animals; do they attack? Do they bite? Do they come that close to humans looking for food, or was mine woodchuck kinda special? 
)
