Animal Invasions

They say Central Park isn't as dangerous as it used to be - or at any rate they were saying it until Saturday, June 16, 2001, when a small alligator was spotted lurking in the Harlem Meer, a small lake in the northeastern section of the park.

You can find everything else under the sun in New York City, so why not giant albino alligators thriving beneath the streets?

Variously described "alien monsters," "the stuff of nightmares," and "something from a bad horror movie," the northern snakehead fish rears its ugly head in North America.

Emailed photos taken in a cornfield in Illinois, Minnesota, or Wisconsin (depending on version) show a black bear awakened from hibernation by a combine harvester.

Snapshots taken through the screen door of someone's house reveal a cougar (mountain lion) prowling on the porch at night.

Little did the Palm Beach golfer realize as he tramped off alone to the seventh hole that he was about to become Ol' Mose's last meal.

A family receives a cactus as a gift and gives it place of honor in their living room. Weeks later, someone notices that it seems to be... guivering.

Irate consumer complains in forwarded email about finding a tiny dead frog inside a can of Kroger peas. True, with photo documentation!

Emailed photos document the discovery of a dead deer high atop a power pole in a remote area of Baltimore (or Winnipeg, Manitoba, depending on version).

Emailed photos show the carcass of a very strange fish with monstrous teeth allegedly washed up on a beach in Tampa Bay, Florida.

Emailed photos of gargantuan specimens of Birgus latro - the coconut crab, named for its preferred diet of fallen coconuts and said to be the world's largest land-dwelling arthropod.

Viral images purport to show a 15-foot-long, 170-pound eastern diamondback rattlesnake caught in a subdivision near Jacksonville, Florida.

Emailed picture of a giant rattlesnake killed in Texas, allegedly measuring 9 feet 1 inch in length and weighing 97 pounds.

Viral image purports to show a large rattlesnake killed outside the town of Coleman, Texas.

Emailed photos of a huge crocodile fished from the sea in the port of Pointe-Noire, Republic of the Congo.

Emailed photos document one of the more unusual causes of a printer jam: a live mouse stuck in the printer's ink toner cartridge.

Forwarded email warns that rattlesnakes have changed their behavior of late and are striking at humans and other animals without the customary warning rattle.

A child dies after being bitten by rattlesnakes lurking in a fast food restaurant play area.

Has your computer ever hissed at you? Here's a tale, complete with shocking photos, of a woman who probably wishes she'd called Animal Control instead of Tech Support when her PC began making strange noises.

Various tales, some taller than others, accompany these images of an unfortunate python who tangled with an electric fence and lost.

If you think those little green grass snakes are totally harmless, you've got another think coming!

Emailed photos purport to show a nest of baby copperhead snakes found in the bottom of a plastic flower pot purchased at a grocery store.

A shopper in a department store is handling a coat, blanket, rug, or mattress (etc.), suddenly feels a sharp pain, and collapses. It turns out she was bitten by a snake hiding in the merchandise.

AUTHENTIC: Viral images show a 5-foot-long rat snake lurking inside a floral wreath on the front door of a home near Slidell, LA.