I’ve only been abroad one time, and there were little gecko/lizard things everywhere, climbing up walls and scurrying across roads, and nobody cared. I was constantly fascinated but to the locals they’re just kinda there.

Bonus question to anyone who visited the UK - was there anything that fascinated you but I’d be taking for granted?

Pic unrelated.

  • pedz@lemmy.ca
    33·
    16 days ago

    Raccoons.

    The tourists visiting Mount Royal park in Montréal are often charmed by the raccoons. Enough so that they feed them and some even let the raccoons climb on them. The city tries to warn people but they obviously ignore the signs. So now we have gangs of raccoons begging for food near the two most popular view points.

    I go camping in provincial parks and the same seems to happen there. It’s obviously also locals doing this but, people feed the raccoons, they come back, they harass you for food, they can carry rabies, and it’s annoying as hell. I watch people hiking and camping in other countries, like the UK, and I’m constantly jealous that they can keep their food and cook near their tents. Doing this here will result in frequent annoying visits from raccoons (if not bigger animals).

    • pahlimur@lemmy.world
      3·
      15 days ago

      I’ve seen raccoons and white tail deer in a zoo in Mexico. They are both nuisance animals in the PNW. But then again I loved watching Mexican racoons everywhere (coati). Guess we all like seeing new and different animals.

    • Jarix@lemmy.world
      21·
      15 days ago

      Rabies. Once symptoms appear, the result is virtually always death.[1] The time period between contracting the disease and the start of symptoms is usually one to three months but can vary from less than one week to more than one year.[1]

      Symptoms can include:

      anxiety
seizures
confusion
hyperactivity
hallucinations
strange behaviour and general agitation
fear of water (hydrophobia)
fear of fresh air or drafts of air (aerophobia)

      Once symptoms appear it’s too late, you are fucked

      I hate Trash Pandas. But at least in the West Coast of NA I don’t have to worry about fucking the rabies. That shit scares the ever living shit out of me.

      Exceptionally rare case below but still, holy fucking NOPE

      Rabies with an incubation period of 19 years and 6 months.

      G Iurasog, A Rosenberg, N Opreanu

      A woman was bitten on the leg by a rabid dog in September 1945 and was admitted to hospital for antibiotic treatment, details of which were not available. In March 1965 she developed rabies, which began with pains at the site of the original bite. At autopsy no Negri bodies could be found, but there were inclusions in the cytoplasm and nuclei of the neurones of the diencephalon, glial cells and vascular endothelium. Rabies developed in rabbits inoculated with autopsy material. No history of a more recent animal bite could be obtained, and there was no rabies in the latter place of residence of the patient. The authors therefore conclude that this was a case of rabies with an incubation period of 19 years and 6 months. D. J. Bauer.