{"id":424935,"date":"2026-09-03T10:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T10:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/424935\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T10:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T10:52:11","slug":"a-very-important-ranking-of-houstons-best-and-worst-wildlife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/424935\/","title":{"rendered":"A Very Important Ranking of Houston\u2019s Best and Worst Wildlife"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/HOU_0926_yes-maam_fall-top_zghjez.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a clich\u00e9 to refer to Houston\u2014or any other major metropolitan area, really\u2014as a \u201cconcrete jungle.\u201d But some clich\u00e9s, to their credit, have at least an iota of accuracy. While the Bayou City\u2019s humid subtropical coastal prairie ecosystem is hardly a jungle in the literal sense, it is teeming with natural life that tries its best to live in tandem with human expansion. Some of it is critical for our own survival, even if their labor is hidden and thankless. And some of it is just a real rat bastard (pun intended) to deal with.<\/p>\n<p>YES MA\u2019AM<\/p>\n<p>Opossums Don\u2019t squeal in horror! They eat ticks, clean up rot, and reduce disease risk. Opossums are friends.<\/p>\n<p>NO MA\u2019AM<\/p>\n<p>Mosquitoes Can\u2019t type. Too busy scratching.<\/p>\n<p>yes MA\u2019AM<\/p>\n<p>Mexican Long-nosed Armadillos Armored, curious, and committed to eating the\u00a0destructive, stinging insects you hate. That\u2019s a win.<\/p>\n<p>NO MA\u2019AM<\/p>\n<p>Red Lionfish The ocean\u2019s own gentrifiers. Gorgeous, sure, but they swam in like they own the place. They don\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/HOU_0926_yes-maam_fall-vulture_p8oitv.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>yes MA\u2019AM<\/p>\n<p>Turkey Vultures They eat so much roadkill, they\u2019re qualified to lead Health and Human Services.<\/p>\n<p>NO MA\u2019AM<\/p>\n<p>Mockingbirds This writer will not apologize to the Texas state bird after narrowly dodging multiple dive-bombing attempts.<\/p>\n<p>YES MA\u2019AM<\/p>\n<p>Alligator Gar Spotting one of these sea monster-like creatures below the bayou\u2019s surface is sublime and surreal.<\/p>\n<p>NO MA\u2019AM<\/p>\n<p>Nutria As The Princess Bride fans, we appreciate a reference to Rodents of Unusual Size, but these invasive species gotta go.<\/p>\n<p>YES MA\u2019AM<\/p>\n<p>Mexican Free-tailed Bats If you\u2019ve never seen them emerge from under Waugh Bridge by the thousands, you\u2019re missing out on one of Houston\u2019s best free shows.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/HOU_0926_yes-maam_fall-ant_mrhwba.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>NO MA\u2019AM<\/p>\n<p>Fire Ants Zero redeeming qualities. Just pain.<\/p>\n<p>YES MA\u2019AM<\/p>\n<p>Grackles Shrieking, rage-filled little psychopaths, but they\u2019re our shrieking, rage-filled little psychopaths.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a clich\u00e9 to refer to Houston\u2014or any other major metropolitan area, really\u2014as a \u201cconcrete jungle.\u201d But some&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-424935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}