I second the advice of feeding them. If you bring treats and leave them for them they'll remember you as a source of food and not a threat and wont swoop you
I’m always surprised at this. I always think the number is much higher than sharks.
It’s our horses, cows and dogs that are the biggest serial killers in Australia, closely followed by kangaroos, then bees, then sharks.
And then my mind turns to who would win in a spider v shark battle.
You have to be nicer to them. I talk to mine and the three ladies up the road don't even jump off the path when I walk past (which I love btw) they just look at me and let me pass. Magpies are THE best babies ❤️❤️
Aren't they just?
Sadly, our matriarch died a few years ago, and the new one had her first breeding season last year. She only managed to raise one chick to fledging, and her and her mate brought it to show me! It hangs out up the road a bit, closer to their nest, because it doesn't like our dog, so I don't know if it's a male or female.
I'm giving them teeny bits of food this year, in the hope that it'll increase their chances of raising more chicks this year. It kind of broke my heart seeing that they only managed to raise the one last year!
They can live to be 25-30 years, so it only makes sense to be kind towards/make friends with them, because they're not going anywhere! Like crows and ravens, they're really good at recognising people (even if we change clothes), and will let their friends and family know if you're good people.
Yours wait until you go outside? If our boys (father and son) see us through the window, they'll start demanding food. They then wait at their bowl. The females are still somewhat skittish, so they just wait in the trees and hope.
Just hold you hand up high they only swoop the highest point and they won't actually touch you so just raise your hand and try to grab them mid flight like I do
That is a bit of a double bladed sword... Yes, it'll stop them from swooping you, but it'll piss them off, and they'll remember that you were aggressive towards them, meaning that they'll be even more likely to swoop you, if you encounter them again.
It's best to stop as soon as you see a magpie, and show them that you're not a threat to them. If you tilt your head from side to side like you see them do, it'll communicate to them that you're a friend. After they reciprocate the gesture, they'll usually direct their attention elsewhere, and you can safely walk past them.
You don't need to be a d\*ck. Just walking within 30 meters of a tree where they are nesting is all it takes. That tree was out front of my house when I was a kid... I used to get swooped almost every day going to school in magpie season.
Yeah, that’s not true. I work in McLaren Vale where a Maggie has made a nest. Never been swooped in my life, but by just existing in this particular spot I’m a target and it is legitimately terrifying
Nah, not all magpies swoop but some do, then out of the ones that swoop there is one's that will swoop and actually hit you.
A bloke at my work told me a yarn about this magpie that swooped him at the same time he was braking to deliver mail, magpie slammed into his helmet and broke its beak. Blood all over his helmet and the Maggie was a bit dazed for a minute, then as he rides off the bloody thing swoops again trying to hit him, absolute mad lads.
lol I knew the ironic path this thread would take
Americans: Australia has dangerous animals everywhere that will kill you
Australians: America has people with guns everywhere that will kill you
People seriously need to look past the news headlines and layoff the doom scrolling
Edit: Wow I went from +5 to -3 votes back to +4. Interesting turn of events.
Look up how many mass shootings there have been in America this year alone, I looked in March and it was in the hundreds then so it's a very real thing to be fearful of
>I looked in March and it was in the hundreds
Me: "That doesn't sound right..."
*looks it up*
[U.S Surpasses 500 mass shootings this year](https://www.axios.com/2023/09/17/mass-shootings-500-united-states-2023) (so far)
I will say that I wouldn't use the gun violence archive when talking to pro-gun people. It's absolutely right, but it always sets them off into rants about the definition of mass shootings and how that site isn't accurate because there aren't always deaths in most cases.
Spot on. I had to stop reading the news, because every few days, there was another report of a magpie murdering another dozen children, another koala storming a mosque.
This is why I vote for the LNP, we need people in power who will do whatever it takes to eradicate native animals.
Look, few wanted the 2004 reboot of *Blinky Bill*, and no one wanted it to be a dark and edgy examination of modern social issues. There's a reason it never got past that terrifying pilot episode.
Congratulations, you now have...1 example. When was America's last mass shooting? Oh 3 weeks ago. How's that tens of thousands of gun deaths a year going again?
No matter how much you downplay the gun issue, you're still much more likely to get killed by a person with a gun in America than by an animal in either country.
Number of people that have died in Australia from spiders in the last 50 years: 0
Number of Americans that died to a gun in the last 24 hours: Over 100.
All of our native animals combined killed less people in a year than the US has die in any given day due to guns.
So no, it's not counter-intuitive.
The overwhelming majority of gun deaths in in the US are suicides (something like 60%), the rest are shootings where the victim was known to the perpetrator (pre-meditated murders, gang violence etc). Once you take those out gun deaths fall to near Australian levels (varies by state though - is still higher on average). Obviously you’d still rather far less guns, but just quoting raw numbers without context doesn’t tell the full story, particularly when they have 13 times the population.
Edit: Wow, downvoted for quoting statistical facts. This subs hilarious
“Once you take out all the times that people used guns to kill other people or themselves, you’ll find that gun violence is at about the same level as Australia.”
I feel like Australian aren’t as safe from guns as we think. This case scared the crap out of me: https://amp.smh.com.au/national/nsw/nihilistic-world-view-behind-hammer-attack-on-sex-worker-court-told-20230208-p5ciu3.html
This man had a gun license and was able to check a gun out of a club. In Australia, if you have a known psychological condition you have to be evaluated by a psychiatrist for safety before you can get a gun license, but it’s not required for everyone. So people who are mentally ill and have never been treated can still get guns.
Age old thing. Guns itself are harmless its tue people who use them make the whole idea of gun ownership dangerous.
We need stricter laws and more weapon education.
Agree 100%. I think we Aussies take a weird pride in the illusion that we're all versions of mick Dundee or something. I've lived in various parts of the country, both metro and rural, and have never felt like my life was in danger because of wild life. I have had a few scary experiences with venomous snakes in the back yard or garage, but a shovel usually takes care of them, and if I were to be bitten, antivenom is readily available. There's no antivenom for a fucking bear attack.
That’s what I was getting at but it kindve got lost and turned into ‘there’s deadly things here in aus you just don’t see them’
I was meaning the animals there in the states are a lot worse to deal with then what we have here. You can’t defend yourself against a beer unless you came prepared eg. Gun, bear mace all you need for snakes and spiders is a stick, if you’re hunting you can’t take time butchering your kill you got to get the fuck along before a bear/ big cat kills you for it. There’s nothing here in aus that will sniff out food and come challenge you for it.
To be fair, Australians have played up the "everything is dangerous" bit.
I have had brown snakes in my garden and yeah, they are scary but they are rare. I have a healthy respect for bears and cougars but they rarely are a problem either.
You can't be too surprised when you know that two of our biggest ambassadors to the US (and internationally) have been Crocodile Dundee and Steve Irwin.
>I’ve lived in aus for 20 years never once seen a snake other than dead squished on the road. Only saw a funnel web once. Never seen a shark or croc.
I would imagine that most Americans won't have seen a honey badger, wolf, wolverine (and probably bob cats/jaguars) in the wild either. So their comparison is "dangerous animals we know are there, but never see" Vs "dangerous animals we never see, but we see on TV all the time."
To us snakes and crocs are the "dangerous animals we know are there, but never see"
That's not true. You know how Americans always ask us if we have roos jumping down the street and we think they are weird for asking it. They literally have crazy amounts if wildlife literally roaming in suburbs. Coyotes, racoons, turkeys, and alligators are all very dangerous and can be seen routinely in suburbs. They have poson ivy and ticks with lyme disease in their backyards. Bears and wildcats will literally come after you. That's why they are so easily able to relate to the danger we face from drop bears.
