I have no idea why they call me golden, I may be worth a lot, however, I don’t even have half a carat of gold in me and I do not get dissolved in aqua regia either…

However, I am the protagonist of a Hungarian proverb which goes like this: “he shouts like a worm stuck in a piece of wood.” All this hype around me is because my ancient name contains the word ‘worm’. Anyway, who has ever heard a tiny worm shouting? You can also call me a reed wolf, however, I really don’t get along with a wolf as it is much bigger and stronger than I am. If we live on the same territory, usually I’m the one who draws the short straw. At first glance, I look like a dog mix, my back and tail are grey-black, my belly and throat are grey-white, my sides and thighs are reddish, my chest is decorated with two brown stripes.

I am a pretty good runner too, on one marathon I got a really good position, being able to run for more than an hour at a 40 km/h speed!

As a rule, I like smaller animals, I’m a specialist in rodents, I always devour them! My old dream is to form a music band, because I love to howl, scream, growl, and snarl for long periods. Most people believe they heard me sing as a back-up singer at a Hungarian pop stars’ concert, but because of my confidentiality agreement I really mustn’t growl anything about this.

We lose our broad, shovel-shaped antlers every year, then we grow new ones.

Given its peculiar form, we could imagine humans using it as a paddle for smaller boats. In the winter we change our summer chestnut coat with white mottles to a much darker, unspotted coat.

Our love life gets interesting only at the beginning of fall, our bucks that are eager to go on dates, get separated from our group, and from this point on they have it going pretty well. They paw the ground to create rutting stands in which they lay down looking all dashing and start to groan tremendously. They call upon the fastidious ladies, that is, does, with high-pitched groans. The winner buck is huge, every part of it is broad and healthy, its baritone bellowing probably has the same effect on does as Elvis Presley had on teenage girls.

I am wearing a reddish-brown fur coat with a white spot on my chest. My splendid ear-tufts make me even cuter than I already am; upon seeing me people usually exclaim: “aww, how sweet”, which I can neither confirm nor deny as I have never tasted myself.

I never leave home without my bottle brush-like scrubby tail as it is quite attached to me. With its help I am able to balance myself like a true acrobat even on the thinnest branches of a tree.

Each of my feet features four toes ending in sharp claws, thanks to these I can climb extremely fast on tree trunks even upside down, after all I’m as swift as a squirrel!

I am one of the most effective nut cracker instruments in the forest. Thanks to my strong jaw and sharp teeth I can crack the outer shell of stone fruit without any problems, thus, I cheerfully crunch on hazelnuts and walnuts, and I am able to outsmart even the most complex-looking pine cones! With my specially devised bite, I open up the scales of the cones until I can comfortably reach the tasty and nourishing seeds.

If you walk about in the forest and you notice a brown coloured, almost square-shaped from the side, but nevertheless a graceful hoofed animal, you should know that’s me! And now let’s talk about what makes a stag the best: the king among us is the one who can grow the biggest, most beautiful and most complex antlers (trophy) on its head from spring until the end of summer. This signals that the animal belonging to these antlers is healthy and strong. The developing antlers are covered by a highly vascular skin, known as velvet. Their growth takes up to 120 days.

In early autumn the stag bellowing starts, also known as “Who’s the best stag in the woods?” competition featuring loud groans, showing off of antlers, displays of force and sometimes bloody collisions. Stags which are good at maths have an advantage in their fight for hind: they only count the branches of the antlers and from the results they can deduce whether it is worth starting a fight. All I’m saying is that it’s not recommended to start a fight if a stag has 24 branches in its antlers and has a black belt.

I really don’t want to make a big deal out of it, but after the brown bear and the wolf, I am the third biggest predator in Europe; among felines I am the one who takes the throne… I mean, the floor.

My fur is very precisely spotted, it would be hard to confuse me with a ladybug as I have a peculiar grey and white ruff, pointy ears and decorative black tufts of hair on my ears.

I hunt at night, and of course, I am very busy even during daytime: I rest around on the side of cliffs, I take naps on fallen trees, I have a high tolerance to long-lasting, careless lounging.

I am flexible as most big cats, even in the deepest snow I am able to get a hold of my prey with a single, 3-4 metre high jump. My favourite meal is deer legs, au naturel. I am a specially protected species, and I have to thank this to fur hunters and to those responsible for deforestation, all of whom I avoid at all times!

