local wildlife

sometimes i feel like i live out in the boonies. i mean, i don't really. it's a suburb. i'm walking distance from a tom thumb and starbucks. but after living in dallas and its surrounding cities for a few years, i feel like my town is so rural in comparison.

when i stop and think about it, there's a lot of things i see around here i would never see in the city, particular certain animals. here's a list of animals i've seen around my hometown:



 coyotes
these are quite common in the southwest states. they're the culprits behind disappearing cats. even though i knew they were around in the wooded areas, i never actually saw one for the longest time until about a year or two ago. one night while driving on my way to see my boyfriend at the time, i saw in the distance what appeared to be a very large dog. as i got closer i could see its wolf-like features. it didn't seem to be alarmed by my car, but it did eventually slink away into the shadows. creeeeepy.

armadillos
so they're like the texas mascot right? the funny thing is i've never seen one alive. i've only seen dead ones on the side of the road. they say that when alarmed, they will jump in the air. so if you avoid running one over, it'll jump out of fear and kill itself on the bottom of your car. i don't know if that's actually true but i've seen enough dead ones to believe it.

deer
i didn't know we even had deer around here. but sure enough, about a month ago while driving on the highway by my house, a deer like leaps out of nowhere right in front of my car, scaring the living shit out of me and my passenger. i slammed on my brakes and the damn thing calmly ambles across the road.

buffalo & camel
ok, these are not really native animals. well maybe buffalo are? but either way you don't see these roaming around usually. i happen to live right by a ranch or something owned by ross perot jr. he keeps a bunch of buffalo running around it. about a year or two ago he acquired another pet: a camel. i tried looking up information about this camel but all i could find was its name is teddy. i heard a story from someone that he got it as a present from somebody in afghanistan or something but that just sounds ridiculous. then again the fact he has a camel is slightly ridiculous. i can see the damn thing from the highway and every time i do i'm reminded of its ridiculousness. and then i wonder if it misses the desert. but then i stop caring cause i realize they're apparently really mean animals and will spit on you. 

bats
bats are really awesome animals. a lot of people find them creepy but i think they're the cutest things. i actually rescued a baby bat once. i was walking my dog one day and as we passed this one house, he started getting really interested in something. at first glance i thought it was a bird but when i looked closer i realized it was a bat. it wasn't moving but it still breathed. i thought maybe it was hurt. without thinking, i picked it up and took it home with me. it curled up in my hands and i think it was trying to suckle my palm. it was the CUTEST thing ever. (side note: don't ever pick up a bat or any wild animal with your bare hands! i did but i was stupid. luckily the thing wasn't rabid)
i put it in a shoe box furnished with a sock and a little dish of water. i closed the box except for a crack so it could be in the dark but still breathe. cute little bugger (i nicknamed it stellaluna) was hanging upside down from the corner next time i peeked.
after some internet researching, i found out there was actually a bat rescue sanctuary just a few miles from where i lived. go figure. so i called them and took stellaluna there the next day. they told me it was good i brought her in when i did, because she was just a baby and probably would've died from starvation. i'm guessing something must've happened to her mom which is why she ended up on the ground all alone.
i left the place with some cool pamphlets about bats and that warm fuzzy feeling from doing a good deed.