Urban Wildlife - North America

North America

Many North American species have successfully adapted to urban environments and are thriving. Typical examples include coyotes, rabbits, raccoons, squirrels, opossums, deer and red foxes. This has led to conflict with humans, as these animals open garbage bags in search of food, eat food left out for pets, take the pets themselves, feed on prized garden plants, dig up lawns, and so on. Coyotes pose a risk to small children, who should not be left unsupervised in areas coyotes are known to inhabit; they are large enough to easily kill/eat a child and lack the fear of humans most wild canids exhibit. While there are media accounts of alligators being found in sewer pipes and storm drains, most experts think that such 'sewer alligators' are unlikely to sustain a breeding population in such an environment. The National Zoo of Washington, DC has breeding populations of tropical geckos throughout its steam tunnels; which venture into Rock Creek Park and develop limited breeding populations during the spring/summer, however these populations die out during the fall/winter.

Animals known to dwell within human habitations include house mice, cockroaches, house centipedes (scutigera coleoptrata), silverfish, and firebrats.