whats your favourite animal

[mollymandy]

and why ?

[RATTER15]

The Rat!! because they get a rough deal! they are clean (well apart from the odd deadly disease they may carry)intelligent and tough little *******, they are more courageous than any other creature, they will stand and fight anybody or any animal in defence of their young. When the rat is domesticated it is a great pet, and full of character.

[RATTER15]

** bu&&ers **

[butternut]

Not a single hesitation in saying a dog, thise who have not experienced the pleasure and love recieved from one of those babies need to get out there and get one lol,

[allotment10]

http://www.southwest.com.au/~kirbyhs/dolphinsa .html
got to be dolphins (if thats allowed as an animal!) amazing creatures :-)

[bluevern]

great white shark,,,,,,,,,,,,sleak,,,,,,,,,,everyone fearsthem,,,,,,,,,,scary in a sexy way,,,,,,,,,,

[Metz]

Domestic - Dog
Wild - Elephant

[lankeela]

Giant African Land Snails - very therapeutic watching them slithe up the side of their tank.

[Carakeel]

Ratter I know what you say is in fact true, but I am still terrified of rats and hate being anywhere near them. For me it has to be dogs. I have had the most wonderful loving and intelligent doggie companions over the years and can't imagine ever being without one.
One of my Irish Wolfhounds saved a child's life once. My dogs have all taken to alerting me or others if someone isn't well or is in danger. And this without my training them to do so! My Irish Setter Robin attained notoriety when he was written about in a book by an international bestselling author, Dr. Sheila Cassidy. She described how he used to lie on my son's bed in St. Luke's Hospice, watching over him as he came to the end of his battle with cancer. If Sheila came in to check on my son when he was asleep, Robin would quietly growl at her, telling her to come back later. She would and Robin would greet her with wagging tail and lots of kisses.
When my partner's lovely daughter was unwell while visiting us, my little Shih-Tzu immediately came and alerted me. And when I am unwell he will not leave my side unless to get help. What other animal can be so loyal and understanding?

[butternut]

Carakeel, this thread can end now your love and , understanding of dogs has answered the question completely, go girl xxx

[Carakeel]

Thanks for the xxx butternut, you're a sweety. :o) X
Dogs aside, I must mention the most amazing, beautiful and intelligent dolphins as my then 68 year old mum was surrounded and kept afloat by them when she fell off a boat into Indian River (off Florida's east coast). Coastguards told her later that they had spotted sharks within close proximity of where they fished her out of the water. She would never have stayed afloat for 45 minutes had it not been for the dolphins and certainly would not have had a chance against the sharks. So they are my second choice for animal heros.

[B00]

Is it too late to agree with Ratter now then?

I used to have a pet rat, he was totally gorgeous and extremely clever.

[smudge]

Birds of all kinds - especially owls.

Cats too.

In fact I like most animals, except Bats & Hyenas. I'm not too keen on dogs either - 'specially after being chased by one as a child & it ripping my dress from the waist down - I was terrified!

Having said that, I loved the dogs Mum & Dad had.

[camilly]

domestic pet is my dog, i also loved my chickens before the fox had them they amazingly enough brought me more joy than my cats, or any of the other many many animals that i have, but once in a while you get a special pet that melts your heart more than the rest purely because of its cheeky ways, be it a cat or a dog, you get bog standard ones and then if your lucky you get an amazing one, but if i had a choice of any pet in the world it would be an orangatan, or monkey, because they are loving, able to communicate with us, rewarding, giving and kind, feeling and understanding a tad more than any other animal i think and you dont have to wonder if they are truly happy they show you, i think they are amazing creatures. i also love froggys

[gelda]

Foxes most definitely!

[CrazyWolfman]

Wolves (the username might give that away somewhat). They are highly social and intelligent (having 30% larger brains than the domestic dog). Also, contrary to popular belief a wild, healthy wolf has never killed a human (at least in the past 200 hundred years - the time of documentation). Besides that, they are one of the few animals in the world where it is possible for a human to communicate such complex things with them, indeed people with the sufficient understanding of canine communication are able to live as a member of the pack.

They are misunderstood, beautiful and vital to the ecology of many of the most important systems on the planet. Also timber wolves are hard to find and though highly researched, still are yet to yield vast amounts of knowledge to the world of science.

Finally, whether or not the dog lovers who have already expressed their opinions know it or not, they have also voted the wolf as their favourite as dogs are technically a subspecies of the wolf rather than a separate species according to a recent study by the Smithsonian Institute (1990).

I could go on for hours and hours...

[CrazyWolfman]

By the way, nice one Carakeel! I've got a feeling I've heard about that incident with your mother, though I may be confusing it with several similar ones which have also occured in that area.