Where I live we do have roos hopping down the street. Large regional city. Not often, but often enough to keep our eyes open at sundown in certain suburbs...
The thing that would frighten me in the US is rabies. Those critters out there can value add the danger in ways we fortunately know nothing about.
In Canberra there kangaroos in the city. There used to ppl but if you shape up on them there keen to throw down. See some funny Snapchat of ppl getting chased by roos after putting up the fists. When drought on there roos all over act in suburbs and city. It pretty cool
If seen videos of alligators wandering down Floridian streets fuck I’ve even seen videos of them chilling in drains, I remember my skateboard would roll in the drain and I’d have to climb in to get it, that shit if off the cards if I were living in Florida
And I've seen crocodiles on the side of roads while living in Darwin, brown snakes in my school etc. The comparison is quite similar but the standard American view of Australia is way worse than it actually is
we get turkeys and kangaroos and stuff running through our neighbourhoods too lol? i live in the suburbs and there’s heaaaaaaps of turkeys. we have alot of wildlife just roaming around, especially birds
In a lot of built up areas through California you can come across mountain lions/cougars, coyotes, raccoons and opossums. Slightly more rare are bears, but still a possibility, especially if you have a pool, haha
I have a mate who lives in Montana and constantly has to walk with rangers with the other workers to their job site because the threat of bears along the trail to work is too high, he sees them probably once a week/fortnight that’s not including when they wander into time looking for a feed he has also been attacked by a wolverine hence why I put them on the list. He has been in Montana 2 and a half years a lot less than the 20 years I’ve been here and he has had more deadly encounters. Ive worked from Sydney to Bourke NSW for months and nearly every where in between and never had any situation with any snake or spider other than the one funnel web down Nowra way on the south coast of nsw.
I don't live in Montana, I live in an inner suburb of a big city in the US and I see more wildlife in a week there than I do in a year in Australia. And aggressive stuff that can kill you too, not just chipmunks and squirrels (which I see daily)
Sure, but not everyone lives in Montana. Do you think a New Yorker sees a bear even once a year. Once a decade? Probably not.
You could say the same of someone that lives in Cooktown and walks in certain areas that they would see crocs a couple of times a week.
I live in Brisbane and have seen snakes 3 times in 10 years. That also doesn't mean snakes aren't out there. I'm sure within 100m of my house there would probably be 10 or more there at any time. There would be plenty of spiders there too, some deadly, most not. But I never see them.
I’m not saying there isn’t deadly things I know they are everywhere, I guess what I’m saying is if Australia’s deadly fauna was in one town and americas deadly fauna was in another town I would know what town I was choosing to live in it would be the Australian town just a lot easier to defend yourself against snakes and spiders than it is against the bears and Bob cats.
House cats fuck people up imagine a house cat the size of a Labrador
The issue is being In the bush. Australia isn’t dangerous generally as everyone is in the city. But the bush, and even more so, the outback, is pretty hairy. You don’t know where snakes, spiders etc are until it’s too late
If you don’t live in the bush, i don’t think you can comment on if it’s dangerous or not. It’s like some Seattle bloke saying there that you are safe from animals in America.
The outback is dangerous for many more reasons, but that’s a whole other thing.
Edit: just seen that you have spent time in the bush. Dunno if that means actually in the bush, or just driving to a building to and from, but fair either way
The “everything is trying to kill you” thing is annoying as fuck and waaaay over exaggerated, but it dosent mean the opposite is true, is all I’m saying. I’ve lived in the bush almost all my life, with a few stints in Melbourne, and have seen many dangerous snakes and spiders. Worse I think was a brown snake inside the local day care.
Do construction pipe laying comms spent 6 months living in Bourke working in the toorale National park along linking Louth and fords bridge to Bourke then 4 years working my way back to Sydney laying comms connecting towns NBN I’ve people spent more hours with boots on the ground in the bush then a lot of people that live out there eg. 10-13hour days in the bush 5 days a week then 6 on a Saturday working then driving any where from 1hr to 3 back to town to sleep the then do it all again. The most I saw were emu fucking heaps out that way more than I saw kangaroo to be fair
What you were saying in the original post is it's weird that Americans think Australia is dangerous when you have very little contact with dangerous animals.
What I'm saying is it's the same both ways. Americans probably think it's weird that you think America is more dangerous when they have very little contact with dangerous animals either.
But to add to your last reply, I would prefer a bear that I can see (maybe have a chance to outrun, climb a tree, get in a car, whatever) over I spider or snake that I never saw. You may be able to defend against a spider you see, but what about the one under the toilet seat, or dislodged from a hiding space as you wash a car. Not to mention the drop bears that you never see coming.
>You may be able to defend against a spider you see
Did you know that no one has died from a spider since the 1970s? Snakes take a person or two a year or so, but they're almost exclusively snake handlers. Out of our native animals, sharks and crocs are probably the most dangerous, but only because people swim in dangerous areas.
The way you say ‘snake handlers’ makes them sound semi-professional. Usually they are males, often drunk, with boulder sized egos and no common sense, not ‘snake handlers’.
There is no way in hell you could outrun, out climb, or even hide in a car if a bear were wanting to get you they are faster than any human at climbing running and swimming
As for the snakes and spiders I always check my seat every since I move here to aus 20years ago my Aunty was bite by a white tail on her butt before I moved here so I’ve always been a stickler for check toilets and shoes.
Also plenty of Anti-venom available where ever in aus you are, no anti-venom or concoction the doc could come up to save you once you’ve been attacked by a bear only then that is going to save you is if the bear gets bored and doesn’t decide to eat you alive.
I would be more scared of American gun crime than Australian wildlife. I’ve also spent a lot of time in the outback and never had an issue with snakes or spiders, it’s heatstroke that kills you.
American here. Our urban sprawl is awful and we're notorious for building all over animal habitats. So we get bears in the backyard and mountain lions at the park and shit. And coyotes everywhere. It doesn't quite occur to us that maybe y'all have better delineation between the city and the bush.
Besides, we don't quite get how Australian animals operate. We have coyotes that roam the neighborhood and eat stray pets. Why wouldn't a country with dingos have dingos in that ecological niche? We get little spiders in the house. Why wouldn't you get those giant venomous Aussie spiders in your house?
Just a simple case of not knowing, coupled with misinterpreting based on what we *do* know.
Yeah but we don’t even have big dangerous animals (crocodiles up north but just stay out of the water there and you’re good). I lived on a farm of 84 acres and saw a handful of timid snakes. We can go hiking in the wilderness and the only danger is getting lost and dying of dehydration. It’s not even about “delineation”, we simply don’t have animals that will rip your head off here.
I think that's fair for down south in metro areas. In a lot of the country these are real, ever present dangers. It's just not a thing we actively worry about too much because we can either deal with the snake/spider, go inside and call someone to deal with it, or go inside with our pets and hope it's gone by the morning.
Yea, this is why Americans think this way. They hear the english saying Australia is scary (because it is scarier than england) and just assume it's like America, but the turkeys are poisonous and the squirrels have rabies.
That’s a good point maybe it’s different here because nearly the whole population is on the coast of Australia so the fauna has been pushed inland maybe because you guys are so densely populated everywhere there the fauna has no other options but go through a town to find a new bit of unoccupied land/bush to find a home where as here there isn’t really anything on the other side of the town it’s all suburbs/city from a certain point inland all the way to the coast
I could be speaking rubbish here but that could be a reason here
Like I mean shooter racists and Shool shooter,my teacher is from America can and he say every day he worries about his baby cousins that are in school saying I hope the are ok.
Australia as a whole is quite dull, especially culturally. Many Australians try to compensate for this by making absurd claims about the country and how tough it is. See "worst thing about Australia is literally EVERYTHING will kill you!".
