Sadly, not every encounter with a cat, dog, cow, or elephant goes the way we’d like. Perhaps the critter has already had a terrible experience with humans, or maybe our approach is too aggressive. There are many reasons why things can go wrong, but the point is to stay careful.
To show just how unpredictable the animal kingdom can be, we’re diving into a Reddit thread where people shared their most terrifying run-ins with wildlife. If there’s anyone who can humble us fast, it’s nature.
#1
At the time I was working until 1am so I wouldn’t get home until 2 or so. I opened the door to the house and felt what I thought was a breeze come by my leg. I don’t really pay attention, walk over to my desk, put my keys down and turn the light on. Right when I do so, there are two possums in the act of mating in the middle of my kitchen. They screamed, I screamed and we began the three hour dance of getting them out of my house. I ended up trapping them in a dog cage and dumping them out in the middle of my back yard.
Edit: To avoid confusion they were opossums, not their Australian cousins!
Image source: terrid2331, Skyler Ewing
#2
Went to war with a huntsman spider and a mukade centipede simultaneously in my shower in Japan. Yes I was naked. Yes I won.
Image source: anon, ABCDee David
#3
When I was young, I went fishing with my dad and my best friend. We waded out through some deeper water to reach the shallow sandbar, where we fished for quite a while. The tide came in, and the water that had been just above my ankles was now above my waist.
Suddenly a large shark, about 7-8 feet, crashed through a school of mullet only a few feet away from me. Dad saw it, my best friend saw it, and for a second we all three just kind of froze with our mouths hanging open. Quietly, calmly, Dad told us to walk back to shore, splashing as little as possible. We did. But the tide had come in, and I wasn’t as tall as the other two guys. The deeper water between the sandbar and shore reached their chests, but I could hardly keep my head above water while my feet barely bounced along the bottom, and I struggled to hold my fishing rod up out of the water. I was completely helpless, while we knew that a hungry shark was swimming somewhere in the area. It felt like a scene out of a nightmare, trying to run from an invisible monster, but my feet could barely touch the ground and I was hardly moving.
I know— and even knew in that moment— that I had little chance of being eaten by a shark, especially one who is focused on fish. Still, if I ever WERE to be attacked, that was the moment, and I was utterly defenseless. A few years later, a man was ended just a few miles away when he jumped off his dock and into the path of a large bull shark that was chasing mullet.
Image source: anon, Getty Images
#4
I’m from Florida and I was volunteering at a local nature conservancy. One of our tasks was to remove fallen logs that were blocking up a creek after a big storm. The creek was about chest deep, 15 feet wide, and opaque brown (Many Florida freshwater ways are browns b/c of tannins leached into the river from trees).
As I’m moving logs I notice a ~12 ft. alligator on the embankment I hadn’t noticed before. It then slid into the creek I was in. I was with a land manager who was moving logs with me, and a herpetologist (who was in the canoe). I asked them what to do and they responded,”Well, those logs aren’t gonna move themselves, and that gator’s probably just trying to get away from us.”
Still, spending 30 minutes in a creek you can’t see anything, knowing there’s an alligator lurking near your feet, moving logs WHICH LOOK LIKE ALLIGATORS was one of the most nerve-wracking things I’ve ever done.
Image source: A_sweet_boy, Adriaan Greyling
#5
A pack of Swans was hunting poor little me when I was 9 years old.
Image source: BrandonTjon, Raul Kozenevski
#6
I was very drunk at a wedding on a large property in rural NSW. I like to wander and explore when I drink. I was alone and suddenly confronted with a wombat. Wombats are massive balls of muscle. Being the drunk idiot I was, I was all like “awww hello me wombat” and began to approach it. The wombat did not like this. It charged me. It was so fast. My heart stopped and I turned and ran as fast as I could. The little bugger nearly caught me. I sprinted back to the wedding in fear for my life.
Image source: Allow1986, Moritz Feldmann
#7
I did fieldwork back and forth between the US/UK and East and Southern Africa for ten years and in that time period, spent a good chunk of my life living at remote base camps so I have a few ‘poop yourself’ moments that I can list off the top off my head.
1. I was chased by an elephant (it was worse as she had a calf)
2. I know for a fact that I was stalked by at least two big cats twice (one being a leopard as it was the only large species around at the field site and the other was most likely a rogue male lion given that one was seen close by earlier and was known to hang out in the area).
3. (this one occurred in Alaska). It was my day off and I was reading in the main tent as everyone went into town and I turned around only to find a moose cow and calf about five meters away from me.