I am omnivorous, that is, I eat anything from bugs and fruits to flower bulbs, and I gladly eat smaller rodents as well. From time to time, my distant relatives even have elks on their menus.

During the day, I usually enjoy my shelter dug in the ground, and I only growl… I mean, get out in the mornings and evenings to feed my growling belly. Between October and December I “preserve myself for winter”, I usually make my den under huge rocks or under the roots of enormous trees. During my winter sleep, I don’t eat food, drink water or take care of other needs as I use up the fat I deposited during summer. I cannot wait to get my nose out around March-May to feel the tasty sunshine of spring!

We used to inhabit most of the northern hemisphere, however, currently most of us live in Romania, the home of the biggest bear population in Europe. Due to the various destructive practices and hunting activities carried out by humans, our habitat was reduced to a fraction of what it once used to be. Because of this, many international agreements and domestic laws recognise us as a strictly protected species.

I swear your Honour, even though I’m wearing a black “bandit mask”, I’m not the one who looted the bird nest last night, from where the three tasty eggs disappeared… right into my belly… And the fact that I’m also called a bandit is really just a coincidence!

I have absolutely nothing to do with bandits! Don’t get fooled by my compact and slightly chubby body, even though I waddle on the ground, you would be amazed to see how fast I can run, should the need arise! My hearing is excellent, my vision does not let me down during the night, this is why I prefer to carry out my mischiefs at night. I also hunt at night: my menu includes smaller rodents, insects, fish, and I even eat agricultural plants and cereals.

I am an extremely fast learner, I quickly adapt to the presence of humans: my favourite pastime is to roam around the streets at nights, then skilfully climb in trash cans and containers.

Our ancestors used to sunbathe and graze to their liking on the islands of Corsica and Sardinia.  We enjoy the buds of different trees and bushes, as well as all kinds of tasty grasses.

In summer our coats are reddish, while in the winter they become richer and darker. We wear our “saddle” all year round, which is the scientific name of the two light-coloured patches on both sides of our backs.

Our mature rams perform some serious head exercises starting with the middle of October, in the mating period, to determine which ram is the smartest: with their horn curved in the shape of a snail they attack each other like two express trains… After the strongest-headed winner ram has satisfied his duties concerning the moufloness of his harem, the mouflon lambs will see the light of day within 21-22 weeks.

If you visit me during the day, I’ll be probably sleeping, just saying. Until sunset, I sleep like a baby, or more like a grey furball, and I start the day, I mean night, when you go to bed.  Besides, I start preparing for the Big Winter Sleep in autumn, when I build up a lot of fat in my body: I eat fruit, seeds, mushroom and tree crust, sometimes I have a craving for some snails and other specialties too.  In “winter mode”, I’m not available even at night! I like living in abandoned houses, bird nests or tree holes, but I also love parks, forests, attics or any cozy place hat is protected from the rain. Of course I’ll bring my wide circle of friends along as I am not really the loner type. I say, it is best to sleep cuddled in each other’s dormouse arms!

If you happen to not find me in my enclosure, it may be for two reasons: for starters, I’m a nocturnal animal and as such, during the day, I sleep in my burrow. Another reason is that I am extremely good at hiding, sometimes I can’t find myself either.

Although I cannot climb trees, I am very good at getting around in the thickest of bushes. I’m always guided by my nose, which comes in really handy when my belly is growling. I sniff for small rodents, insects, but I often fill my plate with fruits and seeds as well. I am no lonely wolf… I mean raccoon dog. In most cases I mate for life, this means that after choosing my partner in the mating period, I stick around even after the pups are all grown up.

Even though I am part of the canid species, I cannot bark and I don’t play fetch either. Unfortunately, our dense, warm fur is envied by most humans, a lot of us perish because certain two-legged animals want to get warm in our furs!

It may sound strange, but we actually became extinct during the 17th century. How is it possible then that you can see us now, you may ask. Good question.  The truth is, smart scientists applied various breeding and genetic methods to “revive” us.  Calm down, it’s by no means some gross zombie stuff. It‘ s more like they crossbred different breeds of cattle again and again, and again,  until they got a specimen with great likeness to the original aurochs. We are the results of this decades long process. Although we and our “forefathers” bear great resemblance, they were even bigger. Our special characteristic is the white patch following the contours of our nose. There’s no chance anyone can tame us; actually we are quite grumpy, so you’d better forget about making friends with us.