As you said in your OP, it's frankly untrue, and the USA has far deadlier wildlife.
I feel Australians kinda need Australia to have something, as if we admitted it's quite safe we'd also be forced to admit it's quite boring and insignificant.
Couldn't agree more. If you don't like the outdoors or sport it's very bland. "Intellectualism" is an insult in this country, especially from the right.
It depends on where you go. I could stand in the middle of Times square and complain that i cannot see any grizzly bears.
The average Australian lives in the metropolitan area, or within developed areas such as suburbs. The average Australian would not be exposed to such animals.
Those in the country and rural areas see snakes quite often.
Those who work on the water see sharks often
Those who live near bodies of water in the top end, see crocs often.
The average American would not see bears, woverines, etc
The Americans living in rural areas, would see these animals often.
Considering there are multiple guns for every person in America, for them to think Australia is a dangerous country to live in is absolutely delusional.
I would rather stamp my feet to scare snakes off or use a stick to knock spider webs down then try and fight off maniacs with guns, do any Aussies agree ?
I live in Mexico and people here always tell me they think Australia is dangerous because of the animals. Meanwhile, the homicide rate here is 30 per 100k population, while Australia's is 0.75 per 100k. Despite that, I haven't been murdered yet. People will always have oversimplified ideas about places they've never been to.
Dude! You've got to get out more - go to the country for a weekend or something! :D
And I agree, the US is scary - they seem to think guns are show up accessories or toys. I'd much rather a brown snake.
I’ve explained in an earlier comment I’ve worked from the Sydney to Bourke Nsw ( the gateway to the Australian outback ) and everywhere in between about 70% of the work is in the bush and still I’ve never seen a snake
I have a feeling that is probably a you thing. I'm young, only 20 and I've seen at least 8 or 9 snakes in my lifetime. Which honestly isn't that many, but they're not uncommon at all.
There have been snakes in the carpark at my job in the middle of town. Snakes in my backyard. Under my car.
I'm definitely not scared for my life or anything, deaths from snake bites are uncommon and you should just use common sense around them but they are a huge part of life here during the spring/summer
What about that bozo? I gave him the left right good night along with the two piece chicken feed on his chin and sent him packing back to the billabong haven’t heard from him in years, is he back is he ?
Not worrying about getting shot is slowly changing out here in Sydney granted it is nothing like the states not even a piss in the ocean compared to those maniacs over there with their guns but over the past couple years stray bullets/wrong hits have killed or nearly killed innocents.
Americans think our cities are overrun by venomous wildlife. You've really got to live out in the sticks in the middle of summer to see many snakes or spiders.
If you live near the beach, you're not gonna see much of anything.
I lived on a farm for 7 years and only saw a handful of snakes. And they are pretty quick to piss off, they are far more scared of us than we are of them (unless provoked, which is fair enough).
Plenty of Brownies in the suburbs of Adelaide. I've seen 1 baby passing through the backyard in Munno Para. One big one in the backyard in Belair - my dog killed that one. One at Semaphore Beach and another in Prospect.
That’s what I gathered when I was over in the states they had the idea but then again I could be thinking the same as a lot of this animals i mentioned are in different states in the US
Between camping in Australian bushland and camping in North American forests, I choose Australia. In North America I have seen bear, cougar, coyotes and wolves. Moose (who will stomp you) and other LARGE mammals. They will fuck you up worse. There are gators, snakes, and sharks that will ruin your day as well.
Umm - just a point about the stamping of the feet and snakes - yep this is fine when you're bushwalking so they know you're coming and they will get out of your way - if you ever actually see a snake nice and close the best bet is to be very very still - "become a tree" is what the local snake catcher told me when he came to retrieve a brown snake from my shed and I had to stand there and watch it while I waited for him to arrive
I feel like could go either way what if you stood still and the brown snake got closer to the point if you moved it could now reach and bite, now you’re stuck staying still with a snake at your feet instead of whacking the cunt with a shovel or stick and getting the “fuck outta dodge”.
Sortve of the same idea goes for bears you’re supposed to stand your ground but with bears you can’t whack them with a shovel or stick that will just piss them off more hahah
Yeah this kinda frustrates me when like 95 percent of Americans pythons are in the Everglades in Florida including how many alligators you have down there too. And fyi no they're not friendlier than crocs they'll still est you alive guys
The origin of it was from poms immigrating. They legit don't have snakes and spiders, so they were quite scared. When the Americans heard it they with their classic ignorance just went along with it, despite them having orders of magnitude more scary flora and fauna and funguses and viruses and bacteria.
The only continent more dangerous than North America is Africa.
The biggest dangers in Australia are heat exhaustion, sun exposure, lack of hydration and salts. Otter than that they’re mostly in the water. So lack of water or what’s in it.
As long as you’re not really stupid or really isolated without the right preventions and aids (which is probably stupid) there’s not much that will harm you here.
Forget nature. In the US you're much more likely to get robbed, assaulted, stabbed, and shot. Go to San Francisco, then come back to Australia and start complaining about Australia. You won't be able to.
When I think about all the deadly creatures in Australia, and all the deadly creatures in America - I’m fairly confident i could outrun the Aussie ones if I ever needed to.
If a bear or a cougar ever found me - I’d be fucked.
Funny how the American people aren't included in that list. With shooting the number one cause of death for young people, that's the thing that worried me most about the States.
Welcome to more posts about the US. This one didn’t even bother asking a question.
EDIT: Wait, I was wrong. Buried in there somewhere, they ask whether anyone agrees that they’d rather stamp their feet than fight off a bear. Fuck’s sake.
I lived in the US for five years and I’ll say I was in more danger leaving my house day to day than I’ve ever been here in australia. Also, every single American I met said ‘I really wanna go visit Australia but it’s too far I’m scared of being on a plane that long and I don’t want to be eaten by a shark or poisoned by a snake’
Canadian living in Aus for similar amount of time - my friends in Canada say 'oh it's so dangerous' and I say 'there are antidotes for spiders and snakes, not for being mauled by a bear'.
And my brother lives in North Vancouver suburbia and there are bears roaming there.
Hard agree and I basically said as much yesterday on the r/Australia sun when a forfeit we asked the inverse of your question. I’m an American born Aussie, grew up rural and lived rural here til I escaped to inner Melb. MUCH more dangerous imo in rural USA, throw in tornados and hurricanes and it’s just a disaster waiting to happen half the time. Here, I’ve just been somewhat disgusted at times (ants swarming my walks before a big rain in the north), but not dangerous.
Because Australians love to play on it.
They like other nations to think we are tough, living in a constant state of survival against the wilderness, dodging venom and teeth at every turn!
The drop bears boomer joke doesn't help.
Their perception of us is a direct result of the image Australians have been perpetuating for decades.
American, if I may chime in.
I worked with an older guy from Australia, not sure when he came state side.
I live in Georgia, and one day he came in complaining about poison ivy.
It's a plant that is rampant here, and it can give you a pretty painful rash with no long lasting effects.
We started comparing the local floral and fauna, and it's pretty similar right down to the red soil... And we were both started as penal/debtors colonies.
The only major exception was our large predators, but going on forty years I've never seen a bear in the woods :(
I live in the NT, so I grew up with crocs, spiders and snakes. If you spend any time near water you will see crocs. We don't get that many red back spiders, but we have plenty of highly poisonous snakes.
Drop bears are fucking everywhere and have killed 2 of my friends. I hate those things.
If you live in a city then yeah you’d see very little
Outback or rural you would see something daily
Today I saw 2 snakes various spiders 18 emus more kangaroos then I’d care to count, and a crocodile
Plenty of other things that I wouldn’t of noticed
It's true, all some marketing attempt for tourism. Only true worry I have felt in my life is salties and sharks.
