It has always amused me that the tourists to the US that I’ve spoken to are often very excited to see raccoons, and disappointed if they don’t see them before they leave.
Some others I’ve noticed on the east coast of the US are blue jays and cardinals. Boy, do people get excited about those if they’ve never seen them before! Very pretty birds of course, just very easy to get used to and see as uninteresting as well.
It’s not a native species, but in some German cities, you can see a lot of rose-ringed parakeets. They really stand out between the other local birds, so if you go to places like Cologne or Heidelberg, it’s quite likely to spot them, especially since they’re so loud. A few months ago, I moved to a city without parakeets and frankly, I miss them a lot.
Fuckers will scare the shit out of you when they fly 40cm above your head while you’re on a bike.
Just minding your own business and suddenly a giant screetching flock of green will fly above your head from behind
Bears ☠️
They actually get dangerously close to them, to pet them and take photos of them and feed them, then these tourists wonder why are they being attacked…
Pet them? wtf?
Not gonna lie, I’d try if he’d let me get close enough, yeah, probably rabid, but maybe not.
Are you serious? Why do you care if he’s rabid if you’ll be dead?
When I was a teenager, I was walking past a bear cub (it was the middle of the city and some asshole took money for pictures with a “trained” bear cub). The cub didn’t like me for some reason I had a textile bag in my hand, with a leather-cover notepad in it, like a knock-off moleskin. The cub slashed the bag and his fangs cut through the bag and half of the notepad like butter. If it was my hip, he’d scratch my bones.
Now there are adult bears…Oh shit, my bad.
I thought this was the thread about raccoons.
My original comment probably seems less insane now. I wouldn’t need to pet the bear, my grandpa had a rug, I know what they feel like. Not snuggly at all.
Great, I believe in humanity again!
I saw a comment on here I think which said that a big problem in parks which have bears is that it’s really difficult to design a rubbish bin which is simultaneously too difficult for the smartest bear to open but also easy enough for the dumbest human. These types of anecdotes make me believe that more and more.
People come from all ove rthe world to see them. I’ve seen crowds of tourists by the side of the road queueing to take selfies with them. Crazy. They are quite cute admittedly. Quite tame too so it’s generally safe to approach them.
I mean, an emo cow is just hilarious
Florida man. 🇺🇸
It’s not a weird animal but cats. Stray cats are literally everywhere and aren’t afraid of people so many will stop to pet them. And on the other hand, when visiting other countries, the lack of street cats does strike me a bit weird.
i will pet every cat
Greece? Turkey?
Tenerife too
Greece but pretty sure it applies for Turkey too
I’ve seen puppies literally thrown into a bin. Y’all got issues with your pet/animal divides
I don’t know what happens with dogs (there aren’t that many strays) but most street cats were never pets, they’ve always been free. There is an effort to reduce them that’s definitely failing.
Stray is so mean. I like to call them free cats.
Feline Vagabonds
Koalas
Are these common nowadays? Thought their environments got burned down.
No, no, they were towed outside the environment!
…assic.
*cl
whoops, front fell off
That’s not very typical
Are you confessing to something
Just a lot of the koala habitats got destroyed by wildfires and they’re more endangered than ever now. So I’m surprised if they’re commonly seen.
Monkeys in a very snowy forest. I remember feeding them nuts once.
They’re called macaques.
“Do you wanna see a macaque?”
- “I hope you’re not Italian!?!!!”
People everywhere ive been go apeshit over a squirrel.
I live in an area with grey/brown squirrels. When I went to Ohio for the first time, I was far more excited about seeing a black squirrel than I should have been.
Yesh same here. Black ones are becoming more common out here
Not a tourist, but a girlfriend that grew up in Long Beach, and moved to the East Coast, stopped me dead on the street one day, and asked, “what in the world is THAT‽‽‽” I looked where she was looking and, seeing nothing out of the ordinary, said, “what is what?”
“The furry thing with the tail!”
“You mean the squirrel?”
“That’s what they look like in real life‽‽‽”
Black bears of Surrey. (UK).
None! I live in Korea, and the local wildlife was long ago mostly displaced or eaten by the seething mass of humanity. Once upon a time, there were some cool bears and tigers even. There are some nice, big herons still around I suppose. Oh, some tiny deer, too.
Peacocks. Where I live (central California) there is a local park that has a flock of wild peacocks. I had a friend visiting from Korea and he was so excited to see them.
I saw a white one in the wild once (prob albino) and that was a thing of beauty
Okay, so it isn’t animals, but tourists in my parents’ town get stoked when they see how big the Monongahela River actually is. They think a nearby creek is the river and we’re like, “that’s a creek. Drive up the road a bit to see the river.”
The same tourists also lose their minds if they see a train filled with coal go by.
Moose. We get European summer students and seeing one is the highlight of their animal watching when they’re here, apparently.
Personally, I’m more impressed with elk, a bull elk with a full rack is pretty awesome.
Who doesn’t like a full rack.
Here in the US, I find most of my EU friends want to see the American Texan in the wild. Weird fetish, but hey, you do you.
