Environment be damned or don’t be damned. Because you like them or because you don’t like your neighbors … what animals would you like to see locally that are not there ?
Squirrels.
Grew up in Chicago, currently in Phoenix. I miss squirrels.
All the lizards are pretty cool though. They’re like desert squirrels.
We’ve got ringtails, will that do?
Oh hell yes they will!
Tyrannosaurus rex
Somehow we can get the red panda to replace the raccoon. This is my wish.
I need sloths, hummingbirds, monarch butterflies, raccoons and orang utans in my life, please.
You do not want raccoons in your life. They are horrible criminal psychopaths that will bite you.
So you’re saying they’re more suited for political ambitions?
If not friend then why friend-shaped?
Leopards. There’s some faces that need eating here.
Pangolins! I’m not sure how well they’d survive in Texas, but if they find fire ants tasty, they might be able to make a dent in the population (they’re invasive themselves). Also, being present on another continent might help ensure their survival, especially the species currently critically endangered.
Edit: if they don’t have to be extant, then troodontids! They were supposedly smart little raptors. I bet they’d make great pets c:
I just moved from a place with raccoons to somewhere without them and I miss them. So raccoons. They’re funny as fuck.
Giant ground sloths
They’re not anywhere near my favorite animal, but if dolphins could survive in freshwater, it would be interesting to hear about all the interactions people have with them near me considering people have re-learned they have a language, even if it’s more like 50,000-BCE-human-levels of communication. If any were integrated, I wouldn’t mind going the extra mile to treat them as anyone else and anticipate them showing up.
River dolphins survive in freshwater happily, your dream is achievable.
But are they as people-like though?
if dolphins could survive on freshwater
Well, you’re in luck cause these guys already exist
Yeah but I mean bottlenose ones. They’re the ones which are being studied, the other species are to bottlenose dolphins what other apes are to humans. If you put a bottlenose dolphin in freshwater, they get all wrinkly before dying due to saltwater having the chemical properties they need.
In Minnesota… bison. Because it was their native habitat before we killed them all, and because watching jackasses in cars trying to negotiate with 1500lb bison everywhere would be hilarious.
Agreed, also I don’t think there’s enough here to fuck around and find out with. The scariest animal I’ve had to deal with up here is my neighbors always angry papillon getting loose. There’s a thrill about seeing an enormous reptile staring lazily at you from an apartment retention pond, I bet bison would be fun too.
It would be awesome to get woolly mammoths back in the Alps.
If we are going with de-extinction, then the Haast Eagle. NZ is really far too safe, we need a genuine predator to keep us on our toes.
We don’t have enough apes in northern europe
Here in RI, I will take some of those Japanese Snow Monkeys, and a bunch of Tanuki as well.
Dodo bird.
Without taking into account the environmental impact and viability: Sicilian dwarf elephants. Come on, 1m short elephants, hairier (i.e. fluffier) than their African and Asian counterparts? I want it!
Bonus points: capybaras are native where I live, and a common occurrence in parks. Now imagine those small elephants, plus some capybaras: chilling under the grey sky, taking a bath in the lake in warmer days, gathering together in colder days… come on, it’s cuteness overload!
I don’t understand why everything and everyone in the Mediterranean area (read: south Italy) is so hairy lol
In the case of those dwarf elephants it’s because they were smaller, so they got a bigger surface area per weight, and lost heat faster. Perhaps also because, while Sicily is hot in comparison with continental Europe, it’s still colder than Southeast Asia or Sub-Saharan Africa.
[I know that you’re joking, sorry for the serious answer.]
