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

[Stephquiem]

Mike, what you do is read scenes from the books that involved acquiring dangerous animals before you go. That way you've got tips!

[Phoenix004]

Have you read #1? How is "almost get eaten by two Tigers" useful advice?

[Stephquiem]

They didn't get killed, did they? There you go!

[Phoenix004]

They almost did, and Jake's probably in better shape than me!

[Stephquiem]

Gah. You're such a fatalist.

[invisiblecake]

Well, it's winter here now and mot much is out. But in the summer, there're hummingbirds around a lot, which could be cool. I've got 4 dogs and a cat, plus any that the neighbors have. There're 2 zoos around here, and if you could sneak in places there's lots of good things, since the larger one has a sort of aquarium part, tropical areas, areas with birds and butterflies, large outside areas and a farm. There's also a petting zoo at the Ren Fest in the summer, and last year they had some falcons and stuff as well, and gigantic horses.

[TobiasMasonPark]

     I suppose if you had someway of getting into the area where they watch the security cameras, and if you have some means of taking out the guards without causing them too much harm, then I guess all you really have to worry about is the night patrolmen--if any-- and the actual animal you're trying to acquire. Unless the zoos are installing infared lasers and top notch defence systems.

[Phoenix004]

If I could take out security, the cameras, night patrolmen and acquire a Tiger without being detected or injured, then I wouldn't need the morphing power... I;d already be a ninja!

[TobiasMasonPark]

     I'd rather be an Animorph, really

     

[Phoenix004]

lol, me too. Just saying, I wouldn't need a battle morph to beat up Yeerks if I was already a ninja.

[songofsuzanna]

Dogs and cats, mostly.  If I play my cards right, I could acquire a deer but it would involve trapping one somehow or using a tranquiler gun.  I could do the same to get a bobcat.  Supposedly, black panthers live in the deeper swamps; my mother saw one one night.  But that would involve a lot of backpacking and an inordinate amount of luck.  Same goes for the black bears that are native to this area.  We have them but I've only seen signs of them on trees.  I could go to the zoo in another city and try to get past all the securities to get to the large animals. 

Then there are hummingbirds, other songbirds, crows, buzzards, the rare redtail (though they are getting more prolific) and I think down by the lakes we have ospreys.  There are other kinds of hawks, like the Cooper's, that I could get.  But that would involve trapping them and giving them a sedative because I do NOT want to mess with a pissed off raptor in full possession of his faculties.  No thank you.  I like my eyes.

[Green armadillo ette]

I'd start with my dog and my grandmas cats. My neighbor's got a variety of dogs, including a half wolf and retired police dog.  The police dog was retired because it was shot in the leg, so he is about 3 or 4 years old. I could morph him and be uninjured.  There are deer and elk aplenty in the mountains.  My friend's family owns two horses, a race horse and one they inherited from someone in FL.  I mean Cassie proved horses are useful in #1, right? Forget about breaking in a zoo and risking suspicion, i could just volunteer once at the local zoo and BAM.  Lion, elephant, rhino, worlds largest rodent, and a lot of other things you'd find at the Denver zoo.  Yeah, some of the animals you get to pet.  I could also just stop by my sister's job and find a huge amount of avians, whether they are predators or not, since she works at some bird sanctuary.  Racoons and foxes, are often captured by my backyard neighbor and set free in the middle of nowhere, so I could just ask to check them out.
I've got a ton of places for pretty useless morphs.

[Fyrefly]

For me it would be dogs and cats, my friend has a parrot.

As far as combat morphs, it wouldn't be at all hard to get an elephant.  Our Renn Faire has elephant rides every year and I'm sure other places do too.  Just pay for the ride, slip your hand somewhere up the saddle to get in contact with the skin, and bam! elephant!  The only risk is if it would stop walking during the ride and tip off the trainer that's something's up.  But they're usually so bored and docile anyway I don't think it would be a problem.

Perhaps this was never brought up in the books (I read about 20 of them as a kid and have recently dipped back into a set a found online about a year and a half back to actually read them all), but could you acquire a baby animal and use it to morph full-sized?  Technically the DNA is no different.  If that were the case you could probably join up helping to foster motherless baby animals.  That could possibly at least get you bats, foxes, maybe a badger.  Or go to the zoo when a baby animal is born and pay for one of those "Get your picture with the tiger cub" deals.

If it were me I'd go for my pets, hit every petting zoo I could find, and pull out as much of my savings as possible to pay for the baby animal, pet the dolphin, ride the various animals etc. scenarios.

[Phoenix004]

Actually they did morph baby animals in the books, they morphed baby seals in #25. Good ideas though.

[songofsuzanna]

Actually they did morph baby animals in the books, they morphed baby seals in #25. Good ideas though.

I did wonder about the baby animal thing, though.  I also wonder, could Tobias or Ax age their human morphs?