4. (this is the most recent event). We were having a party one night and I guess someone forgot to shut the kitchen door. I woke up in the morning hung over and decided to make coffee. The rubbish bag was underneath the sink and I heard something in it (I was directly over it) and I saw coils within striking distance from a Mozambique spitting cobra. That was a near s**t yourself moment
5. two spotted hyenas broke into our camp, took out a few dogs and then went over to a few tents (including mine) and pushed their muzzle through. The most surreal thing about that was, if you know anything about spotted hyenas, they actually make a noise every now and then (or every night) called a “whoop”. Its insanely loud. One of them actually made that noise (it hurt my ears) but interestingly enough, it turns out that their is actually a growl that is always made directly after the whoop. So, really close up it sounds like “whoooop, grrrr” (and so on).
I have a few other stories but none of them were as terrifying as those or made me feel that my life was directly threatened.
Image source: suchascenicworld, Nam Anh
#8
Growing up, my grandma babysat me. She lived with my uncle. He had a Rottweiler, who was very friendly.
One day, when I was 9-10, I decided I wanted to pretend to be a wrestler. I did this by putting white masking tape on my hands and arms. I ended up fighting stuffed animals and all that. When I got tired, I just grabbed some action figures and went to the carport, which had deer stands. This was where the Rottweiler also slept.
So the dog was asleep when I got there. I started playing with the toys. A few minutes later I heard the dog stirring. I pay no mind to it. I then hear growling. I turn around and the dog is growling at me. I try to let her know it is me but she is still growling.
I then slowly back away and she lunges at me. Being the somewhat smart kid I was, I noticed immediately she was going for my arms. I rip off the masking tape, throw it at the dog, and run back into the house.
Avoided that dog for days until I was asked to feed her. She was friendly again.
Image source: RetroWillis, Anelale Nájera
#9
When I was 12 a young stallion decided he wanted to play with me and almost ended me. He kicked and bit me and tried to trample me. He was my pet and was only treating me the way he’d treat a peer. I even knew that while it was happening. I made a huge mistake by turning my back on him while he was playful. He bit me and pulled me down. Knocked me down a couple of more times with a forefoot when I tried to get up. Reared up over me to stamp me a couple of times too. Still have the scar on my leg and that was a LONG time ago. Literally peed myself during.
My dad basically saved my life by chasing him off. His response was – that was close! What did you learn?
Image source: colmwhelan, Getty Images
#10
I was solo hiking in the Porcupine Mountains in the upper peninsula of Michigan last autumn. Although I was by myself, there were plenty of other backpackers up there those couple of days.
I ran across a bear print in the trail one morning. A few hours later I rounded a corner of the trail, and about 70 ft up ahead, I saw the hind quarters of an animal with dark brown fur about 2 feet high. I got a surge of adrenaline and everything started going in slow motion. I started to panic, and just as the poop was about to leave my bum, the animal lifted it’s head and it ended up being a black Labrador retriever. Right as I catch my breath, the dog’s owner came rounding the corner from the opposite direction and sees me clutching my chest.
Image source: technicalityNDBO, Mark Coenraads
#11
Once I tried to chase a possum off my lawn and it started chasing me back so that was pretty startling. That or the time me and a buddy were camping a little outside town and could hear coyotes howling from what sounded like all around us.
Image source: BLut91, Stephen Tafra
#12
Getting charged by a black bear.
I was hunting elk and walking on an old 90 year old railroad grade in some dense forest, and I see some movement in a tree. I get to looking, and it is two bear cubs. Oh no.
I look around and though a somewhat clear spot for the trees I see Mom, and she is headed right for me at this point. I was hunting with a fairly large rifle, a .375 H&H magnum, so I decided to give her one warning shot, and if I had to shoot a second time it would be in self defense.
I put one round into the dirt in front of her, and thankfully she decided that the cannon that just fired at her was something she didn’t want any part of, and she scrambled back and took off into the brush. I also noped the frick out of there and didn’t go that way the rest of the season. She can have that spot.
Image source: adairtd, Tomáš Malík
#13
I out ran a swarm of bees.
I was young and in Straya, and we lived on the front of a farm. I went exploring a lot , it was really cool.
I found a bees nest in a huge fallen tree.
I had watched a lot of cartoons, and wanted to know if the bees would come out in an arrow and get me if I whacked it with a stick.
So I did.
They did not.
I was disappointed and climbed around the fallen tree.
The bees do attack, just not immediately. And not in an arrow. In a cloud.
Suddenly they wee all around me. I sprinted home, about 2k, and if I slowed down the bees caught up.
