My mom is currently in Tasmania, enjoying an Australian vacation. The other day, she called from Down Under and we were chatting about her trip.

“I think the Australians think I am strange,” my mom said.

“Why?”

“Well, you know how we have dead raccoons all along the roads? Here, they have dead wallabies. I asked to stop the car so I could take a picture, and I am pretty sure they thought I was crazy.”

Apparently, I get my desire to take pictures of dead things honestly. “But it’s a dead wallaby. Obviously you would want to stop and take a picture. When are you ever going to see a dead wallaby by the side of the road again?”

I took this picture of a very much alive wallaby when I was in Australia a couple years ago. Note that he is near the road, and potentially soon-to-be roadkill for Americans to take pictures of.
I took this picture of a very much alive wallaby when I was in Australia a couple years ago. Note that he is near the road, and potentially soon-to-be roadkill for Americans to take pictures of.

This led to a conversation about dead animals by the side of the road, and an attempt to determine whether dead wallabies are more like dead raccoons or dead armadillos by the roadside here in the U.S. We were unable to make a final determination on that one.

Eventually, our conversation turned to a topic on which I have conversed many times with my family and Australians: the animals in our respective countries that we each find fascinating, yet the others find absolutely mundane (see, e.g., the portion of this blog post about wallabies). For Australians, one animal they find fascinating are squirrels.

Yes, squirrels.

At this point, you are likely questioning whether this is a real thing or something I made up to get a good blog post. Trust me, it is a real thing.

I live across the street from a park where squirrels abound. There are hundreds of them. They are in my yard constantly. Choppy spends much of her day thinking about them. And one even died in the fireplace recently.

Because of this, my mom asked for a video of squirrels to show my Australian relatives. So, without further ado, some squirrel video. Here is a link to a vine video. And another (it’s the same squirrel, still acting like a squirrel). Or Choppy chasing a squirrel.

 

You’re welcome, Australia.

And America, I don’t get it either.

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