In your country, what "common" animals are tourists most excited to see?
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.
Chipmunks. I once went to a zoo in Chicago with someone who grew up in South Africa and he was more fascinated with the chipmunks running along the paths than with anything else at the zoo.
Swans. It’s a wonder to me that such an arrogant bird ever became the national pride of Denmark. But tourists freak out about them, thanks to H.C. Andersen.
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.
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?”
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.
People are excited to see raccoons. If you’ve ever had to make major repairs to your property, this makes no sense to you.
People somehow don’t even think about hummingbirds. We get ruby throated hummingbirds through here, and they’re fascinating. Never had a visitor even mention them.
It’s wild to me that there are wild macaws in northern South America. Granted I haven’t seen them in person, but even videos of them look so weird, like a hundred people let their pets out on accident.
Most USians probably expect to see monkeys and capybaras crossing the streets here in Brazil. There’s a good chance to see the latter near most freshwater bodies, even in the capital, though monkeys will vary a lot more from place to place.
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