Wasps, spiders
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In my part of the world (Interior Alaska) it’s the red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus). I myself, have mixed feelings about them. Living in old growth boreal forest, they’re a constant presence, year round. They’re noisy, bossy, messy, super territorial, prolific, sometimes predatory, and destructive in their industrious search for tasty food and fiberglass insulation. Last summer they ate the buds off my sunflowers (grrr). BUT, I kind of love them for their noisy, bossy, messy, territorial and prolific ways. And they’re very interesting critters: I’ve read that they have matriarchal societies and pass on their middens to their daughters. Middens can get huge – I’ve seen some that were over a meter tall – and contain thousands of spruce cones. They collect and cache mushrooms (a rarely-used outhouse is a great spot). I’ve had to match wits with them to keep them off the bird feeders. They have a very strong work ethic!
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We don’t have magpies here and I’m jealous. But we do have Blue Jays and most people consider them annoying or bullies. Meanwhile anyone new to the area or who doesn’t get outside at all is like wow they’re so beautiful!
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Leeches are very graceful when swimming. In Britain we only have one that might suck your blood and that is so rare, it is on the protected list. I might feel differently if we had the ones that drop on to you out of the trees.
Many people turn up their noses at mention of water fleas just because they have flea in their name, whereas they are beautiful and intricate aquatic micro-crustaceans.
I also like dung beetles for their robust no-frills functionality (in UK at least). They are the beetle equivalent of a staple remover. But I would like to put on record that the story about me collecting dung beetles with my right hand while eating a sandwich from my left hand is an exaggeration.
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All of the usual suspects! Wasps, spiders, snakes etc.
With corvids I feel some kind of solidarity - while the swifts and swallows that I love so much abandon us to the temporary death of winter, corvids remain and grit it out. And like us they have no particular specialisms, they’re the jack-the-lad wheeler dealer artful dodgers looking for an opportunity.
And when rather than fleeing as another bird might, they hang around or swoop on you, you really get the impression that they’re eyeing you up, to see what they might get from you.
Personally, I’ve been trying to despise ticks less, perhaps even to appreciate them, as it’s obviously silly to attach emotions to an amoral agent.
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Feral domestic pigeons. Most people in my area consider them flying rats. In contrast, I admire them. They allowed us to domesticate them. They fed us. They provided us with guano. They delivered our messages. They entertained us with races and fancy plumage. They even served in our wars. When we felt we no longer needed them we threw them out. They adapted. Now we serve them. They thrive on our discarded fast-food. Old men and children feed them in our parks. How can you not admire that?
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If you hadn’t specified animals, I would have said dandelions.
Now, if wild rats could interact with me the same way my pet domestic rats used to, they would easily be my favorite animals. Pet rats engage with their humans more fully than more conventional rodent pets (hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs); with rats, you can start to feel like part of their social system, not just a caregiver.
Although I would hope that the rats allow me to give them flea treatments… now there’s a hated critter that I don’t love…
(iNaturalist’s only observation of Yersinia pestis is from a prairie dog colony in Colorado)
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I don’t get the hate at all. Maybe it is just because they remind us too much of ourselves.
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I am conflicted about gophers and moles. So mysterious, such sweet faces, such pretty fur, so talented, and so destructive to my gardening attempts.
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They also are known to have transmitted some terrible diseases (hanta virus, Black Death); although I believe the incidence of those diseases is pretty low now days.
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Dandelions are among my favorite flowers and even though they are not native, they are extremely beneficial to the native bee population here. (speaking in generalities)
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Snakes are amazing creatures.
I have relocated many. Not because they were problematic, but because the people they were near were going to end up killing them or getting bit. I have only nearly been bitten once. A rattlesnake had gotten into some rabbit pens and eaten a baby. it got stuck trying to leave. I had to send all the people who had gathered around to watch out. They kept screaming and jumping because they were afraid I would get bit and making it impossible to calm the snake.
People are not always functioning at full intelligence.
I love humans though. They are mostly pretty awesome.
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Are you not missing the word ‘you’ in the topic question? Otherwise it’s a very different (and perhaps philosophical) question.
Of course, any question about love and/or hate is hugely subjective. Especially if we only consider them in human terms.
If we include non-human opinions I would daresay that the one species that might top the fear and loathing list is… ourselves. At least, if judged by our negative impact.
But even so, I confess a true fondness for homo sapiens. Heck, I even invite some of them right into my home and feed them! And I spend more time and energy observing them than any other species.
(Even ones who have annoying habits like correcting minor grammatical errors!)
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I confess an admiration for feral pigs.
Here in Australia, as I believe is the case in North America, domestic pigs have escaped and lived as ferals for over 200 years. In that time they have adapted to the often harsh conditions of the continent.
Feral pigs are a threat to the environment through their voracious appetite for all kinds of plant and animal food. Their digging threatens forests and pollutes waterways. They destroy crops and kill livestock. They are also disease vectors for livestock, humans and native animals. There are cases of humans being injured or killed by feral pigs.
I have personally been involved in wild pig control campaigns through poisoning and shooting.
Having said that I can’t help admiring these resourceful and intelligent animals. They are nothing like the large, pink lethargic domestic pigs one encounters on farms. In Australia they have adapted to just about every ecological niche from rainforests to deserts and alpine regions. Satellite tracking shows that they can range over vast areas. They have a tight knit social structure. Both sows and boars will fearlessly protect their young.
If we eventually succeed in exterminating the wild pig it will be a good outcome, although I think I will miss them.
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- Some ppl get up and say: “Oh, how I hate this coffee mug!” -
I love nature, all creatures and plants, and some a little more.
iNaturalist is a great tool to reconnect to nature.
I follow links to learn more about the species, admiring its so very often highly impressive adaptations, behaviors … and its complex relations within nature.
Henry David Thoreau said, “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see."
Greetings from Zanzibar
Yusuf
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Even the ‘lowliest’ pigeon can fly, and fly wonderfully! So what say we, from down here, helpless against gravity?
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Aphids.
Not that I know a huge amount about them (I can recognise a few species here and there, but to me they basically divide into ‘green ones’, ‘black ones’ and a few ‘cool ones’). BUT! they are nature’s pick’n’mix sweeties for hoverflies, ladybirds, lacewings, certain wasps etc. I’m generally pleased to see aphids on a plant being left alone, rather than sprayed to oblivion regardless of whether they’re actually harming the plant.
Right now I’m involved in trying to plan some wildflowers to grow in some disturbed land at my workplace with a few colleagues, and I’m trying to crowbar in as many aphid-friendly plants as I can :). Difficult, because googling plants for aphids just returns advice on how to kill them… I have found good info though.
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Not sure if Oleander Aphids (Aphis nerii) are part of the ‘cool ones’, but they really seem to love Milkweeds (Asclepiadoideae), especially ones with smooth/glabrous stems & leaves.
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After a time, many of these aphids get hammered by wasps. In spring I find plants covered in aphids, but two months later the same plant has none, only aphid ‘mummies’. Sadly, before the wasps get a chance, people spray the bushes with insecticide and no insects at all are there…
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