Poll: Vote for the best animal story in America

How it works: Reporters across several of our cities nominated their most unforgettable creature encounters and made their case for why their hometown icon deserves the title.

• This ain't no kangaroo court or frog-gone conclusion — you get to decide.
• Find a poll at the end of this story to cast your vote, and we'll reveal the winner in early 2026.

Drumroll. Here are the contenders:

Boulder's badass

Is this cheating because Ralphie, the live mascot for the CU Buffs, was technically two bison? Who cares.

• First, Ralphie VI just up and decided in the middle of the season she did not like running, which is the entirety of her job. Boss move. Next man up. Ralphie VII steps in and gets out of the gates so fast that she leaves multiple handlers on the turf. Stuff legends are made of.

Columbus' silent assassins

Nature is metal, and no animal embodies that better than Columbus' peregrine falcons, the fastest animals on Earth. Once on the brink of extinction, these silent assassins now rule the downtown skies, exploding pesky pigeons in midair with their 200 mph dives.

• They're such efficient hunters that Ohio's capital city doesn't have a feral pigeon problem like others do. That's falcon awesome.

Denver's duo

Rebecca the capybara and Baya the howler monkey are the Denver Zoo's most unexpected besties. As the only two females in a pen packed with boys, the two South American species found each other and formed an unforgettable friendship.

• Baya enjoys snuggling against her giant rodent companion, hitching a ride on her back and grooming her. At a time when everybody could use a shoulder (or back) to lean on, Baya and Rebecca are proof that besties come in all shapes, sizes and species.

Party like a pup-star in New Orleans

Meet Scrim, a runaway New Orleans pup who, during two escapes, ran up to 13 miles in a single day, got shot twice by actual bullets (and tranquilizer darts) that failed to stop him, and lost a chunk of his ear and a toenail.

• He inspired tattoos, children's books and served as royalty in a French Quarter parade during Mardi Gras.

Philly's loving lineage

Mommy, Philadelphia's beloved Galápagos tortoise, arrived at the Philly Zoo before FDR delivered his first fireside chat, before Johnny Cash walked the line, before the Eagles ever took the field. She's outlived 12 U.S. presidents and endured world wars, famines, recessions and pandemics.

• And at 97, she became a first-time mother to 16 hatchlings of critically endangered Western Santa Cruz Galápagos tortoises. Kylie Kelce cried, Vogue's Emma Specter swooned, and "Saturday Night Live" cracked jokes. Viral, vital, vivacious. In a city known for love stories, Mommy tops them all.

Phoenix's roadie lizard

Archibald, or Archie to his friends, escaped from his Phoenix home during a monsoon last summer to fulfill a lifelong dream of living in the fast lane. The giant monitor lizard was caught on traffic cameras dodging freeway commuters.

• He eluded state troopers, hiding out in a storm gutter until professional reptile wranglers rescued him and returned him to his very concerned owner, who believed Archie was lost forever until he saw him during a local traffic report.

Pittsburgh's fledgling owlet

Muppet, the great horned owlet, made Yinzers fall hard. Much harder than the 100-foot tumble she survived unscathed earlier this year in Pittsburgh.

• A rare sight in urban settings, Muppet has attracted scores of onlookers, becoming as famous locally as the Steller's sea eagle that once escaped a zoo and the bald eagles that nest in a U.S. Steel mill.

Richmond's drunk uncle raccoon

Some call him "Rocky;" others call him "Al," as in alcohol. You can call him "champ."

• Richmond's global star shot to fame this year within days of getting drunk and passing out in a liquor store bathroom. He's inspired an SNL sketch and safe driving campaign, been on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," and raised over $170,000 for a local animal shelter via his "Trashed Panda" shirts.

San Antonio's Capy-tan

Tupi, the viral capybara, has won the hearts of fans worldwide. If social media fandom wasn't enough to prove his undeniable cuteness (ear wiggles and all) — he's also earned a New York Times feature and inspired a $TUPI memecoin in his first year of life.

• In other words, he's putting up Moo Deng numbers and is pretty unfazed by it.

Albi seeing you, San Francisco

Claude, the albino alligator, truly captured San Francisco's heart — and everyone's social feeds. Sadly, we lost our resident reptile and the California Academy of Sciences' beloved unofficial mascot to liver cancer in 2025, but not before he took one final victory lap.

• Fresh off celebrating three decades of life in September — a remarkable milestone for a species that rarely survives long in the wild — he spent his final months basking in birthday festivities and soaking up citywide adoration. RIP, Claude — you're a cut above the rest.

Florida's OG drunk, by way of Tampa Bay

Eight years before the Virginia raccoon liquor store break-in, there was the Florida opossum. She knocked a liquor bottle off the shelf while climbing down from the rafters, then, as the store owner put it in 2017, "drank the whole damn bottle."

• Vote for the OG, not the copy-cat, err, copy raccoon.

📬 Did we miss someone? Here's your chance to make a case for a write-in candidate. Include the name and city of the animal you're nominating, plus why their story stands out.

• If we're convinced, maybe there'll be a run-off. Because democracy.