Although pertaining to the Cervidae family, the roe deer is not a deer in the traditional sense of the word! As adults we are particularly picky and choosy, we only eat easily digestible foods with low fibre, high energy content, especially fresh green buds and leaves. This is the reason why we rarely go to restaurants, probably every waiter would lose their minds until we decide to choose something from the menu…

When we are born, we are tiny and light as a feather, however, we are known as the black belt, actually more like the white-spotted masters of camouflage! Books call mature females does, while mature males are called bucks. During mating season, bucks show territorial behaviours, they occupy territories and those who have the most appealing place, are liked by most does.

You can look, but you’d better not touch a fawn, even when you believe it has been abandoned; he is probably only waiting for his mother, who, upon returning from gathering food, will not continue to care for its fawn if she smells that it has been touched by strangers! Fawns raised in captivity rarely stay alive!

I may look like an oversize well fed mouse at first glimpse, not without reason, as me and mice belong to the same family.  I just love to travel and see the world, ship is my favourite means of transport, which I’m the first one to desert if it’s sinking, you bet! Sailors could take it for granted that the ship was sinking, if they saw fleeing rats jump in the water. I still love sailing, although I took up flying as well recently, you know, one has to keep abreast of the times. Moreover, one of my cousins and his five buddies even travelled in space on the Columbia space shuttle. Not bad, huh? I’m originally from India, but my family populates all parts of the world now. I like being close to humans, unfortunately this feeling is not mutual, because they despise me for not being hygienic enough and I sometime have loads of fleas. I’m a nocturnal guy, I’m mainly in my nest during the day. I’m quite a tough, sensible creature, an honest-to-god survivor: I’m handy on every surface. I’m capable of swimming miles if necessary, have no problems with climbing up the wall, trees or rain gutters, and I can jump as far as 60cm. A friend of my great-great granddad was flung out of the window from the fifth floor, and he survived it without a scratch. I’m omnivorous, which means I eat everything, I mean literally everything. Even litter. I’m not joking. I’ve got very strong teeth, so I can chew through wood, plastic or even metal. If there is nothing else to find, I can live on soap, paper or used shoes. That being said, it may sound funny, but I still can be a picky eater, but it’s because I’m terrified of being poisoned, so I’m very suspicious of any kind of new food in front of me. If I see other rats getting sick of some food, there’s no chance I’ll taste it.

I’m a quick and enthusiastic learner, I love to play, I’m capable of dreaming or reliving things, and I’ve got a brilliant memory! Have I told you yet that I love ships?

I am a predator, I prefer fresh meat, I chew on small mice, rodents, and as a true gourmet, I also consume berries and fruits. I hunt at night, during the day I have a siesta in my fox hole below the ground.

Darkness poses no problems to me as my ears and nose are extremely strong. My pointy, radar-like ears allow me to hear even the smallest noise, as my nose contains almost two million smell receptors, there is no prey that I cannot sense in a matter of seconds!

You can find me all across Europe, I am indigenous to Hungary, I belong to the Canidae species and the Vulpini tribe.

Given that I have a few survival techniques and I am a master in adapting to various environments, I am able to get along not only in forests and fields, but also in the proximity of humans: I can live in villages and cities as well. Unfortunately, I never get along with hunters who use “lightning sticks”.

I get the leading role in several plays, I usually play a pincushion or a cactus with a huge success. If I sense danger, I roll into a spiky ball. The success of my self-defence tactic is confirmed by the sensible noses and paws of many dogs and cats.

My needle-like teeth are feared by the neighbourhood earthworms, but I gladly chew on bugs, crickets, snails, lizards, and even larger snakes. I also love fruit.

In the winter I sleep on a cosy bed of dried leaves and I roll into a compact ball; you’ll need a strong can-opener to open me up! During this period my body functions slow down, we can say that I hibernate – my heart beats very slowly and my body temperature barely reaches 5 degrees Celsius. Fortunately, in the autumn, I ate until I became chubby, so during the cold season I can use up all the deposited fat.