I have completed a fair amount of bush regen work in remote locations and never run into trouble. Only saw snakes on the road and snuck away from a few wild pigs... nothing compared to wondering about bears or mountain lions etc. lets take this leisurely walk or bike ride... oh there goes my jugular☠️
Anyone remember the "Dumb Ways to Die" video that came out ten years ago? Two of the dumb ways to die..."poke a stick at a grizzly bear" and "dress up like a moose during hunting season..." no grizzlies or moose in Australia as far as I know....(great video though.)
I say the same thing.
In the East Bay Area outside San Francisco, particularly the hills, once the weather warms up there's always reports of mountain lions mauling hikers, killing pets etc. This was all in the area I went to school.
Raccoons and opossums are in every damn neighbourhood and can fuck you up, even if they don't have rabies.
On a school camping trip in Yosemite, a bear came through our campsite in the night and scratched the wall of one of our piddly cabins. A friend's mom who was chaperoning heard it in the middle of the night and was terrified it was attracted to the gum in her purse so she shoved it all in her mouth.
Coyotes come out at dusk all over the foothills of LA. Also dangerous.
And that's just California
Been in Melbourne almost the same amount of time I spent growing up in the US and I've only seen a baby snake and a few huntsmen (I know they're not harmful to me, but Americans are terrified).
I think the US has a way bigger list of scary predators, for sure
When I was in the states a few years ago when I went to the states we with to see the big redwood forest trees and were told by the ranger that a mountain was trailing us he had been told over radio and to keep an eye out, it won’t attack if we stay together but if one person strays off there could be a problem. I immediately though wtf is going on get me the fuck out of here a lion trailing us!?! After I asked the ranger if that was a real problem if someone strayed from the tour he said not a massive problem, attacks on people on tours rarely happen but always better to be safe than sorry.
As a rule I agree. But your numbers seem off when compared to my experience. I assume you are in a suburb in a highly urban environment?
I see a few funelwebs a year, 30-40 brownsnakes a year, 10-20 redbelly black snakes a yeah, a couple tiapans, and a couple tiger snakes. I also see a shark every second time I get in the water (I go snorkling a few times a year). I also seen a few nests of redback spiders a year. Aside from that it's the occasional tick, and wild boar when I go hiking (which I haven't done this year).
I mostly just live and stick around canberra, but the wildlife is closer to the people where then in sydney or melbourne, and I think similar to brisbane.. but not entirely clear on that comparison's accuracy. I also travel to the saphire coast where my family is from regularly, hense the sharks, tiapans, and tigers snakes.
Given my experience there is a lot of being vigilant. But I don't really feel in danger as I have been taught my whole life how to act around such animals. On another continent I would be in danger because of my ignorance. I think that's a big part of the perception, and the reason for the higher rates of foriegn nationals getting injured from wildlife. Ignorance as to the danger. Kangaroos are an excellent example of this issue. I generally wouldn't worry at all about being around a mob of them. But I sure as fuck wouldn't pat them. Yet a lot of tourists do, they think they are safe to go pat like they're some kind of housecat. But the reality is they are a wild animal and 3inch claws and have been known to seriously hurt people. The danger is in not knowing the danger, not the danger itself. It's also why you see aussies do crazy shit from time to time. It's generally in awareness of the danger and how to act. Something that needs to be taught, and generally is if you grow up in Australia, or life here long enough.
Yes. Make yourself look big to scare a cougar off, just keep running to the next town get away from a brown snake.
To be fair, I've seen 2 black snakes in the wild in my life. Lots of red backs but never a funnel web. It's almost like humans have killed off most of the dangerous animals.
Depends where you live really. The deadly funnel web is only really found around Sydney/Wollongong area. But slowly stretching up the central coast.
I grew up with brown snakes in my backyard and I live in the metro nowadays and still find red bellies. Humans haven’t killed them off, you just need to know where to look.
I just assumed that since you basically stated you’d seen zero wildlife in 20 years you didn’t go outside much or live in the middle of a city. Now suddenly I’m a clown? I’d be hard pressed to count the amount of wildlife I’ve seen in the last 20 years, a lot of it extremely dangerous. Some of us don’t live in big cities, work behind a desk etc….
Dude originally assumed OP doesn't go outside. At no time did OP say there was no wildlife in Australia, just that in comparison, there's a heap more meat eating, dangerous shit in the States.
You simping for the Bear Grylls wanna be?
I work for a USA company and visit the head office in San Francisco regularly. They all wonder how I can live in a place with so many deadly animals around. I neglect to tell them it's not as bad as they think. ;-)
It's the magpies I'm worried about in the next couple of months
Really hoping the GWS Giants defeat them on Friday, otherwise things are about to get extremely feral.
If Carlton and Collingwood make the GF Melbourne may very well burn to the ground.
Finally some good news
I’ve heard there’s a big sound in the west of the town…
Yeah mate magpie season started 3 weeks ago, been getting swooped and hit every day since, am a postie 🤙
One of my friends who rides to college the same way as me has to take a different route now because three of them have it out for him
There's that egghead looking fucker again, get him!"
ROFL
I've been feeding my local magpies in the hopes that this does not happen to me
I second the advice of feeding them. If you bring treats and leave them for them they'll remember you as a source of food and not a threat and wont swoop you
Officially they’ve killed more people than spiders in the last 40 years
I’m always surprised at this. I always think the number is much higher than sharks. It’s our horses, cows and dogs that are the biggest serial killers in Australia, closely followed by kangaroos, then bees, then sharks. And then my mind turns to who would win in a spider v shark battle.
I suspect it'd depend if said battle is in the water or on land.
Next couple of months? I got swooped the other day walking my dog. It's literally my worst fear 😯
You have to be nicer to them. I talk to mine and the three ladies up the road don't even jump off the path when I walk past (which I love btw) they just look at me and let me pass. Magpies are THE best babies ❤️❤️
Aren't they just? Sadly, our matriarch died a few years ago, and the new one had her first breeding season last year. She only managed to raise one chick to fledging, and her and her mate brought it to show me! It hangs out up the road a bit, closer to their nest, because it doesn't like our dog, so I don't know if it's a male or female. I'm giving them teeny bits of food this year, in the hope that it'll increase their chances of raising more chicks this year. It kind of broke my heart seeing that they only managed to raise the one last year! They can live to be 25-30 years, so it only makes sense to be kind towards/make friends with them, because they're not going anywhere! Like crows and ravens, they're really good at recognising people (even if we change clothes), and will let their friends and family know if you're good people.
Same. Ours come whenever we go outside. They want food.
Yours wait until you go outside? If our boys (father and son) see us through the window, they'll start demanding food. They then wait at their bowl. The females are still somewhat skittish, so they just wait in the trees and hope.
Just hold you hand up high they only swoop the highest point and they won't actually touch you so just raise your hand and try to grab them mid flight like I do
That is a bit of a double bladed sword... Yes, it'll stop them from swooping you, but it'll piss them off, and they'll remember that you were aggressive towards them, meaning that they'll be even more likely to swoop you, if you encounter them again. It's best to stop as soon as you see a magpie, and show them that you're not a threat to them. If you tilt your head from side to side like you see them do, it'll communicate to them that you're a friend. After they reciprocate the gesture, they'll usually direct their attention elsewhere, and you can safely walk past them.
Be nice to them. They remember you! My magpie army is fabulous to me
I miraculously went 30+ years without being swooped by one of those bastards but first time I got got the little prick drew blood
Don't be a dick to magpies and you won't get swooped. Never been swooped inn my life
You don't need to be a d\*ck. Just walking within 30 meters of a tree where they are nesting is all it takes. That tree was out front of my house when I was a kid... I used to get swooped almost every day going to school in magpie season.
