Animals Are So Cool

I really like dogs. I mean, REALLY like them. I like being around them, seeing pictures and videos of them, I even happily live with one that I think is really really special. In a perfect world, dogs are always going to be part of my life. But I don't only like dogs. There are tons of animals that I like. Horses, cats, birds, raccoons, all the obvious ones. 
 
But also, how cool would it be to get to know a possum, or a badger. I bet a badger would be a great hang! Or like, could you imagine just spending a day with an elephant? What does an elephant get up to every day? In the videos that I've seen, they seem SUPER cool. They've got a sense of humor, they're really smart, and I mean that whole trunk thing they have going on is just so different from anything else that you see in the animal kingdom. It would be amazing to see just how they'd use such a unique tool in a day to day setting! 
 
And I mean, who wouldn't want to chill with a dolphin. Are there some issues around the practicality of spending a day with a dolphin? Probably. But also, they're smart, we're pretty smart, I bet we could figure it out. Did you know that if dolphins hit you with their echolocation from close enough you can feel it? I heard that from a dolphin expert once. I wonder what that would feel like. Would it be pleasant? A little tingly? And, I know sometimes they'll let you hold onto them while they swim, pulling you along. Like the water version of riding a horse I guess!
 
 
I've always wanted to know what monkeys are like. They're our closest ancestor in the evolutionary tree, right? But how close really? I've heard of monkeys using tools, solving fairly complex problems, and having super detailed social structures. I wonder, if you spent some time with them, do you think you could learn anything about humans and the way that we developed too? Or, maybe that's kind of a bad way to look at it. I don't want it to seem like I'm saying that monkeys are just less developed humans. That's doing them a disservice. They are as developed as they need to be in order to survive in their world! I bet that the world they inhabit is plenty fascinating on its own, and that'd be cool to live in too! 
 
There's also just weirder animals that I would love to know better, but it just feels kinda impractical. Like, I'd love to spend a day with a rat, but not a rat that exists in a cage in someone's house, I want to know what it's like to be a rat living in the wild. You always hear about the elusive rat colonies that exist in big cities. Are they real? And if so, what do they get up to down there? Rats get such terrible PR in game, movies, pop culture in general. But I think that's pretty undeserved. Any animal that can adapt to the crazy human world we've forced upon them is clearly doing something right. For such a small animal, they seem really smart. What do you think that rats do in their down time? Do they just kinda sit around with each other sniffing all the weird things that cities have to sniff in them? Or do they nap in big rat piles, keeping each other warm and cozy?
 
What would it be like to be a bee? On a warm summer day, drifting from flower to flower, lapping up pollen and drifting with the breeze. You get back to the hive and do a little dance with your friends to tell them what you saw, and then you help to build up your home. Life as a bee seems so simple. I'm sure that it's not easy, or else they wouldn't be dying out the way that they are, but at least to me their life seems pretty serene. Maybe you could be part of a hive run by a honey farmer, and sure it sucks that some guy keeps showing up and stealing pieces of your hive, but at the same time you can live in a place relatively free from danger with plenty of friends and plenty of flowers. That sounds kinda nice. uwu
 
It’s exhausting how much of my identity is forged in opposition to a world that doesn’t want me to exist, but it's funny to think that I am who I am in opposition to that. If we lived in a world where zoosexuality was totally normal, who would I be? I live with a dog and to most people that's where the extent of my animal interests end. But I think animals are amazing, and I would love to know more about them, and learn about how special and unique each one is. If when I was a kid I wasn't so scared of my zoosexuality being discovered, would I have done something different with my life? Maybe I'd have become a vet, or a zoologist, or someone that works in conservation. Maybe instead of spending so much of my life trying to hide, I would have spent that time learning and exploring. Maybe there's another version of me out there that has the answers to all of these questions, and is travelling the world answering a hundred more questions I don't even know enough to ask. 
 
But we don't live in that world. And while it sucks, it's also okay. Life being hard is no reason to stop living it to its fullest. We can drive ourselves crazy constantly pondering whether things could be better, because they can. Most days I wake up and I want to fight. To spend all my time and energy arguing and debating. Ready to take on the world, to show them who we really are. To make things better. But not today. 
 
Today, I'm just gonna stop and think about how cool animals are. 
 
 
 
 
 
Article written by Tarro (June 2026)
 
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