We had a shock the other day - found the body of a dead raccoon at the bus
stop at Flamingo and Duneville (near Jones). I didn't know there were
raccoons in Vegas! I had to call animal control for its removal after a couple of
days (thank goodness it is now gone). Has anyone else heard of raccoons?
Vegas does have its share of critters. Here are some. I'll put an * by the
ones I've eyeballed myself. Chipmunks*, prairie dogs* (saw some at Sunset
park), foxes, coyotes, hares/rabbits*, wild sheep (in the mountains), wild
burros (you can spot them at Red Rock Canyon), and desert tortoise*.
All sorts of insects including some nasty ones - tarantulas, brown recluse
spiders* (they love to hide in dark places like your closet or shoes...and are
poisonous), wasps*, rattlesnake, grasshoppers (or assorted locust type
things)*, cicada* (those are the noisy locust-things - sorry I'm not technical on
this stuff), bees*, lizards* (I thought we'd see more of these guys, but I
haven't seen them since our house was built), LOTS of moths* (they love the
Luxor's light), butterflies*, giant cock roaches* (they call these palmetto bugs
in Florida), etc.
Pigeons seem to be the main wild bird - they can be a nuisance. Please
don't feed your pets outside! There are also a lot of other birds including
hummingbirds!! There are wild ducks around too.
Of course you can see some weird non-desert creatures in casinos too (and
I'm not talking about the human ones): sharks, reef-dwelling fish of all
sorts, jellyfish, seahorses, penguins, flamingos, swans, parrots, dolphins,
elephants, panthers, lions, and tigers and more.
Still, I was surprised by the raccoon.
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