You're an Animorph...What Animals Do You Actually Have Access too?

[NateSean]

In the fanfiction I'm writing, my main character doesn't have regular access to a zoo and a wildlife clinic full of animals. Essentially, he is limited to the animals he can actually get a hold of. Since most of the story will be taking place in or around my home town (in New England) this limits him somewhat.

Deer, cows (A fully grown and ungelded steer could be pretty deadly to humans and Taxxons), some pet animals like cats, dogs and rats. Insects, spiders and there is a Society for Creative Anachronism group that may have trained falcons or hawks.

So lets say you or your friends are given the power to morph. But you're limited to the animals you can find in your area. What are they and how could you use them in the fight against the Yeerks? (And no, the Ellemist can't hook you up.)

[warren_bearclaw]

I have a donkey, Miniature horse, cat, two dogs (one hairless chines crested, and one basset hound), and two goats readily available. We often have chickens, too, but not right now. There are also numerous birds, squirrels, rabbits, and other little woodland creatures that, if I could catch one, I could use. I've been considering teaching myself to build snares, just for the wilderness survival practicality. But I could also learn it to help save the world. We also have coyotes around here, and hawks and buzzards. There are some big dogs down the street, and lot's of pet stores would/will let you pet the animals. And you wouldn't get in too much trouble if you stuck your hand in there anyways, so .... snakes, lizards, large spiders, hamsters, other rodents, small birds, tiny fish, turtles..... Every year at the State Fair, they have those giant Clydesdale horses, and all kinds of cows, sheep, and they even have a petting zoo with a giraffe, giant pig, rams, a kangaroo, ostriches, and some other useful morphs. It would be hard to touch them if they weren't already coming up to the fence, but the potential is still there. Flies would be easy.. just wait for one to land on you and acquire it (then squish it while it's out!  )

Can you tell I've thought of this before?

[NateSean]

Same here.

I mean, if I were to get really bold the Franklin Zoo in Boston has some ideal predatory morphs. But I would have to be seriously willing to risk arrest and unlike the Gardens (which is basically Sea World/Six Flags), the Franklin Zoo is too small to effectively lose a security guard in.

If I were solo, I would get the most convenient and yet easiest to control animals. A rat would be better than a mouse for example, because a rat has a sense of height and self preservation. (I've had both mice and a rat for pets and I prefer the rat every time)

Regular dogs would be fine, but I would go with something like a trained police or military dog, or the kind prison guards use. Clydesdales rock. If their landspeed was fast enough then a well trained, well fed horse would be an ideal battle morph against Taxxons and humans. (Probably wouldn't last long against more than one Hork-Bajir, but a well placed kick would give the Yeerk's offspring a headache)

[Josh (J)]

There are quite a few animals, I've thought of this before. My dog, an occasional rat/mouse, ****roaches, flies, spiders, my turtle, chickens, goats, cows, maybe a bird if I could catch one, lizards, frogs, toads, cats...sometimes at the zoo you can go and touch the animals. You can also go and visit your neighbors and get 'em there...

[Dameg]

I have cute dogs at home, but there are dogs everywhere here. And cats, but they're more difficult to catch lol (But a lot of my friends have cats).
I also have my octodon degus, who are perfect to replace rats and squirrels. Except that, I think, they'd be more difficult to control than rats.
I also have small birds and small fishes... who knows, it can help to fly/swim away ^^' (and be eaten by a bigger bird/fish, I know ^^')
There also are a lot of farm animals around here. But I don't know who they could be really interesting, except to hide... There are also a lot of insects and spiders but... they're not all interesting for missions.
There also is a public zoo in Lyon, where we usually can't touch the animals but... if you're a little crazy and come when almost nobody's there, I suppose you can at least touch the elephants, maybe the lions (ok, here you needa be totally insane ^^')... There is a bird park not so far from my house too, where it may be possible to touch a few of the animals. Not easy, and you probably need to hide to do so. And around the park, there are a lot of ponds full of frogs.
In Japan, I could touch small sharks and skates. So if I can go back to Osaka in this aquarium, I could acquire them

But I agree, it isn't that simple to touch animals in zoos. The best thing, I think, is to find a small animal (rat, bird, insect, spider...), morph it to enter in the animals' cages, or in the room where they sleep at night, demorph, acquire them, and go back home the same way.

[Chad32]

Let's see. Dogs and cats, obviously. My mother has a bird feeder, so it shouldn't be hard to get a small bird morph, or a dove. I could also get a squirrel, deer, maybe a rabbit or armadillo if I'm lucky.

I live by a lake, so I might be able to get one of those wading birds I see sometimes, and I know where an eagle nest is. Getting some fish shouldn't be too hard either.

There's also a place nearby where people keep horses, or at least one horse. It also shouldn't be too far to drive to the nearest cattle pasture.

Various insects. Flies, roaches, praying mantises. Butterflies and moths. Spiders and scorpions. Snakes as well.

Living in the country gives me a lot of options, though for battle I'm not sure I could do better than a bull or large dog.

[Semeir-Cooraf-Armaheen]

I've seen a raccoon and lots of opossums. Also some squirrels, lizards and a neighbor has an iguana and ferrets.

I have two cats and a dog

[Chad32]

Yeah. Lizards, ducks, turtles. A lot of things, but just not exotic stuff like Gorrillas or Tigers. No sharks or squids, ect.

[DinosaurNothlit]

See, my problem would be that I wouldn't even care what I can find nearby.  I can turn into a bird, right?  I can go wherever I want!

