this post was submitted on 12 May 2024
268 points (98.6% liked)

Asklemmy

43755 readers
1252 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

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.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Pistcow@lemm.ee 43 points 5 months ago (5 children)

San Diego zoo has a racoon exhibit. I thought that was weird.

[–] randomsnark@lemmy.ml 29 points 5 months ago

they probably fell into an empty enclosure one day and the zookeepers just rolled with it and put up a sign

[–] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 7 points 5 months ago

The Audubon zoo in New Orleans has a raccoon exhibit and it’s got a rusted out jalopy for them to play in. And a mouse exhibit where their natural habitat is a spice cabinet. Also, we probably have the only zoo with recipes on the wall next to some exhibits. They’re a relic of a bygone era and I asked the zoologists about it and they were like, “I mean, most of us are vegetarians but we just think it’s funny so we leave them up.” And there’s a fake loup-garou around a corner where you can scare your kids.

In grand New Orleans tradition, it’s also one of the few zoos that sells drinks and sometimes has live music. But it’s still probably one of the top 5 zoos in America for actual science and conservation. I haven’t seen one better besides San Diego and I frequent zoos. So, no one act like the giraffes or gorillas are upset. They get fed better than humans in most of the world and the climate is right up their alley.

[–] 0110010001100010@lemmy.world 7 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Huh really? I have tons of trash pandas around me (central Ohio).

[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 5 months ago

At my house, one figured out how to use my doggy door and kept raiding my kitchen trashcan at night.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Well yeah this (also central Ohio) is their native habitat. I seem to recall Columbus or Cincinnati zoo having a local wildlife section

Opossums are also everywhere and are probably wildly exotic to people who aren’t used to there just being one marsupial in their garbage can and no others on the continent

[–] Socsa@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 months ago

The one which lives in my attic just moved out for the summer

[–] Winbombs@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Same at Denver, they are albino though.

[–] Sir_Fridge@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

I'm Dutch and a zoo near me has racoons too. But then again they're an invasive species here so it's not as weird.