I ran into our yard and shut he gate, thinking I was safe.
I wasn’t, obviously and got stung a few times.
I deserved it though don’t go beating up animal homes.
Image source: anon, Alvin David
#14
Driving down the highway and a spider drops out from the visor and hangs in mid air in front of me then just vanishes in my lap. I blacked out but the passengers in my Uber said I was screaming, “We’re all gonna die” over and over.
Image source: SarcasticCarebear, wirestock
#15
Getting a group hug by a swarm of Portuguese man o’ war. Painful creatures. While treading water about 100 meters from the shore.
EDIT: Do not use vinegar to treat bluebottle stings and do not attempt to rub or scrape the tendrils off. Use the hottest running water you can bear to wash them off. They have jelly like tendrils embedded with tiny stingers which remain in the skin if you physically remove them. Hot water cooks the tendrils kind of like eggwhite and they fall off. I recommend getting buckled drunk for pain relief.
Image source: phailanx, Brianna Lengacher
#16
As a kid, I spent a lot of time with my babysitter’s kids at their house and they had a sheltie dog. This is a smallish, friendly breed but my babysitter’s son was a nightmare to it and would do stuff like chase it around the with a nerf gun or tackle it and was basically just hurting this animal while his family did nothing.
I was 7 and couldn’t do much and tbh the family had worse going on than a kid terrorizing a dog, so I kept quiet about it. One day, a fly is just chilling over my head (very clean household lol) and the dog starts growling at it and ends up mauling me to get to it.
It ate part of my upper lip. I can’t say 100% that it ate my lip but this dog’s face was in my face and we never found the missing chunk of flesh it gauged out, so I always just say it bit me because that’s the most sense I can make out of the blur of OH MY GOD DOG MOUTH AND TEETH AND FUR in my face. A triangular chunk of face and lip just… gone.
Worst part is I’m afraid of shelties now, which is embarrassing. Second worst part is I kept hanging out with the babysitter’s kids after they gave up the dog and like a year later they revealed they just gave it to their cousins; they revealed this by taking me to said cousins’ house where the “retrained” dog was. This was top 10 anime betrayal level stuff.
Image source: particledamage
#17
When I was just 5 years old my neighbor had a Doberman who was usually very friendly dog, however , one day I go into his backyard to ride one of his bikes that he usually lets me ride as I was exiting the backyard the Doberman jumped on me and knocked me to my bum and pinned me down staring me in the face growling viciously. Eventually when Neighbor comes out of the house and yelled at him “Damien get back in here”. I don’t know if that dog ever wanted to really end me or just scare me.
Image source: Gretch702
#18
My neighbours had a rescue dog, a German shepherd and it was one mean dog
Anyways one day this demon dog escapes, and sees me walking past, queue angry barking ect then it starts running at me, now I knew there was no way I was running – I wouldn’t outrun it plus running from an angry dog is never a great idea to start with.
So once the thing reaches me it jumps, mouth open going for my face, I don’t know how but I managed to turn my back to it just before it reached me and it takes a nice bite into my back, but also rolls over my shoulder smashing into the pavement, this hurt the dog pretty bad from what I got told later.
It runs away, and sits on my doorstep watching me. The entire street and it picks my door to wait at.
Might not sound that scary but when you have a big animal like that going in to attack you it’s not a fun situation
I got some stiches and a lot of injections from that, but the dog ( and owners) got a one off pass from the cops because I knew them and knew they did care about the dog and tried to help it but later it got put down after a different incident where it attacked and ended a cat.
Image source: anon
#19
I’ve been woken up by a bear sniffing my head once. Was cowboy camping (no tent) in Lyell Canyon in Yosemite once, when I hear something sniff right next to my head. My sleep addled brain thinks it’s a ranger on a horse telling me to move my camp (had hiked about 20 miles that day. You have to be at least 4 miles into the canyon to camp, and I wasn’t 100% sure I’d made it far enough since it was dark when I set up camp).
Anyways, I say “just one second”, sit up, grope for my flashlight and turn it on to see a black bear a couple feet away.
I holler, he tears off, I get out and empty my bladder, and try to fall back asleep until I hear him coming around again. I make a bunch more noise, decide I’m not getting any more sleep, break camp and slowly night hike until the sun rises.
Image source: WestBrink
#20
Sitting out by a campfire at night in Uganda and suddenly spot a hurt and upset water buffalo standing by a lamp in the dark circa 15 meters away. Safe to say that we ran back to the big lodge and didn’t spend anymore time outside that night.
