Wildlife in Your City?

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PAT

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
I was just reading this article (Cookies must be enabled | Herald Sun) that one of my friends posted on facebook and it got me thinking about what sort of wildlife finds it's way into major cities around the world. Melbourne is a pretty big city but it is full of parks and bushland so we get a lot of wildlife all throughout the suburbs and sometimes right in the CBD. The shopping centre in the article is only about a 5 minute drive from my house and I've never heard of any wallabies or kangaroos making it this far into the city. Maybe the recent fires on the outskirts of the city have made them move inwards.

Some of our famous wild residences that make it into the news quite a bit are the little penguin colony at the end of St Kilda pier and the flying foxes that live along the Yarra river.

I've included some photos that I've taken around the place (mostly on my phone) to give an idea of some other species you might see.The first photo is of some sulfur-crested cockatoos in Fitroy Gardens, the second is a pair of tawny frogmouths that I saw in my street during winter last year, the third is a pair of gang-gangs that were part of a larger flock in a park near my house, and the fourth is just to show off how leafy Melbourne is (on the right you can see some of the light towers of the MCG, in the centre is the CBD, and to the left is the Royal Botanic Gardens).
 

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Great thread, and great pics. It looks like I have another little project to work on now. :)

Maybe Zoochatters can post pics of wildlife in obvious urban settings, like with building in the background.

Which park was the pic with the gang gangs taken, and are they still around?
 
PS* This thread would be appropriate in the 'Wildlife Forum', I think, rather in the Cafe forum for silliness. If you and a mod agree, maybe it can be moved there?
 
nanoboy said:
Which park was the pic with the gang gangs taken, and are they still around?
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I had too look on Google Maps to see if it even had a name. It's called Bennettswood Reserve and runs through the middle of Deakin University. I only saw them on this one occasion so have no idea if they are a regular visitor or not.

And moving this thread to a more appropriate section is probably a good idea. I just put it in this one because it isn't strictly zoo related.
 
I'm not in a big city but i was woken early by mum to warn me she had seen the tail of something snake looking going under the shipping crate near my dingo yards. I thought awesome. got up half an hour later. made a coffee, walked to the highest end of our verandah ( on 2 metres wide) turned to call my dog and something caught my.eye. i had walked straight past (two feet) of an eastern brown cruising along the verandah. i **** myself as it was between me and my only escape. thankfully he was pretty calm. only got cranky when i threw my coffee at him to stop him going through the open front door and then he made his way to the lower end of the verandah and in to the garden.
they are out in force around here. When i went in to town later there were two crossing the busy highway within a hundred metres of each other.
 
I killed a white tail spider on my bathroom sink last night - the kind that kills your pets and gives you necrosis with its bite. Then later when I went to throw garbage in the bin outside in the dark, I screamed because something touched my foot. Turned out to be a frog had hopped on my foot.
 
I live in a little village kinda near Grand Rapids so we get all sorts of animals in walking through. We get deer, raccons, coyotes, skunks, possums, foxes, you name it!! We even one day had an emu walking down the road a couple miles away......
 
Los Angeles has a mountain range, the Santa Monica Mountains, literally running through the city. There is abundant wildlife in the mountains including mountain lions, black-tailed deer, coyotes, bobcats, grey foxes, a couple hundred birds species, and many species of reptiles and amphibians. The coyotes and very occasionally a mountain lion wander into the city proper sometimes.
 
DavidBrown said:
Los Angeles has a mountain range, the Santa Monica Mountains, literally running through the city. There is abundant wildlife in the mountains including mountain lions, black-tailed deer, coyotes, bobcats, grey foxes, a couple hundred birds species, and many species of reptiles and amphibians. The coyotes and very occasionally a mountain lion wander into the city proper sometimes.
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It's times like this that I'm glad that I live in Australia. I'd rather little poisonous nasties over big scary nasties any day. Have you ever managed to get a photo of a wild mountain lion? That would be cool to see.

And JBZvolunteer, where did the emu come from?
 
