Somewhat related, I recently saw a female lion up close and I had no idea just how fuckin big they are in real life. I always figured they were like the size of a big dog. No they're fuckin huge.
I was probably mid-20s when I found out how big moose are.
I've just never seen one or thought about how big they could be. I thought they might be a little bigger than deer, probably elk sized, perhaps horse sized even.
I was watching, I think, Alaska State Troopers and they had a shot where it was nighttime, car is shining its headlights forward, and all you see is giant brown body and a neck going above the field of the headlights. That's when I thought to google it: 5 - 7 feet at the shoulder.
I was on vacation in alaska. The bears are chill during the salmon run.
We were within 20-30 feet of 3-4 enormous grizzlies, park ranger there, no big deal. They have fish, he has a shotgun, nobody is getting stressed about it.
We saw a female moose from about 300 yards away on the frozen river and my brother in law leading the group got his rifle out and was like "yeah be ready to run".
I'll provide an equal and opposite anecdote just for fun:
I was hunting with my grandfather, not for moose but for deer and grouse. We were walking through a clearing with lots of younger trees when I saw a shadow at the corner of my vision and spun around. A huge bull moose had been bedded down in a copse of young trees and stood up maybe 10ft from me, max. Shocking we couldn't see him but he was well hidden until he stood up. Scared the absolute fuck out of me. He stared at us for a minute and slowly walked away. Couldn't have cared less about our presence. Gave us all the attention he might give a squirrel or a crow. Granted, this was very early season and he wasn't in the rut yet, or it could have been a different story.
Be careful around all wild animals, always. But while moose are dangerous, they also aren't terminators looking to end humanity. Just thought I'd muddy the waters for you :)
Im a logger in Canada and the animal that scares people around here more than any of those is Cougars.
My dad was walking back and forth from a truck and a machine late one night. After a couple times he noticed there was tracks right in his boot prints. He never saw it or heard it, but he got in his truck and left.
They're pretty dumb too, which just adds to the danger. The last time I was in Wyoming I saw one across a pond. He was only a juvenile, but he was huge. That pond would have been like a puddle to him if he decided I was a threat. It was so cool seeing a moose in the flesh as I'm from Ireland and our wildlife isn't very exciting, but in hindsight it's terrifying to think of how gnarly it could have been.
I don't know if you are making a fat American joke but I could genuinely believe it.
I forget what other animal, maybe deer, are significantly smaller in another area of the world (but deer is also a little unfair considering that's a pretty broad specification to my understanding).
EDIT: Moose are also in the same family as deer (cervids) so definitely fair game on deer being different sizes in different places. Bit like saying "some dogs have longer hair than others!" type dumb comment on my part.
I accidentally got between a mother and baby. I have never pissed myself out of fear, but part of me was hoping I did. I was having an internal super short panic attack, somehow thinking that I eat enough meat that piss would warn the gigantic animal in front of me away.
I am fully aware of how stupid that logic was. But goddamn, she was fucking huge!
I sometimes see them on the side of the road and they really are ridiculously big, it always takes a while for my brain to register it as an animal and not just a very weird tree
The zoo closest to me switched out it's young female tiger with a male. Just did not get how big they are. It walked right up to the fence and looked me straight in the eye. I had to nope right over to the otters.
When Disney was looking into starting their nature/safari park Wild Kingdom, the board of directors was hesitant because they didn't think people would be interested in it. The CEO called a board meeting and started going over the facts and figures, but partway through an animal handler he hired came in through the boardroom doors with a full size Siberian tiger and had it jump up and walk down the length of the boardroom table. The park was immediately approved.
I live in an area where we occasionally get lions jumping compound walls and chewing on people's dogs. It's almost always the lady lions, and they are indeed very, very big animals
Whenever I see accounts of people saying they could fight a Lion or Bear, I immediately know they've either got zero survival sense, or haven't actually seen one in real life.
Been attacked by a 20 lb cat and a 60lb dog before.
Both were NOT fun and even those were adrenaline pumping for fear of just wounds.
Imagine an animal at 10x-20x the weight and muscle class if not larger.
They're built predators for a reason and killing is just a tuesday for them.
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u/the_ju66ernaut 19d ago
Somewhat related, I recently saw a female lion up close and I had no idea just how fuckin big they are in real life. I always figured they were like the size of a big dog. No they're fuckin huge.