I love animals. I’m that idiot that stops in the middle of the path to watch squirrels scurrying in the trees, dodges around passerby to get a picture of a cool bird by the edge of a river, and whispers ‘kitty!’ under my breath at every cat that skips lightly over a wall, even if someone is talking to me.
While in a new country, most people will tend to gush over the architecture, the food, the scenery. I coo over wildlife. There’s a real difference in the kind of animals you can spot when you’re on a totally different continent, and in a campus like UM, with its saltwater lake and river, spacious green lawn spaces, and tropical climate, you’re basically living in a jungle.
So through the eyes of someone waist-deep into a marine biology degree and a serious compulsion to stop and gawk at every dog I come across, here are the top five animals you should try and spot while at the University of Miami.
#5: Turtles
As I said, the main campus on the University of Miami has a saltwater lake as its central landscaping feature, which means lots of cool animals hanging around or in the water. Lots of turtles hang out on the rocks sunning themselves all day or lazily swimming around. Sometimes they even try snapping at a fish or two at the water’s edge.
#4: Waterbirds
Okay, this includes more than one kind of animal, technically, but I managed to encompass them all in one word so it counts. I’ve seen cranes, herons, even cormorants walking back and forth from classes, crossing the river and sitting by the edge of the lake. Watching the birds with their spindly little legs picking their way across the rocks and trying not to stumble is a really great way to ignore work and general university responsibilities. Not to mention highly relatable.
#3: Lizards
There are loads of lizards scurrying around underfoot at UM, but one in particular has become my favourite. It hangs around at the outdoor pool, so that’s already points in its favour, since that’s probably what I would do if I didn’t have grown-up human responsibilities. With a bright orange head and stripe on its tail, it’s also pretty easy to spot. Unfortunately, it seems to be a bit of a bully; when it’s not cocking his head, posing like it knows Google Earth is always taking pictures, it’s chasing all the other, more unassuming lizards away.
#2: Ibis
Technically, the mascot of the University of Miami is a hurricane (it’s in our cheer: It’s great to be a Miami Hurricane! Which is about as cheesy to chant as it sounds), but the guy hopping up and down getting the crowd excited at our football games is in fact Sebastian the Ibis (he’s not a duck, okay). This is because they’re one of the first animals to be seen after a hurricane. Flocks of ibis usually hang out in groups in the early morning, picking their way across the lawn like shorter, paler flamingos with way longer, pointier, orange beaks. And fun fact: they’re the first animals I took pictures of when I got to Miami.
#1: Crocodiles
Or is it alligators? Ever since I saw that sign saying the swimming in the lake is prohibited due to the existence of actual, live crocodiles, I’ve wanted to see one of these guys. This grainy picture was taken late at night on a walk around campus near the river. Of course, it would have looked way better with the flash on, but…I thought it best not to poke the dragon, so to speak.
Special Mentions (in no particular order):
Fish:
These guys jump out of the lake every so often (read as: whenever I don’t have my camera out) in a fit of…joy? Frustration? Self-expression? Whatever it is, they do it quite often.
Iguanas:
I’ve only ever seen one, which is weird, because according to a friend of mine, they’re supposed to be everywhere. Everywhere I’m not looking, it seems. And the one time I did see one sunning itself by the river’s edge, being all majestic-looking in the sunlight, my phone’s battery had died while I was in class.
Crabs:
I’ve only ever seen one of these, and I’m still really unclear on how or where it got there. It was on the side of the pavement, nowhere near water. Was it lost? On a journey of self-discovery? Had it lost its only child Nemo to the UM Aquarium Club and was scouring the campus in search of him because it was an overprotective and worried father? We may never know, but it was bright blue and super cute and…very fast. Like, all I have to remember this incident by is a very blurry video of my friends and I yelling ‘crab!’ rather incoherently as we chased after him, searching for answers we will never have.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of all the critters you can see around UM, but you get the idea. While I’ve been here, I’ve seen ducks, squirrels, lizards of all shapes and sizes, and like, the fluffiest dogs you could ever imagine. And I haven’t even talked about the UM marine campus (RSMAS) yet, since that deserves its own post (hint hint). So stay tuned! I’ve got a whole spring semester left at UM, and I plan to make the most of it.