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.

  • RozhkiNozhki@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    7 months ago

    When I moved to USA it blew my mind that there’s no hedgehogs here naturally, I was so used to having them around I kinda thought they’re everywhere. I miss them. Hedgehogs are cool.

      • RozhkiNozhki@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        7 months ago

        Nope. There used to be some that went extinct millions of years before humans arrived.

        There are porcupines though, but I haven’t seen them in the wild yet.

        • Bonifratz@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          7 months ago

          That’s so interesting! Changes my perspective on an animal that has always felt like a perfectly normal neighbour everywhere I’ve lived (though seeing them is still kind of a rare thing).

    • cinnamonTea@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      edit-2
      7 months ago

      I second hedgehogs for Germany, they’re so cute! Also, or squirrels are so different from the US kind, they’re just unfortunately a lot shyer, too

    • SecretPancake@feddit.de
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      7 months ago

      Right, I’ve heard recently in a podcast about Sonic that hedgehogs are seen as exotic animals in the US.

      You don’t see them very often here either because they are mostly active in the dark, so I’m also happy to see one every time. And so is my dog.