WILD animals at WDW

[Sehsun]

1) Deer and turkey at Fort Wilderness
2) Otters in the water near Downtown Disney

 

[Newsies]

A very sweet family of ducks was trying to enjoy a fountain at GF this summer and some little boy kept splashing at them until an older man reprimanded him and he ran off

I do love seeing little duck families at WDW though. They're so cute. They make me very happy

 

[bochnikm]

Here is a web page I put together to help everyone identify the wild birds seen frequently at Walt Disney World.
http://bochnik.com/disneybirds/disneybirds.htm

 

[wdwjeffc37]

My wife was bitten on the finger by a squirrel at the pool at CSR. We've seen alligators, bunches of turtles and fish in the lake at CSR. And of course, all different kinds of birds. Not to mention all of the lizards and geckos. We have seen eagles and ospreys all around Disney. We usually see deer and turkeys when we ride the EPCOT monorail. We have been attacked by all of the birds while eating at Flame Tree B-B-Q at AK. We have even seen some of the feral cats that hang around the theme parks. The variety and number of wild animals throughout the Walt Disney World Resort is staggering.

 

[L&Lfan]

We always seem to spot the very scary looking turtles while waiting for the boat to the Epcot Resorts at DHS. Never seen any of the more unusual wildlife, though. (Deer, alligators, armadillos and certainly not otters!)

 

[Feralpeg]

I live very close to WDW property. Since moving to this area, I've seen alligators, wild boar, bobcats, deer, coyotes, wild turkey, eagles, sand cranes, all sorts of other birds, a variety of big turtles and some very interesting snakes.


Almost forgot...I see armadillo, raccoon and possums constantly.

 

[WEDWDW]

if you do a search, i know you can find pics of otters in the water at SSR.

I've also seen them in Bay Lake.

 

[J.C.&ALI'SMOM]

Deer…from the monorail
Turkey…from the monorail
Alligator…in Rivers of America in Froniterland
Snakes…AK parking lot and walkway to Rafiki's
Feral Cats…Polynesian Resort
Birds that dove underwater…at Flame Tree in AK
Swimming turtles…all over

 

[disnut8]

I forgot about the Sandhill Cranes. The Florida variety is endangered.

 

[L&Lfan]

I see plenty of rat traps amid the foliage at the deluxe resorts bus pick up areas.

 

[nkereina]

We saw young alligators in the lake at CSR. Always see those darn big white birds begging for food around the seating area adjacent to Flame Tree BBQ. Last time we were sitting there, a heron came and perched on the railing next to us, eyeballing our food. It was actually intimidating, and annoying while we were trying to eat.

 

[PrincessDaisyDuck]

We have seen bunnies, squirrels and birds. At Coronado we saw a small alligator in the lake. At All Star Music a few weeks ago a black cat ran in front of us right by their main pool early in the morning.

Our favorite sighting was an owl at Fort Wilderness. We were dropped off at the bus stop at night, we turned to walk to our cabin and it was perched on a speed limit sign right next to us, just staring at us. It was really neat.

 

[BrianL]

I spotted a feral cat at DL looking down through one of the holes in the exit tunnel for Indiana Jones. He was just hanging out up there. Pretty rare to see them on a busy day, but he was safe up where he was.

 

[ZebraDomeCrazy]

A dozen BATS in the walkway from the fitness center at Wilderness Lodge at 5am! It was the fastest running of my workout, lol!

 

[tiggertabi]

Lots of armadillos at the All-Stars
3 different alligators: 1 in the water on the way to Tom Sawyer's Islands (eek), 1 in the shallow water next to the lake at Pop Century, and 1 baby in the water at Typhoon Lagoon

Last summer, at AKL, my son almost stepped on a rather large black snake by the pool. We got a worker and had them come get it, and they basically picked it up and threw it in with the flamingos. haha Apparently it's quite common!

 

[cgattis]

Pretty ordinary animal but extraordinary experience - my son got bit by a squirrel near Splash Mountain! The bad mom in me thought it was really funny (but just because he was okay).

No no NO....you can't just tell PART of that story! As long as he's okay, might as well let us have a laugh too!! I always find it hilarious to watch squirrels stealing from strollers and ECVs--I watched one open a bag of chips on the table at SAB once. And another one dart under a moving ECV as he darted around a very busy snack cart looking for a victim LOL.

I have a great pic of DD standing next to a huge freakin stork that was just standing in a little flowerbed at the Lunching Pad. We almost walked right by him--he was like a statue. I was ready to pounce if he moved toward her, though--he was almost as big as her.

 

[pjhootch]

Yes, more than once we've seen an alligator in frontierland. The little lizards are everywhere and we've seen a couple of harmless snakes at CSR. We saw a young hawk at Epcot that couldn't get back into the air after a rough landing. We went to get a cast member and he called for help. Apparently that is pretty common there in the spring.

 

[Bluegrrl]

CM told me once about a bunny that got into the Komodo dragon enclosure at AK. A guest started screaming at the CM telling her to rescue the poor little thing because, sure enough, the komodo started eating it! The CM was all - "you DO realize that is the largest and most deadly lizard in the world, right? I am SO not going to save a RABBIT just for you and risk my life!"

The guest just had a fit and even got so mad that she wrote a letter to the WDW stating how horrible and evil the cm was for not saving the poor rabbit from it's Darwin destiny! The managers at the AK area got the letter forwarded to them, and everyone had a good laugh about it. Apparently, despite Disney's best efforts, Floridian animals that fail their "survival of the fittest" test still get into enclosures and get eaten. The cm's just radio back to the zoo handlers/feed people that animal X ate X number of bunnies/birds/snakes/etc and then the animal's food gets cut down that day, or they get a trip to the vet, depending on x eaten animal!

 

[RubySue]

CM told me once about a bunny that got into the Komodo dragon enclosure at AK. A guest started screaming at the CM telling her to rescue the poor little thing because, sure enough, the komodo started eating it! The CM was all - "you DO realize that is the largest and most deadly lizard in the world, right? I am SO not going to save a RABBIT just for you and risk my life!"

The guest just had a fit and even got so mad that she wrote a letter to the WDW stating how horrible and evil the cm was for not saving the poor rabbit from it's Darwin destiny! The managers at the AK area got the letter forwarded to them, and everyone had a good laugh about it. Apparently, despite Disney's best efforts, Floridian animals that fail their "survival of the fittest" test still get into enclosures and get eaten. The cm's just radio back to the zoo handlers/feed people that animal X ate X number of bunnies/birds/snakes/etc and then the animal's food gets cut down that day, or they get a trip to the vet, depending on x eaten animal!

The Circle of Life

 

[DIS-OH]

My mother and I paused to watch a rabbit in the grassy area between The Land pavilion and The Seas pavilion.

As we admired the cute little rabbit, a large hawk swooped down, grabbed the rabbit and carried it away.

My mom was relieved that no children witnessed the incident...