First thing I would acquire would probably be one of my cats, just for practice.  Then I would go to a pet-store to get a hamster or something small, to sneak into the zoo.  Our zoo has decent security, but I think I could sneak in at least long enough to acquire a bald eagle or other bird of prey, which I would acquire so that I could travel.  Then I would do some research on the internet on small (and therefore probably low-security) zoos.  One thing I would look for would be reptile houses with venomous snakes, which I could acquire and then quickly morph something if they bit me so the venom wouldn't affect me.  A venomous snake morph could come in handy later.  And, of course, I'd then go for something like a rhino or grizzly bear (maybe giving them a teeny dose of venom to render them complacent), since my theoretical battle strategy would probably involve trying not to die long enough to kill everything trying to kill me.

Is it frightening that I have already done research on small, nearby zoos (focusing on ones with venomous snakes, rhinos, and grizzly bears), as well as the venom kill-times of several venomous snakes for exactly this reason?

[wildweathel]

Ooh, this is fun.

Domestic animals are obvious: here that means dogs, cats, rats, a variety of fish, etc.  The most "combat-worthy" is either a large dog or ferret.

Oh, and since this is Maine, you can get live lobsters easy.  

Next up, invertebrates.  I can catch grasshoppers, crickets, mantises, earwigs, silverfish, a ton of different kinds of beetles, flies, etc, etc, etc.  Just go outside from spring to mid fall.  In spring and summer, amphibians are easy: frogs, salamanders, etc.

Now, none of those are really "fighting" morphs, but you get a lot of stealth.  Next up, transportation.  Flight, of course.  Who doesn't want to fly?

So, lawn chair + sunflower seeds + about a week = chickadee or titmouse morph.

For long-haul, mallard ducks are everywhere and semi-tame.  I bet it'd be pretty easy to lay a hand on one.  Careful, though, they do bite.

I wouldn't mess around with geese, and certainly not swans.  *shudder*

Once we've got those, it's off to Maine Wildlife Park for a golden eagle, barred owl, fisher, and mountain lion.

AKA: puma.  Oh heck yes, puma.  

Maybe moose, too, just for the heck of it.  Not a fighting animal by any stretch of the imagination--an adult can fight off coyotes and even wolves, but they present a large target and don't have very good senses.  Dracon + Moose = The Way of the Dodo, I'm afraid.

You really, really, really have to think guerrilla to make the most of those morphs, but they're definitely accessible.

Get a mist net, and you can catch little brown bats, too.

Oh, and I like Dino's idea about venomous reptiles.  You would have to find a zoo for sure; it's too cold for them to live in the wild.

[Chad32]

Yeah, swans are one of those animals that looks nice from afar, but will mess you up if you mess with them.

I'm not far enough north to find any mountain lions, unfortunately. Or even quite close enough to Florida to find any alligators.

[Terenia]

I'd start with my dog, of course. Easiest to acquire, and pretty easy to control. There are tons of stray dogs and cats in my neighborhood, so those would all be fairly easy. Rats, roaches and other vermin would also be easy enough. Since this is Texas if I tried hard enough I could probably find a rattler, though acquiring it may be a challenge. Horses and longhorn cattle are easy to find too, same with deer. I could probably find an alligator, but that would be a dangerous acquiring process.

Um...what else....armadillo?

[NateSean]

See, my problem would be that I wouldn't even care what I can find nearby.  I can turn into a bird, right?  I can go wherever I want!

Presumably. I think if I were to discover my family was made of controllers I'd go with that mindset.

  Our zoo has decent security, but I think I could sneak in at least long enough to acquire a bald eagle or other bird of prey, which I would acquire so that I could travel. 

Hopefully said bird of prey doesn't get aroused to your presence while you are in snack sized mode.

Of course if you're trying to go low profile, you'll want to make sure that your transit morph is something local. A turkey buzzard found in the Franklin Zoo for example was found in Brazil and would arouse attention if someone saw it flying free in North America.

Good call with the venomous snakes though. I'd be happy with a rattler or a pit viper. Hork-Bajir seem to go down hard and heavy with a bite from one of them.

I know of petstores near my area that sell scorpions with removed poison sacs. However DNA doesn't respect surgery...

[Stephquiem]

My mom's cats, my friend's dogs and birds... flies, spiders, ants, various other insects... There's a horse barn relatively close to my friend's house where her mom spends a lot of time, so it wouldn't be completely weird for me to show up there...

Yeah, that kind of covers it, actually.

[ThinkAgain]

I'd acquire a goose and go to the Philadelphia zoo, then a small bird (I actually have some quail in a pen, so that works) to get in. (Hey, I'm saving a world here, I should get a free pass). Or I could just make a day trip of it and drive there, doesn't really matter - aside from the fact I drive an SUV that destroys gas with a passion.

Once in, I'd acquire everything. The Philadelphia zoo has basically everything I'd ever need. My main risk though, are of course, getting mauled by the larger animals I'd want and zoo security. Also, getting into some of the pens - I can't always just morph, jump in, demorph and get to work. A lot of the enclosures have cameras to watch the animals, which are a big no-no. It'd be easier at night but it would still be tough.

As far as things that are closer than "day trip" status, the usual domesticated dogs and cats in the area and some small birds. There are local red-tails, but I can't exactly walk up to one and acquire it. Same for coyotes, although those can be more easily trapped than a hawk. I'd probably go to the zoo ASAP though if I got morphing powers. Honestly though, anyone within a 150+ mile radius of the Philadelphia zoo would/should go there first. It has basically everything.