Either that or when a snake fell from the bathroom ceiling at one of my friends at the first bathroom stop we had while traveling in Uganda.
Image source: BurningLars
#21
UP of Michigan. I was bow hunting for whitetail, sitting in full camo on a downed tree, leaning against another tree, in a dark, thick cedar swamp. I dozed off for a while and woke to the crunching sound of footsteps. I darted my eyes around and saw the back end of a canine as it stalked through the trees within about 20 yards, going from my right to my left. From the reddish in the fur I assumed it was a coyote and not a wolf, although I didn’t see it long, and it was a BIG coyote. As it got far enough to the left I lost sight completely behind the tree I was leaning against and could only hear it.
I sat there with an arrow nocked, just listening when suddenly I heard and felt a thud of this animal jumping up on the log I was sitting on. I sat there and listened to sniffing sounds at the back of my head for a few seconds. It then jumped back down and I heard it trot away, as calmly as it had approached. My heart was racing the whole time, but it wasn’t “terrifying” since coyotes/wolves pose literally zero threat to humans.
TL;DR: A coyote sniffed the back of my head.
Image source: anon
#22
I have a few good animal stories but the scariest was getting charged by an angry bull shark. I was down in Florida with my family, and my dad, brother (11) and sister (6) were all decently far out hanging out when we spotted the shark. Is was probably between 4-4.5 ft. My dad and I went shoulder to shoulder with my siblings behind us and started quickly but calmly heading in. This thing must’ve charged us nearly half a dozen times at or near full speed and only broke off when it got within 10-15 ft. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a shark hunt at full speed but they’re significantly faster than I could sprint on land. The feeling was were in its world, and if it wants one of us it’s probably going to take one.
So we finally get in and the shark heads down the beach. I look down and there’s another family with a small girl in a life jacket out in the water. So I run down and yell to them, but they aren’t listening. I figured I’m bigger than it and if it were going to attack me it would’ve, so I start swimming out to them. I popped up about 15 ft from the girl with the dad on her other side, and that shark was right in between us. Without thinking about it I jumped forward and slapped the water and I think spooked it. I jumped forward and grabbed the girl, which the dad, who hadn’t seen the shark, didn’t appreciate lol. I pointed it out and gave him back his daughter and we got back in. He was incredibly thankful once he understood the situation.
But ya, sharks have barely changed in hundreds of millions of years, and that day I truly appreciated exactly why. Like I said, if it had wanted to take me I don’t realistically think the four of us could’ve actually stopped it.
Image source: TributeToStupidity
#23
I was cycling up a mountain in the Scottish Highlands (my gran lives there), and as I went round a corner, I came face to face with a huuuuge highland cow which was running down the mountain the opposite way. Instead of jumping off the path I thought the cow was be friendly and edge over to let me by: big mistake… it threw its head as I went by, almost impaling me and throwing me off the path and into a 20ft tumble down the mountain.
Image source: SimonFish99
#24
Just last week. Went to walk into the toilet at home, only to discover a massive green tree frog in the doorway. Not scary to some I know, but I have a phobia about them and was absolutely terrifyingly, out of my mind screaming, scared. Hit the hallway wall whilst screaming for my husband, and then sat on top of the kitchen table while he took the frog outside, in case it got loose and hopped around and attacked my legs.
My family think it’s hysterically funny and continue to give me frog-themed gifts at xmas and birthday. They’re all sitting in a box in the cupboard and I refuse to look at them.
Image source: jakiblue
#25
I was tree planting in northern B.C.
Was working on the same piece as another planter for about an hour, then heard a soft thumping sound. Looked up and saw an adult grizzly bear running towards the other planter, whose back was to the bear. I started running towards it, waving my arms and yelling. The bear stopped, turned towards me and stood on its hind legs. I stopped moving and was about 20-30 feet away from it. The bear stared at me for about 5 seconds (felt like an eternity), dropped back down, turned around and bolted back into the tree line. Saw two cubs with it that we weren’t anywhere close to, so we figured it was probably a mother teaching its cubs how to hunt. I had to sit down for a while after that because my legs were shaking so bad.
