The YouTube channel TierZoo makes a ton of cool videos about animals, specifically viewed through the lens of gaming, where they rank different animal species according to how successful they are at living in different habitats. Past videos have included lists of dinosaurs, sharks, and cats.
However, I was recently thrilled to find they had created a video classifying urban animals!
The video informatively points out some of the challenges animals face in the city, including living and navigating in anthropogenic structures and having different food sources than the wild. The video indicates that animals that are successful at living in the city are diet generalists so they can eat human food sources. In addition, they tend to be incredibly mobile (either by flying, crawling, or running and jumping) so that they effectively traverse the urban environment.
TierZoo then goes on to rank different animals commonly found in cities according to their “tiers,” or how successful they are at surviving in the city. Animals featured in the video include deer, monkeys, raccoons, pigeons, and more, although I won’t give away the placements of the species on the list. However, the video sadly lacks reptiles such as Anolis, which are notably successful at living in urban environments. That being said, if you’re interested in learning more about the efficacy of animals living in cities through a fun, gaming-oriented lens, I highly recommend this video!
- Recap: The Finer Points of Urban Adaptation - January 29, 2021
- Video Recommendation: The City Animal Tier List! - March 10, 2020
- Urban Observation of the Week: A Catalogue of Urban Animals in Gamboa, Panama - September 4, 2019
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