PAT said:
It's times like this that I'm glad that I live in Australia. I'd rather little poisonous nasties over big scary nasties any day. Have you ever managed to get a photo of a wild mountain lion? That would be cool to see.

And JBZvolunteer, where did the emu come from?
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Mountain lions are very hard to see. I have spent much time in their habitats and never have seen one - most people don't. Occasionally there is an attack on a person, but it is very rare. They are actually very shy of humans (as they must be to survive) and problem animals are quickly removed.
 
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nanoboy said:
I killed a white tail spider on my bathroom sink last night - the kind that kills your pets and gives you necrosis with its bite. Then later when I went to throw garbage in the bin outside in the dark, I screamed because something touched my foot. Turned out to be a frog had hopped on my foot.
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One of our flats in Palmerston North was infested with these, they used to come in all the time, and I killed every one I ever found. And there were hundreds. And some of them were big. And they would turn up everywhere - shower curtain, kitchen cupboards, bookshelf, bed. But I certainly never killed them all, and they never ever bit us that we know of. Or killed our pets.
 
PAT said:
It's times like this that I'm glad that I live in Australia. I'd rather little poisonous nasties over big scary nasties any day. Have you ever managed to get a photo of a wild mountain lion? That would be cool to see.
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I would much rather have a mountain lion to ward off/escape from than a poisonous snake or spider. They really freak me out (although I'm fine holding pythons and tarantulas - its the poisonous bit that freaks me out) and I'm a bit worried about moving to Melbourne because of this. I don't think I'll ever go outside without without shoes or boots on when I'm there.

New Zealand is so safe in comparison - no scary snakes or spiders, or any menacing wildlife really. We are the southern hemisphere's version of Ireland I guess. The most dangerous wild animal is probably the possum that you startle that freaks out and climbs the nearest tree-like structure, which might well be you! Not good.
 
zooboy28 said:
I would much rather have a mountain lion to ward off/escape from than a poisonous snake or spider. They really freak me out (although I'm fine holding pythons and tarantulas - its the poisonous bit that freaks me out) and I'm a bit worried about moving to Melbourne because of this. I don't think I'll ever go outside without without shoes or boots on when I'm there.

New Zealand is so safe in comparison - no scary snakes or spiders, or any menacing wildlife really. We are the southern hemisphere's version of Ireland I guess. The most dangerous wild animal is probably the possum that you startle that freaks out and climbs the nearest tree-like structure, which might well be you! Not good.
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I saw a red back spider in my front yard the other day. There are snakes in the park not too far from here. I often see centipedes inside and outside - in fact, I went to put on my 'outside' slippers/thongs/flip flops the other night and a centipede crawled out!

Where you might probably live in Melbourne may have lots of creepy crawlies so just be careful. Never go bush walking without shoes or in shorts.
 
PAT said:
It's times like this that I'm glad that I live in Australia. I'd rather little poisonous nasties over big scary nasties any day. Have you ever managed to get a photo of a wild mountain lion? That would be cool to see.

And JBZvolunteer, where did the emu come from?
Click to expand...

A local farm, but it is normal for us to have farm animals in the road.
 
I live in Hillsborough, Auckland, New Zealand. I'm right next to the Manukau Harbour and the Hillsborough Cemetery, so there's sea birds and forest birds. I sometimes see skinks and weta in the garden, and hear morepork at night. I often see fantails, tui, the introduced Eastern Rosella and other birds in the bushwalk, and in my garden. There are plans to reintroduce the kereru (wood pigeon) and bellbirds back into the forest. When walking around the foreshore, I see crabs under rocks, anenomes, chitons, barnacles and sea snails in rock pools and in the water, as well as kingfisher and other sea/shore birds sitting on rocks.
 
I don't live in a big city but I've seen quite a bit of wildlife in my town of 20,000 including mule deer, pronghorn, coyotes, jackrabbits, prairie dogs, red foxes, great horned owls, hawks, golden eagles, and even wild horses and elk. Quite a few people have claimed to have seen wolves around here although I have yet to see any around town.
 
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