Image source: jakejork
#26
I moved to Colorado. About a month in one night I had gone to bed, and woke up on severe pain hours later. I felt nausea, throbbing pain around my abdomen,y muscles and back ached. I turned on the lights, and I had in my sleep rolled over a black widow spider and crushed it to death, which at some point had bit me. It’s carcass lay in my bed. I freaked out, called 911, and put it in a mason jar so they thought I wasn’t crazy. I was brought to the hospital where they treated me with pain management medications. The venom continued to spread. Every muscle ached and felt as though my body was being crushed. It soon began to get hard to breath and my blood pressure became irregular. The morphine has me drifting in and out of sleep. I prayed to God, who hours earlier I wasn’t even sure I believed in. 12 hours I discharged. The venom ran its course for about 4 days, and he bite site intermittently itched for weeks. For the next year or two I had anxiety trying to go to sleep and reoccurring nightmares of the experience.
Image source: anon
#27
I cycled (at speed) past a pack of feral dogs and triggered their prey instinct.
I was out on a straight road, slightly downhill, in the middle of nowhere. When I saw them getting ready I knew I had to go past them as it was too late to stop and cycle back up hill (and besides that was the only road home)
I committed. They chased. I pedalled harder than I have ever pedalled and eventually lost them, but I didn’t turn round to look for quite a while.
I checked my bike computer when I got home and saw that I had hit 79km/h.
The scariest part was realising I would trigger them and that I HAD to go through the pack, hoping they wouldn’t trip me up as either the fall or the dogs would have maimed me.
Image source: FrannyyU
#28
Was at my Aunt’s wedding rehearsal about 15 years ago that was in a forestry kind of area. Me and my cousins were exploring the venue outside and ran into a bear, yes a bear. As soon as I saw it I booked it and didn’t look back.
We checked the same area again about 10 minutes later like geniuses and turns out the bear was tamed by a trainer. I have no idea why the bear or the trainer was there but it scared the hell out of tiny me.
Image source: Viramont
#29
Magpies. I was riding my bike to primary school one day and two streets away out of nowhere I feel the flap of wings on my shoulder and it flys by in front of me. It was quite large, probably an adult and it came back but I saw it and ducked. After that it flew by a few more times (repeatedly actually) and it actually hit me a few times hard and left a few beak dents in my helmet. I could only peg my bike as fast as possible to school until I was through it’s “territory”.
Quite a few other instances being swooped by the black and white death birds but another time with friends I gave myself a bleeding nose after ducking and slamming my face on my own bikes handlebars…
My friends thought that was funny.
Image source: binshtok
#30
Walking down a long private road in the woods with friends when two baby black cubs stumble out in front of us and the mother bear trots out behind us.
We calmed the girlfriends down and the big bear walked back into the Bush and the cubs followed.
Image source: dofrogsbite
#31
Riding my motorcycle at night, something the size of a woodchuck (couldn’t see what it was, it was that dark) came darting across my lane, turned around and ran back into the grass just as I was passing it. I don’t remember exactly how fast I was going but I can say without a doubt that either me or the animal would have become paste.
Image source: probablynotahobbit
#32
Went for a walk, I live at an intersection, and the side street next to me is pretty dark at night. Id walked two houses up, when I see movement out of the corner of my right eye.
Just as i turn the biggest bear I’ve seen just stops and looks at me. Now where I live bears are common. But this bear was something else it was huge. I’m not exaggerating.
My first instinct was to stop. But something told me to just keep walking. Scariest animal encounter in my life.
Image source: strings__
#33
Went swimming at the beach and decided to race my mate out to the shark net buoys. I’m 5 metres away, giving it my all when I slap my hand down into the water for my next stroke and hit something real squishy. I stopped and looked up to find I’d booped a box jellyfish square on the top of the thing. Noped out of there so hard. The worst bit was I didn’t even win the race.
Image source: bearskin_raider
#34
Told this before, but hey, the question has been asked before…
My scariest animal encounter while hiking: In California on a trail cut into a steep slope so nowhere to go except along the trail. Ahead of me in the middle of the trail was a chipmunk. Running wildly in circles. With patches of fur missing.
I decided to throw a rock in its direction to scare it off the trail. When the rock landed near it, the chipmunk ran straight at me. I just about crapped myself as it ran past down the trail.
This was an area with occurrences of bubonic plague and rabies.
Image source: haresfur
#35
When my partner and I went to Bali we went on a walk around Sanur. We figured we’d take a short cut back to our resort going down what looked like a pathway. Turns out it was a dead end but no problem. We turn back. Problem is this square headed dog that looks like a mixed pitbull is now standing on the pathway snarling at us. I’m pretty okay with animals usually even if they’re aggressive I can keep my cool but this dog looks like he’s one half blink away from mauling us. It’s mangy with a crazy glint in its eyes too and with how prevalent rabies is in Indonesia I’m freaking out.
