Don't ruin that Bogart story with inconvenient facts

November 21, 2013 2:01 AM

A parakeet infestation that started when Humphrey Bogart left the door to the set of The African Queen open, pigeons taking the Tube, foxes learning to sit pretty for sausages, a colony of pigeon eating pelicans gifted by a Russian ambassador in 1664 and underwater warfare between rival gangs of invasive crayfish species are just some of the miracles found in the unnatural history of London's wildlife.
posted by MartinWisse (12 comments total)

I was hoping to get this story onto the blue - a wallaby had been video'd in Highgate Cemetery - with perhaps some joke about Marx-upials.

Further, I was hoping that the animal would be allowed to remain as one of London's many harmless, quirky, unexplained oddities. But, I must report a more gloomy outcome - it left the cemetery and was picked up in a children's playground by the RSPCA, which discovered it had an injured foot. An operation to fix this was notably unsuccessful.

I have heard a rumour that a second wallaby was found and has been successfully retrieved, but can find no confirmation of this.
posted by Devonian at 2:39 AM on November 21, 2013

HIGHGATE WALLABY UPDATE: YES THERE WAS AND YES IT HAS.

This is London Wallaby Newsroom out.
posted by Devonian at 2:42 AM on November 21, 2013 [4 favorites]

That pelican is going to haunt my dreams at night. Terrifying. I know we're not short of pigeons, but what if the pigeons are just the start?

Also, London wallabies are clearly just tourists from further North.
posted by Catseye at 4:41 AM on November 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

I used to go jogging around the outside of Holland Park (Oh, how I miss that flat in West Kensington*) and there is nothing quite like the first time you hear an awful scream and then turn the corner at in the dark/winter fog, phone clutched in hand, ready to dial 999, only to see a peacock just wandering around on the pavement, looking quite pleased with itself.

(*Hammersmith and Fulham but just on the wrong side of the rail tracks for RBK&C)
posted by halcyonday at 4:46 AM on November 21, 2013

As an aside, parts of the African Queen were filmed on an island in the Thames.

I just recently discovered it is the island which I live on.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 5:02 AM on November 21, 2013

MetaFilter: rival gangs of invasive crayfish
posted by petebest at 5:08 AM on November 21, 2013

Don't forget the resident flamingos of Kensington Roof Gardens.

I remember seeing the ill-fated London whale swimming up the Thames. From the top deck of a no.19 bus, no less, going over Battersea Bridge. It doesn't get more London than that.
posted by MuffinMan at 5:51 AM on November 21, 2013

The parakeets were also released by Jimi Hendrix as he wanted a bit of colour in London's gloomy sky. Or so the story goes. I searched for this this past weekend as there is a huge flock of parakeets near to us.

Some wallabies were killed in the animal centre in our local park and initial reports pegged it on satanic teenagers, but it turned out to be much more prosaic slaughter by foxes.
posted by goo at 7:06 AM on November 21, 2013

I'm sad that the wallabies died but I do kind of want to see what a wallaby vs. fox fight would look like.
posted by fight or flight at 8:03 AM on November 21, 2013

I am curious about the step between "dead wallabies" and "therefore, Satanic teenagers". "Who could murder such a cute little fluffums with its ickle wibbly nose? Why, they'd have to worship Satan to do that!"
posted by Catseye at 8:09 AM on November 21, 2013

I am curious about the step between "dead wallabies" and "therefore, Satanic teenagers". "Who could murder such a cute little fluffums with its ickle wibbly nose? Why, they'd have to worship Satan to do that!"

Satanic teenagers are indistinguishable from regular teenagers. In fact it may be a case of either conceptual entailment or highly correlated properties.
posted by srboisvert at 8:47 AM on November 21, 2013

The guy that bought his home next to the landfill to be near the gulls: Shine on you crazy diamond!
posted by basicchannel at 12:43 PM on November 21, 2013