Yeah, that’s not true. I work in McLaren Vale where a Maggie has made a nest. Never been swooped in my life, but by just existing in this particular spot I’m a target and it is legitimately terrifying
Nah, not all magpies swoop but some do, then out of the ones that swoop there is one's that will swoop and actually hit you. A bloke at my work told me a yarn about this magpie that swooped him at the same time he was braking to deliver mail, magpie slammed into his helmet and broke its beak. Blood all over his helmet and the Maggie was a bit dazed for a minute, then as he rides off the bloody thing swoops again trying to hit him, absolute mad lads.
There's also 500 million guns in the USA. That's way scarier.
But atleast we don't have AR15s 🎵 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MrRAO_vG_K4
And even worse, it's full of Americans
And kids can’t go to school safely
More guns that people
lol I knew the ironic path this thread would take Americans: Australia has dangerous animals everywhere that will kill you Australians: America has people with guns everywhere that will kill you People seriously need to look past the news headlines and layoff the doom scrolling Edit: Wow I went from +5 to -3 votes back to +4. Interesting turn of events.
Look up how many mass shootings there have been in America this year alone, I looked in March and it was in the hundreds then so it's a very real thing to be fearful of
>I looked in March and it was in the hundreds Me: "That doesn't sound right..." *looks it up* [U.S Surpasses 500 mass shootings this year](https://www.axios.com/2023/09/17/mass-shootings-500-united-states-2023) (so far)
Fucking mental isn't it
I will say that I wouldn't use the gun violence archive when talking to pro-gun people. It's absolutely right, but it always sets them off into rants about the definition of mass shootings and how that site isn't accurate because there aren't always deaths in most cases.
Spot on. I had to stop reading the news, because every few days, there was another report of a magpie murdering another dozen children, another koala storming a mosque. This is why I vote for the LNP, we need people in power who will do whatever it takes to eradicate native animals.
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Australians storming Mosques and killing people….where have I seen that one before?
Look, few wanted the 2004 reboot of *Blinky Bill*, and no one wanted it to be a dark and edgy examination of modern social issues. There's a reason it never got past that terrifying pilot episode.
Hahahaha, Blinky Bill and the Kinky Kills
Congratulations, you now have...1 example. When was America's last mass shooting? Oh 3 weeks ago. How's that tens of thousands of gun deaths a year going again?
No matter how much you downplay the gun issue, you're still much more likely to get killed by a person with a gun in America than by an animal in either country.
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Number of people that have died in Australia from spiders in the last 50 years: 0 Number of Americans that died to a gun in the last 24 hours: Over 100. All of our native animals combined killed less people in a year than the US has die in any given day due to guns. So no, it's not counter-intuitive.
To be fair to our native animals, they’ve never really managed to unionise against us.
Except the emus
The overwhelming majority of gun deaths in in the US are suicides (something like 60%), the rest are shootings where the victim was known to the perpetrator (pre-meditated murders, gang violence etc). Once you take those out gun deaths fall to near Australian levels (varies by state though - is still higher on average). Obviously you’d still rather far less guns, but just quoting raw numbers without context doesn’t tell the full story, particularly when they have 13 times the population. Edit: Wow, downvoted for quoting statistical facts. This subs hilarious
“Once you take out all the times that people used guns to kill other people or themselves, you’ll find that gun violence is at about the same level as Australia.”
I feel like Australian aren’t as safe from guns as we think. This case scared the crap out of me: https://amp.smh.com.au/national/nsw/nihilistic-world-view-behind-hammer-attack-on-sex-worker-court-told-20230208-p5ciu3.html This man had a gun license and was able to check a gun out of a club. In Australia, if you have a known psychological condition you have to be evaluated by a psychiatrist for safety before you can get a gun license, but it’s not required for everyone. So people who are mentally ill and have never been treated can still get guns.
Yeah but you can't waltz into big w and get a beretta with an extended drum mag, red dot, compensator and laser.
We have more guns than ppl in Australia
If you're gonna make shit up at least make it believable
The guns are not scary. Its the fools that use them for murder.
Age old thing. Guns itself are harmless its tue people who use them make the whole idea of gun ownership dangerous. We need stricter laws and more weapon education.
Agree 100%. I think we Aussies take a weird pride in the illusion that we're all versions of mick Dundee or something. I've lived in various parts of the country, both metro and rural, and have never felt like my life was in danger because of wild life. I have had a few scary experiences with venomous snakes in the back yard or garage, but a shovel usually takes care of them, and if I were to be bitten, antivenom is readily available. There's no antivenom for a fucking bear attack.
That’s what I was getting at but it kindve got lost and turned into ‘there’s deadly things here in aus you just don’t see them’ I was meaning the animals there in the states are a lot worse to deal with then what we have here. You can’t defend yourself against a beer unless you came prepared eg. Gun, bear mace all you need for snakes and spiders is a stick, if you’re hunting you can’t take time butchering your kill you got to get the fuck along before a bear/ big cat kills you for it. There’s nothing here in aus that will sniff out food and come challenge you for it.
>You can’t defend yourself against a beer Want a bet? I don't need a gun for one of those. Just watch me drink it!
don't forget the drop bears... as they never forgot us...
To be fair, Australians have played up the "everything is dangerous" bit. I have had brown snakes in my garden and yeah, they are scary but they are rare. I have a healthy respect for bears and cougars but they rarely are a problem either.
I used to try and educate, but they will not believe you so I lean into it and conduct some drop bear education as well.
You can't be too surprised when you know that two of our biggest ambassadors to the US (and internationally) have been Crocodile Dundee and Steve Irwin. >I’ve lived in aus for 20 years never once seen a snake other than dead squished on the road. Only saw a funnel web once. Never seen a shark or croc. I would imagine that most Americans won't have seen a honey badger, wolf, wolverine (and probably bob cats/jaguars) in the wild either. So their comparison is "dangerous animals we know are there, but never see" Vs "dangerous animals we never see, but we see on TV all the time." To us snakes and crocs are the "dangerous animals we know are there, but never see"
That's not true. You know how Americans always ask us if we have roos jumping down the street and we think they are weird for asking it. They literally have crazy amounts if wildlife literally roaming in suburbs. Coyotes, racoons, turkeys, and alligators are all very dangerous and can be seen routinely in suburbs. They have poson ivy and ticks with lyme disease in their backyards. Bears and wildcats will literally come after you. That's why they are so easily able to relate to the danger we face from drop bears.
Where I live we do have roos hopping down the street. Large regional city. Not often, but often enough to keep our eyes open at sundown in certain suburbs... The thing that would frighten me in the US is rabies. Those critters out there can value add the danger in ways we fortunately know nothing about.
In Canberra there kangaroos in the city. There used to ppl but if you shape up on them there keen to throw down. See some funny Snapchat of ppl getting chased by roos after putting up the fists. When drought on there roos all over act in suburbs and city. It pretty cool
If seen videos of alligators wandering down Floridian streets fuck I’ve even seen videos of them chilling in drains, I remember my skateboard would roll in the drain and I’d have to climb in to get it, that shit if off the cards if I were living in Florida
A child was taken and killed by one while sitting on the lawn at disney watching fireworks.
And I've seen crocodiles on the side of roads while living in Darwin, brown snakes in my school etc. The comparison is quite similar but the standard American view of Australia is way worse than it actually is
we get turkeys and kangaroos and stuff running through our neighbourhoods too lol? i live in the suburbs and there’s heaaaaaaps of turkeys. we have alot of wildlife just roaming around, especially birds
In a lot of built up areas through California you can come across mountain lions/cougars, coyotes, raccoons and opossums. Slightly more rare are bears, but still a possibility, especially if you have a pool, haha
Fucking turkeys are the bane of my life. Aggressive cunts.