We edge around this dog painfully slow so as not to provoke it and any movement that’s a little quicker than snail pace it tenses it’s muscles and growl barks.
We got out okay but I swear it was only by the skin of our teeth. That thing wanted meat.
Image source: Donutsareagirlsbff
#36
When I was a kid I was invited to my 2nd grade teacher’s wedding. My parents were friends with his fiancée, she was one of their ESL teachers, so that had a lot to do with it. The wedding was in upstate New York and so my parents and I drove up there along with my godparents, (who were became friends with my parents and her at the same ESL class) friend Juan and my dog Snoopy, who was just a puppy.
Her parents had rented out cabins for guests to stay in, which was pretty awesome. My parents took one room and my godparents took the other, so Juan and I slept in the living room. We didn’t mind at all, because there was a TV, and the first night there we stayed up watching this show about aliens. It kind of freaked me out, but I didn’t want to seem scared so I acted like it didn’t bother me and tried to go to sleep.
It took me a while to fall asleep, but when I did I was having a dream that aliens abducted me and were doing experiments on me. It all seemed so real and I was scared, especially when they said they were going to drill into my head. It was all so real, it was like I could feel them drilling into my head and after a bit I woke up, but I was still feeling that so I screamed. My dad came running out of the room to see what was up, thinking we were in trouble. It ended up being Snoopy just biting at my hair because he was a puppy and I was sleeping on the floor. Given the context it was definitely the most terrifying experience I have had with an animal.
Image source: -eDgAR-
#37
My parents had a dog when I was about 8. My mom was cutting meat for dinner one night and then the phone rang so she went to answer it. The dog hopped it’s front paws onto the counter and began eating the meat so I grabbed it from behind and tried to pull it off. Well it turned around and bit a chunk of my lip off. I had to get a bunch of stitches but besides a scar you can’t really notice it 19 years later. The beard and mustache help.
Image source: itsBrando
#38
I got rushed by a pitbull once while I was walking to the bus stop. This was by a set of Townhouses in the owner had just opened the door to let her go pee because he didn’t want to go out in the cold. Thankfully the dog just wanted to be petted but it was a scary couple of seconds. PS it has nothing to do with breed I’d be scared Getting b*m-rushed By any large dog.
Image source: anon
#39
When I was younger we would always go to my grandparents house for the holidays and there were dogs outside and me being little plus seeing a dog I of course tried to pet it and it bit me on the arm and to this day big dogs still scare me slightly. Another time when I was also younger we had a cat that would always come to the back door when he wanted in. So late one night i get up to use the bathroom and hear scratching at the back door. So I open it thinking it would be my cat but nope it was not my cat it was an opossum it hissed at me and I screamed and slammed the door.
Image source: QueenofAnxiety
#40
For some unknown reason I’ve always been afraid of dogs, no matter their size (ironic considering from birth I’d been around dogs and never had a problem).
A couple weeks ago I’m walking through my local park as a shortcut home and I’m listening to some music not really paying attention to what’s going on around me, until I notice movement to my left. It was a dog. My fear kicked in and I froze until I realized it was wearing a collar and holding a ball in its mouth. He clearly just wanted to play, and for the next five minutes I had a very excited dog zooming around me whilst I waited for his owner to return. Not the most terrifying of experiences I know but it was the sudden realisation that there was a dog beside me and no owner that really caught me off guard.
Image source: ARandompass3rby
#41
South Africa, on a game drive in a small private reserve bordering Kruger National Park.
It’s me and my husband, a guide and a spotter. The guide is also the owner of the lodge we stay in within the game reserve, and he has done this since he could walk. With him he have a rifle for protection.
We are driving, it’s soon to be dark. Our guide is in radio contact with surround cars and is being tipped of that a lion pride is near by. We tell him that we haven’t seen any lions yet, and he’s like “then come along”, and he just exits the car and starts walking in to the bushes. Like, are you for real? We join in.
A quick safety briefing of “stay behind me, stay low, keep voices down, no sudden movements,, do what I do” and off we go.
It doesn’t take long before he spots lionesses some 50 meters ahead of us. They’ve of course already heard us, and are starting to leave as we approach. Two large males stands ground.
We move forward slowly. We stop when there is 20-25 meters between us and the prides two male lions. One of them is growling these low and deep growl, and suddenly the other male is jumping forward with a mighty roar and a stop in the ground, telling us to back the off.
So we do. Slowly backing out of the bushes back to the car.
Adrenalin still pumping, amazed as what we’ve just seen, we drive away (like 5 kilometers away) to a small lot to have a glass of red wine and watch the sun set. We are out of the car again here, standing in an open lot, used by the nearby lodges to go sunset watching with the guests.
