Living in the wild is often a struggle to survive for many wild animals. They have to hunt for food, find shelter, and fight off predators, but did you know they also like to make time to play? Believe it or not, wild animals like to play just as much as domesticated ones. Photographer Pamela Underhill Karaz was able to capture a coyote playing with a stuffed animal in the snow.

Close to nature

Living in a rural area of Trenton Falls, New York, Karaz has 48 acres of forest and field to capture the perfect photos of some of the wildlife that lives in the area. One group of photos, in particular, proved to be very special.

“We’ve had coyotes living around us for years. We hear them mostly during the summer evenings,” she told MNN.

A far different encounter

This particular encounter would prove to be far different. As Karaz sat drinking her morning coffee, she noticed a coyote approaching her home. The coyote cam up the driveway, stopping to leave his scent before moving toward the home. As he approached, he started to sniff the area.

A curious coyote comes into Karaz’s yard

While he was investigating her yard, the coyote noticed one of her dog’s toy. Sniffing the area around the toy, he picked it up before dropping it again. Sniffing it once more before picking it up, the coyote did something that Karaz did not expect, he threw the toy up in the air.

The coyote was caught in the act of playing

Then, for the next 5 to 10 minutes, the coyote picked up the toy and continued to toss it into the air. As she watched, the wild animal almost seemed to buck around with the toy. Eventually, the coyote ran off with the toy. Before he was able to go though, Karaz was able to snap a series of magical photos.

A pattern emerges

Karaz had noticed her dog’s toys disappearing in the past, and now she knew where they had probably gone off too. It just goes to show that even wild animals find time to play and are not so different than a domesticated pet.

“This was such a wonderful reminder that all animals, the wild and the not so wild (our pets) are really not so different,” Karaz said. “They have personalities, they have feelings, and they do their best to survive in what is sometimes a very unfriendly world. They are not so very different than us.”

Karaz loves to photograph wildlife

In addition to coyotes, Karaz has caught many of the wild animals living near her in photographs. For more on her photography, visit her Website, as well as her Facebook and Instagram pages.

Here is a video that Karaz shot of some fox cubs playing together in the wild.

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Source: Facebook/Pamela Underhill Karaz

H/T: Paw my Gosh