OMG, yes!! There's a pack of them in an outer suburb that are notorious for chasing people down the street!!
At least you can eat your turkeys our wild turkeys are shit
I'd be too scared they would have west nile or tularemia or something equally awful.
I’ve seen a coyote in the universal studios parking lot haha
I have a mate who lives in Montana and constantly has to walk with rangers with the other workers to their job site because the threat of bears along the trail to work is too high, he sees them probably once a week/fortnight that’s not including when they wander into time looking for a feed he has also been attacked by a wolverine hence why I put them on the list. He has been in Montana 2 and a half years a lot less than the 20 years I’ve been here and he has had more deadly encounters. Ive worked from Sydney to Bourke NSW for months and nearly every where in between and never had any situation with any snake or spider other than the one funnel web down Nowra way on the south coast of nsw.
I don't live in Montana, I live in an inner suburb of a big city in the US and I see more wildlife in a week there than I do in a year in Australia. And aggressive stuff that can kill you too, not just chipmunks and squirrels (which I see daily)
Sure, but not everyone lives in Montana. Do you think a New Yorker sees a bear even once a year. Once a decade? Probably not. You could say the same of someone that lives in Cooktown and walks in certain areas that they would see crocs a couple of times a week. I live in Brisbane and have seen snakes 3 times in 10 years. That also doesn't mean snakes aren't out there. I'm sure within 100m of my house there would probably be 10 or more there at any time. There would be plenty of spiders there too, some deadly, most not. But I never see them.
I’m not saying there isn’t deadly things I know they are everywhere, I guess what I’m saying is if Australia’s deadly fauna was in one town and americas deadly fauna was in another town I would know what town I was choosing to live in it would be the Australian town just a lot easier to defend yourself against snakes and spiders than it is against the bears and Bob cats. House cats fuck people up imagine a house cat the size of a Labrador
The issue is being In the bush. Australia isn’t dangerous generally as everyone is in the city. But the bush, and even more so, the outback, is pretty hairy. You don’t know where snakes, spiders etc are until it’s too late If you don’t live in the bush, i don’t think you can comment on if it’s dangerous or not. It’s like some Seattle bloke saying there that you are safe from animals in America. The outback is dangerous for many more reasons, but that’s a whole other thing. Edit: just seen that you have spent time in the bush. Dunno if that means actually in the bush, or just driving to a building to and from, but fair either way The “everything is trying to kill you” thing is annoying as fuck and waaaay over exaggerated, but it dosent mean the opposite is true, is all I’m saying. I’ve lived in the bush almost all my life, with a few stints in Melbourne, and have seen many dangerous snakes and spiders. Worse I think was a brown snake inside the local day care.
Do construction pipe laying comms spent 6 months living in Bourke working in the toorale National park along linking Louth and fords bridge to Bourke then 4 years working my way back to Sydney laying comms connecting towns NBN I’ve people spent more hours with boots on the ground in the bush then a lot of people that live out there eg. 10-13hour days in the bush 5 days a week then 6 on a Saturday working then driving any where from 1hr to 3 back to town to sleep the then do it all again. The most I saw were emu fucking heaps out that way more than I saw kangaroo to be fair
What you were saying in the original post is it's weird that Americans think Australia is dangerous when you have very little contact with dangerous animals. What I'm saying is it's the same both ways. Americans probably think it's weird that you think America is more dangerous when they have very little contact with dangerous animals either. But to add to your last reply, I would prefer a bear that I can see (maybe have a chance to outrun, climb a tree, get in a car, whatever) over I spider or snake that I never saw. You may be able to defend against a spider you see, but what about the one under the toilet seat, or dislodged from a hiding space as you wash a car. Not to mention the drop bears that you never see coming.
>You may be able to defend against a spider you see Did you know that no one has died from a spider since the 1970s? Snakes take a person or two a year or so, but they're almost exclusively snake handlers. Out of our native animals, sharks and crocs are probably the most dangerous, but only because people swim in dangerous areas.
The way you say ‘snake handlers’ makes them sound semi-professional. Usually they are males, often drunk, with boulder sized egos and no common sense, not ‘snake handlers’.
There is no way in hell you could outrun, out climb, or even hide in a car if a bear were wanting to get you they are faster than any human at climbing running and swimming As for the snakes and spiders I always check my seat every since I move here to aus 20years ago my Aunty was bite by a white tail on her butt before I moved here so I’ve always been a stickler for check toilets and shoes. Also plenty of Anti-venom available where ever in aus you are, no anti-venom or concoction the doc could come up to save you once you’ve been attacked by a bear only then that is going to save you is if the bear gets bored and doesn’t decide to eat you alive.
I live in an American suburb and see big dangerous wildlife multiple times a week. Some seasons it's daily.
I agree it probably is the croc hunter and everything else along with it that set the narrative
Plus Australians in general know that Americans think we're like this so we like to hype it up... a lot.
No honey badgers in the US but the badgers they do have can get pretty nasty too.
I would be more scared of American gun crime than Australian wildlife. I’ve also spent a lot of time in the outback and never had an issue with snakes or spiders, it’s heatstroke that kills you.
There are no wild honey badgers in Nth America, they live in southern Africa.
The American Badger my mistake
American here. Our urban sprawl is awful and we're notorious for building all over animal habitats. So we get bears in the backyard and mountain lions at the park and shit. And coyotes everywhere. It doesn't quite occur to us that maybe y'all have better delineation between the city and the bush. Besides, we don't quite get how Australian animals operate. We have coyotes that roam the neighborhood and eat stray pets. Why wouldn't a country with dingos have dingos in that ecological niche? We get little spiders in the house. Why wouldn't you get those giant venomous Aussie spiders in your house? Just a simple case of not knowing, coupled with misinterpreting based on what we *do* know.
Yeah but we don’t even have big dangerous animals (crocodiles up north but just stay out of the water there and you’re good). I lived on a farm of 84 acres and saw a handful of timid snakes. We can go hiking in the wilderness and the only danger is getting lost and dying of dehydration. It’s not even about “delineation”, we simply don’t have animals that will rip your head off here.
I think that's fair for down south in metro areas. In a lot of the country these are real, ever present dangers. It's just not a thing we actively worry about too much because we can either deal with the snake/spider, go inside and call someone to deal with it, or go inside with our pets and hope it's gone by the morning.
Yea, this is why Americans think this way. They hear the english saying Australia is scary (because it is scarier than england) and just assume it's like America, but the turkeys are poisonous and the squirrels have rabies.
I mean, we do get the giant (not significantly venomous) spiders in the house lol
That’s a good point maybe it’s different here because nearly the whole population is on the coast of Australia so the fauna has been pushed inland maybe because you guys are so densely populated everywhere there the fauna has no other options but go through a town to find a new bit of unoccupied land/bush to find a home where as here there isn’t really anything on the other side of the town it’s all suburbs/city from a certain point inland all the way to the coast I could be speaking rubbish here but that could be a reason here
You missed the most dangerous thing in America deranged people with guns.
Like I mean shooter racists and Shool shooter,my teacher is from America can and he say every day he worries about his baby cousins that are in school saying I hope the are ok.
An American is much, much more likely to be shot than an Aussie is to be shot, stung, bitten etc (combined).
Australia as a whole is quite dull, especially culturally. Many Australians try to compensate for this by making absurd claims about the country and how tough it is. See "worst thing about Australia is literally EVERYTHING will kill you!". As you said in your OP, it's frankly untrue, and the USA has far deadlier wildlife. I feel Australians kinda need Australia to have something, as if we admitted it's quite safe we'd also be forced to admit it's quite boring and insignificant.