As it is dark, we enter the car to drive home. As we turn on the engine and the lights, the lion pride we had been watching earlier, walks out of the bushes and continues to walk past our car.
They had no doubt been stalking us. Who knows if they had grabbed one of us had we been hanging around for a second glass.
Still, the most terrifying animal encounter I’ve ever had, was that time a spider crawled up my neck and into my hair one time when I was watching tv on the couch.
Image source: urgh_eightyeight
#42
Was working in the Amazon and we had to sleep in trees during the rainy season because there was no dry ground. Woke up one night to the sound of my bug netting getting torn. The other rangers had insisted I sleep with my machete in the hammock and I had laughed at them but followed their advice. I have never been more grateful in my life. A Jaguar was pawing at us from the branch above and we held out our machetes to keep it away. We didn’t want to hurt it but we also didn’t want it dropping into our hammocks. It eventually stalked off after getting its paws pricked a few times.
Slept with that machete like a teddy bear the next 6 months.
Image source: yeastybeast
#43
I used to live next to a forest when I was very young, I fed the stray dogs sometimes.
Stranger came to visit me, and the strays went full beast mode. Hackles raised, drooling, baring teeth, etc.
I thought they were directed both at me and the stranger but they moved around me and went after the stranger.
I was only 8 or 9, so it was extremely scary but in hindsight the dogs was protecting me.
Image source: imonfiyar
#44
When I was about 7 some boys pushed me towards a guard dog in a campsite – they didn’t want me playing in the park because I was a girl (they had already been throwing rocks at me so I was scared of them). The dog was all muscle, spit and teeth, very angry and lungeing at me, but thankfully he was on a chain. I was trying to back away but the boys kept pushing me closer and laughing. Just as I thought I was going to wet myself from fear, the owner came out screaming and the boys ran off. She shouted at me for being stupid and said the dog would have mauled me, and I cried.
Not sure who the animals were in that story. BUT. The next day the boys found me playing by myself in a small house, and told me to get out. I said no, I was there first, so they picked up a wooden table and started ramming it into me against the wall. Another little boy came in and immediately ran and got his Dad, and the two boys got a bollicking from him. Justice.
Image source: small_havoc
#45
When you are walking at night and a group of humans start following you in the shadows. This is the most terrifying animal of all.
Image source: SiberiaDragon94
#46
Was walking back from the pub through a suburban street. About 1 a.m. Heard thumping noise getting progressively louder. Stopped to look about and a kangaroo landed no more than two feet in front of me, after bounding over the high fence I was walking next to. Scared the hell out of me.
Image source: GJacks75
#47
This isn’t from me but from my mate. Once on a school camp for 21 days in Alpine Australia, we were forced to sleep alone for 48 hours. So at around 2am on the second night, I heard a shout from where he was sleeping. He told me the next morning that a kangaroo stole his hiking pack and that in panic, he threw a water jug at it.
Low and behold, the kangaroo regrouped after a short time and surrounded him in a circle. All he remembered were like five pairs of eyes staring back at him in the night. I have yet to ask him how he managed to fend them off. But yeah, that’s Australia for you.
Image source: kzyang
#48
Attacked by a nurse shark.
I was spearfishing off of NAS Key West for hogfish, and the blood in the water attracted a large nurse shark. We kept getting in the boat and moving a half mile away but he would catch up 20 minutes later following the boat. In the third spot we had a wounded hogfish get off the spear and hid under a coral head, the nurse shark showed up and was rooting around under it trying to get at the hogfish. I was snorkeling about 15 feet above watching nature at work when the shark decided to turn at me.
Luckily I had my spear and jabbed it in his nose, mostlt as a reflex of it being the only thing i could put between me amd him, which promptly scared him off. Honestly one of the scariest moments off my life looking eye to eye with an apex predator that intended to attack me. Nurse sharks are normally not aggressive which is why I was swimming so close to him, but that quickly ended our day and we called it quits and went home.
Image source: skiman13579
#49
One time I was at a party at a friend’s apartment and a giant waterbug-type cockroach scampered across the floor. Everyone recoiled in general terror and then this one guy ran towards it, scooped it up with his bare hand, ran to the kitchen, turned on the gas stove, and threw the twitching bug into the flame, incinerating it. We were all a bit stunned, and he turned to us and said, “that thing scared me, and I didn’t like that it could control me like that.”
That was a pretty good party.
