Nature in Greenbelt

Two days in a row i've had close calls with nature in greenbelt.

Thursday Karlyn and I went for a walk around greenbelt after work, and as we passed the little lake over by the post office I looked over and saw what I thought at the time was an alligator. I freaked out a little, but Karlyn assured me that what I thought was the gator nose was really the back of a beaver. We stopped and watched the beaver for a little and it scurried onto the land briefly enough for us to see that it did NOT have a beaver tail, and was much smaller than a beaver!!! I was convinced it was a large rat. We saw two more large rat buddies and by the time we left I accepted it wasnt a rat, but might possibly be a wolverine or mole-rat. I got home and peter said (and google image search verified) it was actually a muskrat. The last muskrat we saw chased us down and I ran for dear life....ok so it didnt notice us at all or move, but I still ran.

The second run in was just outside my office door on the path to my car. TWO little bunny rabbits stood in my way. I like rabbits and all, but noone else was around and I didnt want its giant front teeth to bite my ankles so I stood very still for a minute. They noticed me and one of them, while standing in place jumped a minimum of 2 feet vertically in the air. It was actually amazing to see. There was no running start or anything. They both moved out of the pathway and we all stared eachother down as I walked by all of us equally afraid of eachother. I took a picture on my iphone but it didnt come out too well.

I guess I gotta stay alert walking around greenbelt, it has some crazy wild life.