Left photo from here by Frédéric Dulude-de Broin Right photo from here by Matthew.j.mcgraw
Left photo from here by James Hager for Robert Harding Right photo from here by Arndt Sven-Erik
@applesforthis I only learned about pikas recently (I learned about them from this post) but tbh I forgot about them until you sent this to me!! They're so so cute 😭
No, alas, we don't have any squirrels in Australia. There are some zoos here that have them, but outside of illegally imported ones, that's pretty much the only way to see them in person.
I have seen squirrels in real life! I lived in the UK for around four years and it was one of the most delightful part of living there. I'm not sure what exact species of squirrel I saw, but I've seen greyish ones, brownish ones, and reddish ones. I'm generally delighted by getting to interact with any creature that I can feed (Australian seagulls being the main exception lol) but squirrels were definitely extra exciting for me because I'd only ever seen them in TV shows, films and books.
I have the thought "I'm sad we don't have squirrels here" but I've gotta acknowledge if any of them were introduced here it would definitely cause major problems to the native wildlife, similar to how colonisers brought rabbits over here (further reading here for anyone interested).
Fun fact: We also don't have hamsters, raccoons, or opossums here. I've visited the US a few times but I've never seen a raccoon or opossum in just out and about. I've seen hamsters IRL in Malaysia and the UK though!
