Favorite Wildlife that Can Be Found in Urban/Suburban Neighborhoods
I'm an animal lover. Since I grew up in suburban and urban areas' I enjoy seeing what little wildlife I can. I pretty sure different areas' have different wildlife. So please feel free to add in what roams around in your town. These are common wild animals in my area. We occasionally get cougars, deer and bears in the neighborhoods out here they're not too common. Plus they're not really from urban or suburban areas', they wonder down from the mountains so I left them out.
Honestly, I find owls kinda creepy. The exorcist head thing they do with their necks, plus hooting and loud screeching.
Would love to see these beautiful birds. I have never seen an owl or a bat in real life; only on the television. Truth.
I love owls. Some of them get HUGE. They're really loud too.
Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, a family that includes small or medium-size rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots, flying squirrels, and prairie dogs amongst other rodents. They're American. In abundance. They seem to have chased off the native British red squirrel, which are so rarely seen now.
I like these guys even though they can be considered pest. If you watch them, they're actually quite comical sometimes.
The raccoon, sometimes spelled racoon, also known as the common raccoon, North American raccoon, northern raccoon and colloquially as coon, is a medium-sized mammal native to North America. They can be aggressive and can carry rabies. I still like seeing them though. Especially when there is a family of them with little babies running around.
The praying mantis is an insect known for its distinctive posture of holding its front legs in a manner that resembles a prayer. It belongs to the Mantidae family and is characterized by its elongated body, triangular head, and large compound eyes. Praying mantises are skilled predators, often waiting patiently for their prey to come within striking distance. They possess specialized front legs that are equipped with spines and sharp hooks to grasp and hold onto their prey securely. Praying mantises primarily feed on insects and occasionally small vertebrates. Their exceptional camouflage helps them blend into their surroundings, making them effective ambush predators. My favorite insect. I like the way they turn their heads to look at you. Creepy cool.
Hawks are a group of medium-sized diurnal birds of prey of the family Accipitridae which are widely distributed and varying greatly in size. A lot of them over here. They get pretty big. Some of them will fly down, perch and chill out near you. I've had one fly down and eat his dinner (mouse) about 15 feet from me.
These guys get a bad rap. They use to freak me out. They look crazy mean with all those sharp teeth. In the face they look like Baraka from Mortal Kombat. I'm fine with them now. They're harmless. I feed two stray cats in my neighborhood. They come up WITH the cats and eat. At first I was nervous about them fighting with the cats, but they're cool, so I let them eat too. They actually seem like they're buddies. I have three of them (one small, one medium, and one large) that come so often, I named them. The big one's Chompy, the medium one is Bitey and the small one is Nibbler.
Frogs are a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura. Here we have little ones in neighborhood creeks and ponds. But when I was living in Texas, there were these thick stocky frogs all over the place. I wasn't use to it so it was cool to see.
Mostly blue-bellies and alligator lizards here.
Snakes are elongated, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Don't like them, don't hate them. Kinda exciting and cool to see them though.
Coyotes are canines native to North and Central America. They are highly adaptable and can thrive in a variety of environments, from forests and grasslands to urban areas. Coyotes have a similar appearance to domestic dogs but are typically smaller in size, with a bushy tail, erect ears, and a pointed muzzle. They are opportunistic omnivores, feeding on a diverse diet that includes small mammals, birds, insects, and even plants. Known for their vocalizations, coyotes communicate using a range of howls, barks, and yips. They play a crucial role in ecosystems by controlling populations of rodents and other small animals. I'm thinking maybe you're used to western coyotes. Eastern coyotes, which carry Canadian wolf genes and can reach 75 pounds, are getting more and more aggressive as they habituate to close proximity with humans.
People are scared of them around here. I'm not big or intimidating (5'8 150lbs) and every time I've encountered one, they freak out and run away (maybe I'm really ugly?). I've encountered a lot of coyotes in my life, never had one get aggressive.
Foxes are small to medium sized animals and belong to the Canidae family along with other animals such as jackals, wolves, and domestic dogs. There are 37 species of fox but only 12 are considered true Vulpes. A fox's prey is small mammals, birds, reptiles, frogs, eggs, insects, worms, fish, crabs, mollusks, fruits, berries, vegetables, seeds, fungi and carrion. Some of the best known species of fox are the fennec fox, red fox, gray fox, arctic fox, and the swift fox. Foxes are considered one of the most adaptable animals because it can live on almost every continent. Foxes range from all different colors and habitats. Foxes can be a deep red, a light tan, or white. If you are lucky enough you ...read more. They are so fluffy.
The cougar, also commonly known as the mountain lion, puma, panther, or catamount, is a large felid of the subfamily Felinae native to the Americas. Have been protected for so long in California, they have no fear of humans, though they do mostly keep hidden. Being near people gives them access to an easy food source, domestic animals and pets.
They are primates that can live in both wilderness and in cities.
Just like rhesus macaques, vervet monkeys are both wild animals and city animals.
In India, gray langurs are allowed to live in cities and are a common sight there.
Baboons are African and Arabian Old World monkeys belonging to the genus Papio, part of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. Believe it or not, chacma baboons can and do live in cities of South Africa, despite wrecking some man-made objects and stealing food.
The Mohol galago is found in the suburbs of Johannesburg and Pretoria in Africa, so it makes sense that galagos are city animals, not just wild animals. They are really cute-looking.
Hyenas or hyaenas are any feliform carnivoran mammals of the family Hyaenidae /haɪˈɛnᵻdiː/. With only four extant species, it is the fifth-smallest biological family in the Carnivora, and one of the smallest in the class Mammalia. There are, surprisingly, packs of spotted hyenas at Harar in Ethiopia. There, they are quite friendly despite being aggressive in most other parts of Africa.
The leopard is one of the five "big cats" in the genus Panthera. It is one of the most adaptable and the most widespread big cat; it's secrets being:well camouflaged fur; its opportunistic hunting behaviour, broad diet, and strength to move heavy carcasses into trees; its ability to adapt to various habitats ranging from rain-forest to steppe and including arid and mountainous areas; and to run at speeds up to 58 kilometres per hour (36 mph).
The common name "leopard" (pronounced /ˈle-pərd/) is a Greek compound of λέων (leōn) ("lion") and πάρδος (pardos) ("male panther"). It lives throughout Asia (except for North Asia) and Africa, including Indonesia. Strangely, Indian leopards are living in the city of Bera alongside humans, despite being large predators.
Native to the forests and grasslands of South and Southeast Asia, the Asian Elephant is one of the largest land mammals. Unlike their African counterparts, they have smaller ears and only the males generally have tusks. They are highly social animals, often living in matriarchal herds. Wild Asian elephants are found in various cities of Asia (as domesticated animals), not just in the wild. They are (currently) the largest city animals alive today.