Image source: jamesdig
#50
I was attacked by a grizzly bear in the Tetons. It was in the fall right before hibernation. It was after what was in my backpack. I thought I had stored my trash away properly, but some scent must have lingered. Basically pinned me to the ground trying to tear into my pack and when that didn’t work it threw me around like a rag doll. My friend was spraying bearspray the whole time trying to get it to leave. It eventually did. I came out relatively unharmed. A few broken bones and some mild cuts. Ruined my favorite pack and coat though.
Image source: crimsoneagle1
#51
More funny than terrifying, but I was geocashing with my dad, and he went into a bush. Suddenly, a turkey vulture pops out, and we all nearly had a heart attack. It also pooped everywhere, so that’s cool I guess.
Image source: MasterofYoshis
#52
This happened in last years autumn. My dad was driving me to school, there was a truck coming in the opposing lane, it was just passing us when a deer jumps in front of it out of nowhere and goes flying over the front of our car.
Image source: TheRrandomm
#53
Had an Australian Eastern Brown snake rear up and try to bite me. The Eastern Brown snake is the second most venomous snake in the world. Certainly got my heart beating faster!
Image source: BunnyLurksInShadow
#54
Late to party as usual, but here it goes.
800lbs of pissed off mama moose had me making piece with myself.
So there I was, riding my mountain bike, by myself, at Kincaid Park in Anchorage. I come around a corner and there is a cow and calf just hanging out on the trail. Not a big deal. See them all the time. I back up slowly to a trail crossing so I can dip out if I have to, but I can still see them. I planned to just wait them out like usual. It was a good time for a banana break anyways. From behind me I hear another cyclist coming. He has a dog, not on a leash. The dog sees the moose and sprints towards them. Mama and calf split in different directions. Fast forward 15 minutes and I come around another corner and there is mama, clearly agitated. Her calf is nowhere to be seen. She is standing in the middle of the trail. Ears back. Cackles up. Tapping the ground with her front foot. Uh-oh. There was probably only 20 feet between us. This part of the trail was particularly rough and there was nowhere to really to go but backwards. Slow movements and calm words got me to safer spot. I was really glad I didnt get trampled that day.
Image source: d33p_blu3
#55
At a lodging in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. a group of Baboons walking across the garden and i took some photo’s with my camera at the time, with the flash on. It must of pissed off the alpha Baboon who was in charge of them, cause he came storming over to us and we all ran in the little house, and he was banging on the window trying to break in it seemed. He had some scary big teeth. I was only around 12 years old at the time. Uncle was from Zim, so he had a bit of experience with them, when he noticed what was happening he ran out and chased them away.
Image source: Fenbob
#56
This was terrifying in retrospect, though I (stupidly) had no idea how dangerous it was at the time.
I was 13 or so, way off in the middle of nowhere in New Guinea with my parents and a bunch of villagers. We were all swimming in the ocean and I noticed a snake swimming in the water on the surface of the sand. I thought it couldn’t swim up (like I said, stupid), so I started batting at it with my flipper. This probably went on for 15 seconds before it rose up off the bottom and I realized “oh, it can swim UP”.
I should get a big rock and try to drop it on the snake!
I called some of the village kids over and asked them to watch it for me, while I got a rock, so I could find it again. They looked at it and told me it was dangerous and to leave it alone.
Fortunately I agreed.
Later I looked up what the snake was:
White banded sea snake.
I was harassing one of the most poisonous snakes in the ocean, in the middle of nowhere in New Guinea.
Image source: SoylentJeremy
#57
I was camping in Australia with some buddies back in 2009. During the evening we spotted a dingo pretty far across a field, thought it was pretty cool (since we aren’t Australian) but didn’t think much of it, other than that. After sundown we heard some movement not too far off, in the same direction of where we saw the dingo. We shined our flashlights out into the field, and saw multiple sets of eyes, glittering, looking our way. We decided to pack up some of the things into our car, and chill out a bit in our tents. They came through our site, and then went on their way.
In hindsight, they were more than likely just interested in our food. But it was still pretty creepy.
Image source: anon
#58
I walked upon a rabid dog that was across a street located in a quiet suburb. He looked at me, I looked at him. Then he charged. I held my ground, ready to swing, and he stopped a few feet in front of me. He was heavilly salivating and growling. We stared at each other, with my fists clenched. lt felt like eternity, but was most likely just under a minute. Then the rabid dog started to back away slowly and hesitantly stared to walk away sideways so he wouldn’t lose site of me. He eventually left.
That was a rush.
Image source: PowerPandaPunch
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