In the spring, my inner “thermostat” switches on and I reach the normal temperature of 35 degrees Celsius, and my stomach starts to grumble right away! I almost ran out of all my supplies during my long sleep, so in spring I have the appetite of a wolf… I mean, hedgehog!

Actually I’m not indigenous in Hungary, I came from a far-away place, the exotic Far East; I have brothers in Japan, Korea, and  Vietnam. Similarly to fallow deer and red deer, I too wear a very effective camouflage: my yellowish brown fur is dotted on both sides. I can blend so perfectly into the summer forest, you have to check twice if you really saw me or it was just your imagination. I change to greyish fur during the winter to follow winter fashion trends.  So I like natural colours and natural style. Some say that my behind is too strong, not as graceful as other other deer’s, but I think they are just jealous of me. Especially that I have a neat little tail on this behind, which I use to signal to the others when I smell trouble. I prefer hiding deep into the woods instead of running in the open, as I’m not much of a sprinter, I get tired fast when I run. My voice is really one of a kind: it’s very thin, shrill, almost scream-like. People say I freak them out totally when I start speaking in the forest.

Some of our ancestors joined the sides of humans, they are what you know today as dogs. This “agreement” was beneficial for both parties – on the one hand, humans received protection, and during their hunting they received at least an extra set of teeth worth of help, on the other hand, with the help of humans, dogs received food and shelter constantly.

I dampen my wolf-like appetite mostly with meat. We hunt in packs: we gather around or chase for many kilometres our dinner helping it to reach the eternal pastures of heaven through precise team work and attention to each other.

We are very family-oriented, the pack is actually a big family in which everyone has a strictly established role and position. Otherwise we are very close to each other.

Our vision, hearing and sense of smelling is outstanding; if the wind’s direction is appropriate, we can smell the deliciousness of a deer from kilometres away. Our loud howling is a habit that humans find gruesome (they even get goose bumps from it) and it has been preserved by our dog relatives too.

My name is Angela, but you can just call me Angi. I’m an albino ferret and I always become excited and curious when the keepers pick me up and hold me in their arms, I enjoy it very much! I have to shed light on the fact that I’m a predator, not a rodent. Humans used my ancestors to help them in hunting as our body is as flexible as a rubberband. We move comfortably in narrow burrows, we can even fold our body in two, we are good at going backwards, so we can liquidate rats, mice and coneys effortlessly. Nowadays, my friends are kept as pets, because they are funny and smart fellows, love to play, and they are attached to their keepers emotionally. We are quite good alarm clocks, you can be sure we will wake up early in the morning when we start to party.  We love playing fun games like wrestling and catching. We are admittedly kleptomaniacs, and we are keen to hide every kind of objects in the flat, and when our owners interrogate us, we’ll just look up at them innocently. What’s the harm if they have to fish out pens, keys or the beautifully colourful sponge from behind the sofa pillows? We are attracted to holes, pipes and tight spaces, and we are brave folks, we are not afraid of animals bigger than us, that’s why we get into trouble sometimes. We lack the “homecoming instinct” of dogs or cats, and we can’t survive in the wild if we wander away (we can even leave the flat through a vent-hole). As I told you before, we are predators, so we love yummy meat and crunchy bones; we can’t digest plant-based foot. So if you want to be kind to us, provide us with fun hiding spots amd tasty chicken wings… and keep your cereals for yourself.

We say this from experience – there is nothing better than a smelly-sticky mud pack, and like every respectable pig, we love to wallow in mud, which is our favourite thing to do each day.

We live in a group, which is known as a sounder in the scientific world, and our leader is usually a well-developed sow who has piglets. Even though our eyesight is not the best, our hearing and smelling compensate for this defect. Oh, and we would win every swimming competition in the animal kingdom any time, although we still need to work on our backstroke and butterfly stroke.

We eat everything, plants and animals alike, but we never leave a crumb on our plates. We love crickets, bugs, worms, and we will probably disgust you a bit, but we eat fallen stock as well.

Don’t get fooled by our strong, curvy shape (we can weigh anywhere around 100-200 kg), should the need arise, we can move faster than a kung-fu master, and we are able to get around easily even in the densest of thickets.