Strange animal in my house!

[MotherOfBengals]

Growing up in an animal loving family I’ve always taken it for granted that people know their animal species. I currently have 8 house rabbits, and 2 cats.

Yesterday I had a guy out to repair a window and he saw one of my rabbits. He looked at her and asked what kind of animal it was. He genuinely didn’t know, and was amazed when I told him it was a rabbit and said he had no idea they were so big!

Talking to friends, one said a guy she worked with called 999 as he had a hedgehog In his house and didn’t know what was.

Another said she remembered her mum somehow thinking that a hedgehog and a badger were the same size...and another time her mum asked if the pet geckos had lungs 😐

This has made me wonder what other similar stories people have?

@LuciaPillson
You have the best imagination !

Loving the creative explanations for buffalo wings. Truth is this tasty snack was invented in Buffalo, New York and is eaten in copious amounts (approx 1 billion) during Super Bowl.

A weasel is weasely recognised but a stoat is stoataly different 😉

When I was a child I had a little grey (white) Welsh mountain pony who got very fluffy in the winter. One day out hacking so Jen rolled down their window as the passed me to ask why I was riding a sheep!

I was at a zoo and passed a man and his two kids. The kids wanted to know what the animal was. I recognised it as an Okapi. However he told them it was a kangaroo. I was going to say something but he might have been joking or it would have been worse if he believed it to be a kangaroo, so I kept quiet!

When I worked in central London many years ago, I went on a residential training course in a big old house in the country. Sitting in the training room and most of the other participants were amazed to see rabbits gamboling about on the lawns, they didn't realise that rabbits lived wild in the countryside. They were also surprised that they were so small compared to pet rabbits they had seen, and asked why there were only brown ones.
One person swore that she'd seen an exotic parrot or something, must have been a parrot because of the bright colours - it was a Great Spotted Woodpecker. I also had to point out that it was the source of the strange noise they had commented on.

Another job I was staying in a hotel near the docks in Southampton. Somebody commented that they didn't know otters lived so close to the docks in the hotel gardens, was shocked when I told them it was actually large rats we were watching scurrying around.

One thing I've noticed about many town dwellers is that they don't realise just how big animals like cows are, they seem to think they are maybe a little over waist height to an adult person. Then this massive animal weighting over a tonne and over 5 feet tall at the shoulder comes lumbering up..... Sadly they also often don't realise just how dangerous large animals can be, even herbivores; it's not just bulls either, cows can be very aggressive if they feel threatened.

My next door neighbour found a hedgehog in his garden shed preparing to hibernate in a clear plastic bag. He was terrified (it was a big one) and had no idea what it was.

I found a suitable hiding place with lots of leaves and undergrowth

Thank you for that bit of history, great story. 😹

Thank you, there’s been some great stories here but it’s good to know .

The things we take for granted growing up in the country around animals, seems strange to think people have never seen cows, or rabbits..

Ok, you’ve got me on this one.. what’s an Okapi…?

😹I know welsh mountain ponies are not the biggest, but still a tad bigger than a sheep 😹😹

I’m glad you were able to help the prickly critter.
Another strange thought that they are becoming endangered as a species now when I’ve always grown up with them in the garden.
. Very sad. It’s great so many people are looking out for them now, let’s just we’re not too late.

We got a Husky from Dog's Trust several years ago. My GP asked if we got him from the zoo... I need to know which zoos he has been to

An Okapi looks like a bit horse/antelope-ish in the body (in terms of shape), but the head/face is different. It has striped legs like a zebra, but is actually of the same order as giraffes. It's a bit bizarre looking to be honest, but I think kinda cute too!



Okapi

Tbf an okapi does look like it was lit together last minute on a Sunday night. After a few drinks, and rummaging around in the left over parts box ready for a school project in the morning.

The things we take for granted growing up in the country around animals, seems strange to think people have never seen cows, or rabbits..

The funny thing is, I wasn't really "country". I was brought up in posh-ish outer suburbia so reasonably close to the countryside but definitely not in it, had a half hour train ride into central London. But we were very outdoorsy having camping holidays in the UK rather than going abroad, and my cousin's family had a farm. To my London friends I was the country lass, but to my cousin's friends I was a "towny".

I do remember being at work once in central London, we were taking on a new staff member & making sure her desk (which had been unoccupied for months) was ready. Someone opened one of the drawers & screamed - there was a very dessicated ex-mouse in the drawer. Everyone else running around panicking (including the guys) and calling facilities management, I just put a plastic bag round my hand & scooped up the remains & folded the bag on it. Everyone was very impressed by my "bravery". If only they had known that just the weekend previously I was picking up recently deceased rats by the tail (bare handed) & throwing them over the hedge so the little dogs didn't bring their kills into the house.

@MotherOfBengals

As you will see from the decoration on its body that Rockhopper posted, it is very distinctive, and no marsupial pouch! Mind you I only recently found out it is not an antelope but more in the giraffe family. Deffo not a kangaroo though!!

I am also intrigued that the Rock Hyrax is related to the elephant!! (look it up!)

@MotherOfBengalsOP your cats are absolutely beautiful....

Sadly mine like to bring in dead baby bunnies in the season 😮! I mean - I don't want rabbits in the garden but I wish mummy bunny would learn and move away - it makes me really sad to think of her having one less baby each day, several times a year!

On a funnier note - I regularly moan about the local deer who trash my garden and eat my roses. A townie friend once said 'can't you complain to the owners.....?' 😆😆

This thread is hilarious, I remember a friend encountering someone's pet chinchilla and proclaiming that it was the fattest mouse he'd ever seen.

I'm also reminded of the descriptions of evacuees in WW2 seeing cows for the first time, this one is good:

Oh, no arguments there - definitely looks like the designer got distracted several times and forgot what they were going for!

Ummm.. that’s nothing like a kangaroo 😹 I hope he was joking lol

It’s beautiful though. Love the stripes, very designer lol.

I grew up in the countryside. Never saw a fox until I moved into a town. Although there was a fox den about a mile away and they are extremely loud when mating season is about. First badger I saw in real life, was dead on the side of the road.
Most other animals I've seen in zoos/wildlife parks and we have a collection of encyclopedias specifically about birds/mammals/reptiles in alphabetical order.
Although pictures can't tell you how big they actually are.
Moose and polar bears are a prime example.
I knew how big a weasel was because our cat caught one and deposited it in my bedroom.