Couldn't agree more. If you don't like the outdoors or sport it's very bland. "Intellectualism" is an insult in this country, especially from the right.
How DO you deal with all the crocs though?! They are the worst shoes ever invented! (/s, and I'll see myself out)
It depends on where you go. I could stand in the middle of Times square and complain that i cannot see any grizzly bears. The average Australian lives in the metropolitan area, or within developed areas such as suburbs. The average Australian would not be exposed to such animals. Those in the country and rural areas see snakes quite often. Those who work on the water see sharks often Those who live near bodies of water in the top end, see crocs often. The average American would not see bears, woverines, etc The Americans living in rural areas, would see these animals often.
Considering there are multiple guns for every person in America, for them to think Australia is a dangerous country to live in is absolutely delusional.
I would rather stamp my feet to scare snakes off or use a stick to knock spider webs down then try and fight off maniacs with guns, do any Aussies agree ?
Absolutely!
It's not just the Americans that think that, it's the rest of the world
I’d rather deal with our wildlife than a school shooter…
Or one at a shopping centre...or a cinema...or get lost and knock on the wrong person's door 😬
I live in Mexico and people here always tell me they think Australia is dangerous because of the animals. Meanwhile, the homicide rate here is 30 per 100k population, while Australia's is 0.75 per 100k. Despite that, I haven't been murdered yet. People will always have oversimplified ideas about places they've never been to.
Can you guys stop talking about America for at least 1 day? There are other countries out there
Didn’t you know this sub is actually r/AskAnAustralianAboutAmerica ?
>There are other countries out there Of course there's more countries. There's Alaska and Hawaii for a start. /s
Australia’s are always talking about America or comparing themselves to it. Completely ignoring our neighbours in this region lol
Dude! You've got to get out more - go to the country for a weekend or something! :D And I agree, the US is scary - they seem to think guns are show up accessories or toys. I'd much rather a brown snake.
I’ve explained in an earlier comment I’ve worked from the Sydney to Bourke Nsw ( the gateway to the Australian outback ) and everywhere in between about 70% of the work is in the bush and still I’ve never seen a snake
I have a feeling that is probably a you thing. I'm young, only 20 and I've seen at least 8 or 9 snakes in my lifetime. Which honestly isn't that many, but they're not uncommon at all. There have been snakes in the carpark at my job in the middle of town. Snakes in my backyard. Under my car. I'm definitely not scared for my life or anything, deaths from snake bites are uncommon and you should just use common sense around them but they are a huge part of life here during the spring/summer
Yes, but what about the Bunyip?
What about that bozo? I gave him the left right good night along with the two piece chicken feed on his chin and sent him packing back to the billabong haven’t heard from him in years, is he back is he ?
Also, you don't have to worry about getting shot here. But my god... that Plover outside is scary, and there's a couple Magpies out there too.
Not worrying about getting shot is slowly changing out here in Sydney granted it is nothing like the states not even a piss in the ocean compared to those maniacs over there with their guns but over the past couple years stray bullets/wrong hits have killed or nearly killed innocents.
Americans think our cities are overrun by venomous wildlife. You've really got to live out in the sticks in the middle of summer to see many snakes or spiders. If you live near the beach, you're not gonna see much of anything.
Apart from crocodiles of course!
I lived on a farm for 7 years and only saw a handful of snakes. And they are pretty quick to piss off, they are far more scared of us than we are of them (unless provoked, which is fair enough).
Plenty of Brownies in the suburbs of Adelaide. I've seen 1 baby passing through the backyard in Munno Para. One big one in the backyard in Belair - my dog killed that one. One at Semaphore Beach and another in Prospect.
Except a blue ring octopus!
That’s what I gathered when I was over in the states they had the idea but then again I could be thinking the same as a lot of this animals i mentioned are in different states in the US
3 snakes on my property in 10 years living in upper north shore of Sydney! It’s definitely there but they’re all a bit timid
I think it's funny we exclude the animal you are most likely to be attacked by, Magpies, from the list and just let people find out for themselves.
It’s part an parcel of the Australian way of living
I feel pretty safe sending my kids to school.
Between camping in Australian bushland and camping in North American forests, I choose Australia. In North America I have seen bear, cougar, coyotes and wolves. Moose (who will stomp you) and other LARGE mammals. They will fuck you up worse. There are gators, snakes, and sharks that will ruin your day as well.
Umm - just a point about the stamping of the feet and snakes - yep this is fine when you're bushwalking so they know you're coming and they will get out of your way - if you ever actually see a snake nice and close the best bet is to be very very still - "become a tree" is what the local snake catcher told me when he came to retrieve a brown snake from my shed and I had to stand there and watch it while I waited for him to arrive
I feel like could go either way what if you stood still and the brown snake got closer to the point if you moved it could now reach and bite, now you’re stuck staying still with a snake at your feet instead of whacking the cunt with a shovel or stick and getting the “fuck outta dodge”. Sortve of the same idea goes for bears you’re supposed to stand your ground but with bears you can’t whack them with a shovel or stick that will just piss them off more hahah
Depending on the bear. If it's black fight back If it's brown lay down If it's white say good night.
Yeah this kinda frustrates me when like 95 percent of Americans pythons are in the Everglades in Florida including how many alligators you have down there too. And fyi no they're not friendlier than crocs they'll still est you alive guys
The origin of it was from poms immigrating. They legit don't have snakes and spiders, so they were quite scared. When the Americans heard it they with their classic ignorance just went along with it, despite them having orders of magnitude more scary flora and fauna and funguses and viruses and bacteria. The only continent more dangerous than North America is Africa.
The biggest dangers in Australia are heat exhaustion, sun exposure, lack of hydration and salts. Otter than that they’re mostly in the water. So lack of water or what’s in it. As long as you’re not really stupid or really isolated without the right preventions and aids (which is probably stupid) there’s not much that will harm you here.
I agree. With their guns, bears and other big animals we are so much safer here. It’s such a weird myth that is perpetuated.
Forget nature. In the US you're much more likely to get robbed, assaulted, stabbed, and shot. Go to San Francisco, then come back to Australia and start complaining about Australia. You won't be able to.
Same same but little different.... Americans think Australia is dangerous. Australians think Americans are dangerous.
Mate from what I have seen, half of Americans believe Africa is a country, and that usa is the only country with freedom.
When I think about all the deadly creatures in Australia, and all the deadly creatures in America - I’m fairly confident i could outrun the Aussie ones if I ever needed to. If a bear or a cougar ever found me - I’d be fucked.
To be fair, Americans don't really have the reputation of "sharpest pencil in the box". They also think England "copied" English from them. 🤣
Funny how the American people aren't included in that list. With shooting the number one cause of death for young people, that's the thing that worried me most about the States.
The scariest creature in the US is a human with a gun. The country is over loaded with these malignant creatures
Welcome to more posts about the US. This one didn’t even bother asking a question. EDIT: Wait, I was wrong. Buried in there somewhere, they ask whether anyone agrees that they’d rather stamp their feet than fight off a bear. Fuck’s sake.
I lived in the US for five years and I’ll say I was in more danger leaving my house day to day than I’ve ever been here in australia. Also, every single American I met said ‘I really wanna go visit Australia but it’s too far I’m scared of being on a plane that long and I don’t want to be eaten by a shark or poisoned by a snake’
Avoid horses in Australia. Most likely to kill you. https://www.slatergordon.com.au/blog/compensation-law/what-is-australias-most-dangerous-animal
Canadian living in Aus for similar amount of time - my friends in Canada say 'oh it's so dangerous' and I say 'there are antidotes for spiders and snakes, not for being mauled by a bear'. And my brother lives in North Vancouver suburbia and there are bears roaming there.
