What morphs do you have access to?

[Phoenix004]

I get the feeling we've had a thread like this before, but there was a similar discussion on the Animorphs fan page on Facebook so I figured we might as well discuss it here.

Basically, if you had the morphing power right now in your real life, what animals do you have access to? We always talk about what morphs we would have, but most people obviously don't have behind the scenes access to a zoo or a wildlife rehab clinic. You can count any animal you have touched in your life, or ones you have realistic access to.

I spent years working at a small zoo, but that didn't have that many useful morphs. And the zoo I currently volunteer at still a limit to which animals I could realistically acquire (I haven't worked in the big cat section and even if I had I wouldn't be able to get in the cage with them!) So with that in mind, here is my list of primary morphs:

Battle Morph: either Bernese Mountain Dog (friend used to have one and it was built like a tank!) or Rhino (haven't actually touched one but it's the most dangerous thing at the zoo I could probably get away with touching). Technically the zoo I volunteer at has a ton of options, but I couldn't realistically acquire many dangerous animals. I've also touched a Burmese Python, which was about 12 feet long, so that's another potential option.

Sea Morph: Dolphin (Sea World) would be my best option, but I've also handled various fish, frogs, turtles, rays and even a small shark.

Bird Morph: Probably a Harris Hawk or an Eagle Owl (Hawk handling experience day). For something smaller, the old park where I worked had various finches, doves and a couple of parrots. The zoo also has a variety of bird options, but most are either not practical or are flightless.

Bug Morph: Multiple options again. Housefly, ****roach, Praying Mantis, Stick Insect, Butterfly, Tarantula, etc. (from my time in the Mini Beat House). Fly would be the most obvious choice, but also one of the hardest to touch without swatting it first, lol. I've touched a Glasswing Butterfly, which would be cool as they are rather hard to spot.

Spy Morph: Squirrel Monkey or Lemur (work with them at the zoo a lot). They are small, fast, climb well and can use tools if necessary. Sadly they aren't exactly native animals though so they won't blend in well, so I'd morph my cat as a back up.

Extras: Royal Python, Meerkat, Kangaroo, Water Dragon, etc. Basically any animal I've ever worked with really Seriously though, I think I'd acquire anything I could get my hands on!

[Cloak]

I'm up the river without a paddle on this one. I don't have a lot of contact with animals in my day-to-day life. I'm not allowed a pet in my apartment, so I don't have one. And the knly animals around are wild and not particularly useful in a battle.

[redtailedsaffa]

*Looks around*

Uh... crows, pigeons, lizards, flies, mosquitoes, various useless insects I squash on a frequent basis, snakes, house cats, both pet and rabid dogs.

Apparently my dingy uni town has a zoo. I've never been there so I have no idea what it contains.

[guitarhero01234]

I have my cat, my dogs, deer, fish, and other New York wildlife. Not much useful unless I can track down a bear or coyote. Also, there are a lot of owls, which pleases me greatly.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Well, if we're just looking at what we can most easily acquire, I'd probably have to go with a good 'ol grizzly bear for my most-easily-accessible battle morph, since I live in Wyoming for about half the year.  As a bonus, I have a can of bear spray (for those not familiar with the concept, bear spray is basically like pepper spray or mace but ramped clear up to this-will-make-a-grizzly-bear-stop-mid-charge levels), which would be pretty excellent for incapacitating said bear long enough to acquire it.

There's something I think that needs to be pointed out about this little thought-exercise, though.  If any of us actually had the morphing power, the very first thing we'd do is look for all possible ways to broaden our access to morphs.  We'd research bird shows that let you touch birds of prey (I happen to know of one such show near where I live in Wyoming, so I'm good there), and with a bird of prey morph, or better yet a duck or goose morph (do you have a pond near you?  Congratulations, you have access to ducks and/or geese!), you can broaden your scope to however far you can manage to get in whatever days you might have off of work/school.  If you have a pet store anywhere near you, they almost always let you touch the mice and hamsters and lizards and things, so there's your basic stealth morph.  A bird morph and a stealth morph is probably enough to get you into most zoos at night, provided their security is at least a bit lax (Phoenix, correct me if I'm wrong, but I tend to think that since people breaking into zoos isn't a major problem most of the time, they probably don't have the tightest of security, at least at night?).  So, that's any zoo within a day's flying distance of wherever you are, right?

So, I see no real reason why we can't pick and choose whatever battle morph we want.  It just requires a little bit of dedication, maybe some research, and a willingness to break a few rules.  At most, a couple extra days off of work/school (how many times did the Animorphs call in sick?) for travel.  Maybe, oh, a can of bear spray, if you just so happen to have one, for ease of acquiring big and dangerous mammals.  Note: bear spray only works on mammals, do not attempt to use it to help you acquire a crocodile or komodo dragon!

In summary, what I'm saying is, 'realistic access' is relative. 

[Dylan]

Theoretically, I could acquire every kid at my highschool.   

[Cloak]

Theoretically, I could acquire every kid at my highschool.   

I sense great mischief from this one.

[guitarhero01234]

Good point, Dino. Thing is, I live nowhere near a zoo or anything like that. So, unless I was able to catch a ride with someone else, I'm stuck with bears and owls, and my dog Esplin.

[Dylan]

Theoretically, I could acquire every kid at my highschool.   

I sense great mischief from this one.

If I had morphing powers in a world where yeerks exist, I'd use them for good .  If I get them in a world the yeerks don't exist, then.....

[redtailedsaffa]

Nobody let this kid become a Controller.

Basically, what gh said. If I had to look for morphs in the craphole that is my residential area, I'd have to hold up a puff pastry, wait for a crow to come swoop down on it, acquire said crow, and then spend 2 hours flying around as a crow looking for even a slightly sensible animal. Hell, even the dogs here can't suffice for a medium-level battle morph - they live on often vegetarian pizza and birthday cake, for crying out loud.

[NickDaGriff]

Let's see...

I've had three dogs of my own and come into contact with plenty more, so my battle morph would either my Oma's German Shepherd or my mom's cousin's Great Pyrenees.  I've handled a bunch of cats, so that would work for spying.  My cousin used to have a Red-tailed Hawk named Tama, so that'd be my primary bird morph.  Got plenty of brown recluses and black widows for a cool bug morph.  Water morph would be a stingray I pet at the aquarium once.

[TheWolfEmperor]

Dogs and cats. Lots of them. Ants, spiders, centipedes and bedbugs. Mice and rats, maybe a bat. Lots of seagulls.

I live near Boston, which is home of an aquarium and the Franklin Park Zoo. I'm not sure how useful any of the sea based morphs would be, but there's also an occasional shark siting near Cape Cod, so you can bet I'd go trolling for one of those bad boys.

But the Franklin Zoo has a lion, two tigers, a cheeta.

Further east, there are black bears. I could also go to any dairy farm to find a bull, or the racetracks for a horse or two.

[Chad32]

I live in a rural area near a lake. So I've got access to your basic wildlife in Alabama. Dogs, cats, deer, squirrels, cows, horses, fish, snakes, various insects and birds.

My battle morph would be a large dog or a bull. Probably get both. I've got birds of prey, as well as ducks and geese for flight. Cats are always a good stealth animal, as well as snakes. A deer would fit in if I was traveling through the woods, but I'd also be likely to get shot by a hunter depending on the season.

[Tim Bruening]

For me, just cats, dogs, and insects!

[liberonscien]

My three dogs, the raccoon in my backyard, some birds.

I would literally try to acquire every animal I saw. Including humans. I would become the friendliest person, always shaking people's hands, acquiring their DNA.