In South Florida I used to count how many iguanas I saw sunning themselves alongside the road, I seldom saw fewer than 10. These could get quite big, and run very fast. They remind me of the “wamp rats” in the first Star Wars comic book.

When I left the suburbs and rode out into the Everglades, I would count gators, and there were more gators than iguanas. The gators never moved, the only hazard was running over dead ones which had been squashed by trucks carrying sugar cane. There were also lots of vultures (there was lots of roadkill for them to eat), and I sometimes had to duck or dodge them when I rode up on one of their feasts.

Now I live in Japan, and in the countryside I see foxed, monkeys, and tanuki (a raccoon-looking kind of animal). There are lots of snakes and lizards, and really big spiders.Though I often ride through bear country, I haven’t yet seen one (knocks on wood).