Animals
On my walk today, I stumbled upon a flock of sheep lazily grazing in a field. As I was watching them, it suddenly dawned on me that this was the first time I had ever seen sheep in person.
These animals, I was intimately familiar with rhymes in childhood and through several books & movies. But, admittedly I’ve never seen them in person before.
It made me wonder about all the animals I’ve seen in person up to this point.
This list excludes Birds, Fishes, and Reptiles (Except notable/famous).
These are the animals I’ve seen in everyday life living just alongside humans in urban/suburban places.
- Dog
- Cat
- Cow
- Buffalo
- Goat
- Pig
- Chicken
- Deer
- Monkey
- Turtle
- Rabbit
Following animals, I’ve seen while they were doing labor, like riding, load carrying, or on farms.
- Elephant
- Donkey
- Horse
- Camel
- Sheep
I’m not a believer in Zoos except as a means for conservatory/rescue purposes (though I’ve seen that getting abused in places, that’s a topic for another day), following animals I’ve only seen in cages in a zoo or safaris (debatably a Zoo themselves).
- Lion
- Tiger
- Cheetah
- Crocodile
- Jackal
- Polar bear
- Giraffe
- Chimpanzee
- Zebra
- Hippopotamus
- Tortoise
Animals I’ve heard of and am very familiar with through books/movies but have never seen one in life and hope to see in the future.
- Moose
- Yak
- Wolf (update: 15-May-2023, done.)
- Panda
- Black Bear
- Brown Bear (update: 15-May-2023, done.)
- Gorilla
- Shark
- Dolphin
- Kangaroo (update: 15-May-2023, done.)
- Penguin (update: 15-May-2023, done.)
- Rhinoceros
It’s truly fascinating to think about the variety of animals we share our home with. Unfortunately, as their share of this world is slowly shrinking, I’m worried if the future generation would even get to see more than half of our neighbours in person.