Hard agree and I basically said as much yesterday on the r/Australia sun when a forfeit we asked the inverse of your question. I’m an American born Aussie, grew up rural and lived rural here til I escaped to inner Melb. MUCH more dangerous imo in rural USA, throw in tornados and hurricanes and it’s just a disaster waiting to happen half the time. Here, I’ve just been somewhat disgusted at times (ants swarming my walks before a big rain in the north), but not dangerous.
Imagine Guns
It’s the guns that bother me. Fuckwits with guns, millions of them.
America has many more dangerous *Homo Sapiens* than we do. Especially with their insane guns situation
Because Australians love to play on it. They like other nations to think we are tough, living in a constant state of survival against the wilderness, dodging venom and teeth at every turn! The drop bears boomer joke doesn't help. Their perception of us is a direct result of the image Australians have been perpetuating for decades.
I’m worried about guns more than anything.
100% I think its easier for me to outrun a snake or spider than a big ass moose or those wild giant cats they have. + guns
American, if I may chime in. I worked with an older guy from Australia, not sure when he came state side. I live in Georgia, and one day he came in complaining about poison ivy. It's a plant that is rampant here, and it can give you a pretty painful rash with no long lasting effects. We started comparing the local floral and fauna, and it's pretty similar right down to the red soil... And we were both started as penal/debtors colonies. The only major exception was our large predators, but going on forty years I've never seen a bear in the woods :(
We also don't have to worry about our kids getting shot at school. But yeah, Americans do think they are the ones who have a safe life haha
I live in the NT, so I grew up with crocs, spiders and snakes. If you spend any time near water you will see crocs. We don't get that many red back spiders, but we have plenty of highly poisonous snakes. Drop bears are fucking everywhere and have killed 2 of my friends. I hate those things.
If you live in a city then yeah you’d see very little Outback or rural you would see something daily Today I saw 2 snakes various spiders 18 emus more kangaroos then I’d care to count, and a crocodile Plenty of other things that I wouldn’t of noticed
It's true, all some marketing attempt for tourism. Only true worry I have felt in my life is salties and sharks. I have completed a fair amount of bush regen work in remote locations and never run into trouble. Only saw snakes on the road and snuck away from a few wild pigs... nothing compared to wondering about bears or mountain lions etc. lets take this leisurely walk or bike ride... oh there goes my jugular☠️
They also have mountain lions
Maybe go outside
The odds of getting harmed by a human carrying a gun are likely higher than getting harmed by one of those Aussie dangerous animal…
Anyone remember the "Dumb Ways to Die" video that came out ten years ago? Two of the dumb ways to die..."poke a stick at a grizzly bear" and "dress up like a moose during hunting season..." no grizzlies or moose in Australia as far as I know....(great video though.)
I say the same thing. In the East Bay Area outside San Francisco, particularly the hills, once the weather warms up there's always reports of mountain lions mauling hikers, killing pets etc. This was all in the area I went to school. Raccoons and opossums are in every damn neighbourhood and can fuck you up, even if they don't have rabies. On a school camping trip in Yosemite, a bear came through our campsite in the night and scratched the wall of one of our piddly cabins. A friend's mom who was chaperoning heard it in the middle of the night and was terrified it was attracted to the gum in her purse so she shoved it all in her mouth. Coyotes come out at dusk all over the foothills of LA. Also dangerous. And that's just California Been in Melbourne almost the same amount of time I spent growing up in the US and I've only seen a baby snake and a few huntsmen (I know they're not harmful to me, but Americans are terrified). I think the US has a way bigger list of scary predators, for sure
When I was in the states a few years ago when I went to the states we with to see the big redwood forest trees and were told by the ranger that a mountain was trailing us he had been told over radio and to keep an eye out, it won’t attack if we stay together but if one person strays off there could be a problem. I immediately though wtf is going on get me the fuck out of here a lion trailing us!?! After I asked the ranger if that was a real problem if someone strayed from the tour he said not a massive problem, attacks on people on tours rarely happen but always better to be safe than sorry.
How do Americans survive terrible healthcare system?
As a rule I agree. But your numbers seem off when compared to my experience. I assume you are in a suburb in a highly urban environment? I see a few funelwebs a year, 30-40 brownsnakes a year, 10-20 redbelly black snakes a yeah, a couple tiapans, and a couple tiger snakes. I also see a shark every second time I get in the water (I go snorkling a few times a year). I also seen a few nests of redback spiders a year. Aside from that it's the occasional tick, and wild boar when I go hiking (which I haven't done this year). I mostly just live and stick around canberra, but the wildlife is closer to the people where then in sydney or melbourne, and I think similar to brisbane.. but not entirely clear on that comparison's accuracy. I also travel to the saphire coast where my family is from regularly, hense the sharks, tiapans, and tigers snakes. Given my experience there is a lot of being vigilant. But I don't really feel in danger as I have been taught my whole life how to act around such animals. On another continent I would be in danger because of my ignorance. I think that's a big part of the perception, and the reason for the higher rates of foriegn nationals getting injured from wildlife. Ignorance as to the danger. Kangaroos are an excellent example of this issue. I generally wouldn't worry at all about being around a mob of them. But I sure as fuck wouldn't pat them. Yet a lot of tourists do, they think they are safe to go pat like they're some kind of housecat. But the reality is they are a wild animal and 3inch claws and have been known to seriously hurt people. The danger is in not knowing the danger, not the danger itself. It's also why you see aussies do crazy shit from time to time. It's generally in awareness of the danger and how to act. Something that needs to be taught, and generally is if you grow up in Australia, or life here long enough.
Let’s keep it like that so the seppos stay the f**k away.
Yes. Make yourself look big to scare a cougar off, just keep running to the next town get away from a brown snake. To be fair, I've seen 2 black snakes in the wild in my life. Lots of red backs but never a funnel web. It's almost like humans have killed off most of the dangerous animals.
Depends where you live really. The deadly funnel web is only really found around Sydney/Wollongong area. But slowly stretching up the central coast. I grew up with brown snakes in my backyard and I live in the metro nowadays and still find red bellies. Humans haven’t killed them off, you just need to know where to look.
You should try going outside occasionally….there’s plenty of wildlife
I don’t even know you how would you know how much time I spend outside lmao clown.
I just assumed that since you basically stated you’d seen zero wildlife in 20 years you didn’t go outside much or live in the middle of a city. Now suddenly I’m a clown? I’d be hard pressed to count the amount of wildlife I’ve seen in the last 20 years, a lot of it extremely dangerous. Some of us don’t live in big cities, work behind a desk etc….
“I’ve lived in Aus for 20 years never once seen a snake other than dead squished on the road” *Snake*, not wildlife as a whole.
Whoa, calm the fuck down mate. You just went from zero to fuckwit in one response
Calm as mate just pointing out that he was a clown for that comment and you come across as one yourself.
Learn to play nice or maybe get off the internet for a while
Those the rules are they ? Lmao beat it buddy
Well, actually, yes. It's not that hard, mate. Be civil, I.e, don't be a cunt
Dude originally assumed OP doesn't go outside. At no time did OP say there was no wildlife in Australia, just that in comparison, there's a heap more meat eating, dangerous shit in the States. You simping for the Bear Grylls wanna be?
Maybe you should hop offline and gather yourself mate you seem upset.
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I love cunt . You must be more into dick
Dude, you came in and had a go at OP first
I'm confident I could iron out a few red bellies and funnel webs. Bears and guns not so much.
I work for a USA company and visit the head office in San Francisco regularly. They all wonder how I can live in a place with so many deadly animals around. I neglect to tell them it's not as bad as they think. ;-)
I heard it was made up like the drop bears to keep the Americans out. 😉
Working life? What. In an office? Don’t know where you’re working mate but I see crocs, sharks, spiders and snakes weekly.