Pictures of Florida's Wild Animals

Snake

     Snakes are the stuff of legend. Totally undeserving of their evil reputation, snakes are very sensitive and secretive animals. A marvel of nature, they move silently and can climb trees all without hands or legs. Bristling with muscle, quick as lightning, and with large fangs(some with poison), snakes nevertheless are shy, and almost immediately retire from humans, seeking to avoid trouble.


This fellow was about four feet and scared the heck out of me by jumping away in a huge spring. See him raising up. This guy was very scared and was trying to warn me of that. After I got this picture, he took off.


A beaut of a snake, about 5 feet long, and just happened to wander out in front of me. It had been cold, and it was the first sunny day in awhile. Snakes, being reptiles are cold blooded, and need to warm themselves to stay active. Here's a much bigger view, check it out.


The legendary forked tongue. It is actually used similar to a nose to kind of "taste" the surroundings. This means the snake is checking you out.

Commonality list

This is my list of the likelihood of seeing various creatures based on my experiences. Of course, you have to be in the right habitat, the odds of seeing a Dolphin in the forest are not very good. Also, these are based a lot on my local area of Hillsborough County (Tampa). A hyperlink means some kind of info and probably some photos are available.

Common

If you are in the appropriate habitat, you should run into one of these. In many cases, you can't avoid them.

Uncommon

These are harder to find. You'll have to spend some time outdoors and probably look a little for these. However, odds are you'll find one after a little effort.

Rare

Difficult to find. Usually, it's just luck to find one, or you'll have to look very hard. You'll probably only see one every six months.

Ultra Rare

Very difficult to find. Most people, even people who spend a fair amount of time outdoors, like me, never see one. Consider yourself truely priviledged if you do catch a glimpse of one in the wild.

  • Bald Eagle
  • Florida Panther
  • Bobcat
  • Otter