Something we don't have to worry about at Australian Dark Sky Sites

[DavidTrap (David)]

A quote from CloudyNights:

"I have just received positive information that two very large full grown mountain lions were spotted at 2am last evening three miles down the road from the peak."

Cheers
DT

[renormalised (Carl)]

Nope...we get, "two fully grown yowies, two marsupial lions and 16 dropbears"

I'll takes me chances with the mountain lions

[seeker372011 (Narayan)]

ah but how many funnel webs do they have in the rocky mountains?

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by seeker372011

ah but how many funnel webs do they have in the rocky mountains?

Exactly...and that's only the start!!!

[DavidTrap (David)]

Forgot all about "drop bears".

And to quote Billy Connolly - "The funnel web spider can kill you in eight second, just by looking at you!".

DT

[multiweb (Marc)]

The two mountain lions got caught into a cross fire between local police and illegal immigrants on the state border. The area is safe again.

[astronut (John)]

Originally Posted by multiweb

The two mountain lions got caught into a cross fire between local police and illegal immigrants on the state border. The area is safe again.

From mountain lions or illegal immigrants?.........

[GrahamL]

Aside coming across a brown snake happily slithering along once and a dingo howling off in the night down camping near coffs while out with the binos , I'm not to upset bout yogi and snagglepuss not being able to wander up behind us in the night while out with the scope

[casstony]

It's quite comforting that there aren't any large carnivores in the Australian bush. I've been on a few camping trips in North America and it can be hard to get to sleep sometimes; there were many times when I'd stop breathing so as to better hear what it was that broke that twig. It's safest to go camping/hiking with someone you don't like and that you can outrun.

[M54 (Molly)]

Mosquitos are the worst threat down here in cloud city.
What is a drop bear?

[DavidU (Dave)]

A drop bear (you can't see the big teeth)

Originally Posted by M54

Mosquitos are the worst threat down here in cloud city.
What is a drop bear?

[PCH (Paul)]

Originally Posted by casstony

It's quite comforting that there aren't any large carnivores in the Australian bush. I've been on a few camping trips in North America and it can be hard to get to sleep sometimes; there were many times when I'd stop breathing so as to better hear what it was that broke that twig. It's safest to go camping/hiking with someone you don't like and that you can outrun.

Reminds me of the joke about the two guys that go camping, - and one has brought along his brand new adidas running shoes.....
"In case we get chased by a lion" he says.
"Why?" - says his mate .. "they won't make you able to run faster than a lion !!".
"No!" he says, ".. but I'll be able to run faster than you !!"

[gary]

Originally Posted by DavidTrap

A quote from CloudyNights:

"I have just received positive information that two very large full grown mountain lions were spotted at 2am last evening three miles down the road from the peak."

Cheers
DT

Texan friend Van Robinson (aka starsend here on IceInSpace) lives just outside
of Fort Davis in south-west Texas and has spotted mountain lion in the driveway
of his house.

(I ribbed Van about this here a little while ago -
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...1&postcount=10)

Van's location is within the shadow of the McDonald Observatory, home of the 9.2m
Hobby-Eberly telescope. The mountain lions also prowl between the properties
of Van's neighbours, many of whom are also amateur astronomers, including
Jimi Lowrey who owns a beautiful 48" Dob.

They all live only a few short miles from the Prude Ranch, where the TSP is
held and the surroundings are hilly with grassy vegetation and semi-desert.
Though we did not see mountain lion ourselves, John Bambury and I routinely
saw javelina which at first we mistook for wild bore. In fact they are part of the
peccary family. Apparently you want to keep a healthy distance from them
as they can get a little agitated and have sharp canines. However, as traveling
companion John Bambury will attest, the mountain lion and javelina are the least
of your worries. Whilst at the 3RF Observatory, John narrowly missed being bitten
on the face by a rattlesnake that struck out at him.

Undoubtedly some of our fellow observing colleagues based in South Africa
can pass on anecdotes of even more interesting wildlife encounters, which will make
the above encounters sound like a petting zoo by comparison.

Best regards

Gary

[M54 (Molly)]

Originally Posted by DavidU

A drop bear (you can't see the big teeth)

[DavidTrap (David)]

Originally Posted by BPO

New Zealand is the place to be. We have essentially no wildlife to speak of, and almost no nightlife either. Just blessed peace and quiet.

Yeah, but isn't the literal translation of Aotearoa, "Land of the Long White Cloud"????

DT

[bloodhound31]

The drop bears around these parts are starting to get desperate after the bush fires burnt down all the eucalypt. They are now turning to road kill, the sickly and the weak.

Baz.

[Ric]

Hmm

Mountain Lion v Snakes v Spiders v Dropbears

Anyway you look at it I think Humans are going to come of second best.

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Ian up in NT (gaa ian) has mentioned that he has been near Crocs when observing.

Plenty of snakes and spiders around at night no matter where you are in Oz. You just don't normally think about them so you aren't aware of them.

[luigi]

You can always visit/move to Argentina We have no bears, no lions, no spiders, no snakes, nothing. Our king of the pampas is the armadillo

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

One thing I've never gotten used to is the possums.
They've got a wicked sense of humour, sneaking up behind you, then letting out that blood curdling scream. I swear, they do it on purpose. You can hear them up the tree afterwards having a giggle with their mates about how high they made me jump.