The photo above was actually taken by my wife Cristina, as you probably guessed since I'm in it. An African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) is about the craziest animal I can imagine appearing in the road in front of me (except perhaps a dinosaur). Yet, during our travels in northern Botswana and in the Caprivi Strip of Namibia, elephants in the road actually became a common sight.
If you came here looking for cool wildlife crossing signs to buy, you can find tons of animal crossing signs for sale online. Here's a nice elephant one I found (you can click it to see it better). I made a list of other cool ones at the bottom.
Australia's most iconic animal and most iconic landmark together in the same photo. What's not to love? The big red rock is Uluru (aka Ayer's Rock). That's what makes this one of my all time favorite animal crossing signs. The sign most likely refers to Australia's largest marsupial, the Red Kangaroo (Macropus rufus). Sadly there are loads of dead kangaroos along Australia's highways and many drivers actually install "roo bars" on the front of their vehicles to reduce damage to their trucks. Doesn't help the poor kangaroos much however.
This sign appears near the Community Baboon Sanctuary in Bermudian Landing, Belize. As indicated by the sign, the monkeys actually cross on little ladders suspended over the road which is pretty cool. Though the local folks call them "baboons" they are in fact Howler Monkeys, some of the loudest animals on the planet. This is a great place to see howlers, specifically the Guatemalan (Yucatan) Black Howler Monkey (Alouatta pigra).
With less than two hundred of these remaining in the wild, the odds of ever actually seeing a Florida Panther (Puma concolor coryi) on the highway are ridiculously slim. Yet somehow, these elusive cats still get killed on Southern Florida's back roads every year. It is a thrill to know these powerful creatures still roam the wilds of the eastern United States, even if it is only in tiny pockets around the Florida Everglades.
It's hard to imagine a sign that warns about rodents crossing the road, unless that rodent happens to be the largest rodent in the world: the Capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris). In the wilds of Brazil lies the world's largest wetland area, the Pantanal. There is one lonely road crossing it known as the Transpantaneira and it is a treasure trove of super cool animal crossing signs. I love this one because it shows some cute little baby Capybaras following a huge adult, which is actually a fairly common sight. How huge are they? Up to 150 pounds! As big as me!
I encountered this sign while driving through a fairly populated area in southeastern Australia. Being from the United States, a Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) seems like one of the most exotic animals I could imagine crossing the road in front of me. You can tell by all the eucalyptus trees in the background (the koala's favorite food) that this really is Koala habitat. The thing I find funny about the illustration is that the fluffy ear tufts are portrayed very accurately and realistically, while the limbs appear to be nubby little stumps. It's not surprising that the artist was stumped as to how to draw their rather confusing paws. The front hands have two opposable digits (the first and second). The back feet have one large opposable digit while the second and third digits are fused together but retain two claws. Super wacky but great for climbing trees!
Look at those ridiculously tall ears on the illustration. That is not a mistake by the artist. This sign is warning drivers to watch out for one of my favorite Kalahari Desert creatures, the Bat-eared Fox (Otocyon megalotis). Many species of bats have ears that look way too big for their head, and so does this little fox! The huge ears help them hone in on tiny prey animals scurrying around at night, primarily termites, beetles, and other small invertebrates. It's not easy to spot a bat-eared fox in the wild, but sadly it is all too easy to see a dead one on this road leading into the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in South Africa.
Penguin crossing. Ha! Now that's just cool. Not something you'd expect to see behind a shopping center, but the Little Blue Penguin (Eudyptula minor) is occasionally found burrowing in residential neighborhoods like this one in Omaru, New Zealand. These guys are the smallest penguin species in the world (about a foot tall) which means this sign is portraying them at about actual size! It's also kind of cute that they made them blue in the sign because the Little Penguin actually does look kind of blue under the right light.
Good for you Guatemala. Snakes definitely don't get enough respect in this world. Asphalt roads are a favorite place for snakes to warm up on a chilly day so when I see something that looks like a stick lying in the road, I always slow down and try to catch a glimpse of these elusive creatures. I came across this sign on the road through the jungle leading to the ancient Maya ruins of Tikal. If you like animal crossing signs, you've gotta drive this road. It's the best collection I've seen anywhere in the world.
The warthog (Phacochoerus africanus) is one of my favorite animals in Africa and it's haughty little attitude is captured perfectly in this warthog crossing sign near Etosha National Park in Namibia. One of the funniest things about warthogs is that when they get nervous and are about to run, their pencil thin tails stick straight up into the air like little flagpoles. So if you did see a warthog on the road, it would probably look just like this excellent illustration. The other really cute behavior, which did not make it into the sign, is that the long wiry hairs on their back stand up like a crazy mohawk. I love warthogs!
Ever heard of a Guanaco? I hadn't either until I started driving around Patagonia in Southern Chile. They are related to camels and like their Afro-Asian cousins they are well adapted to living in dry environments. The Guanaco (Lama guanicoe) is the wild ancestor of the domesticated llama. I like this illustration for its attempt at giving the Guanaco some facial details. My favorite part about watching Guanacos by the road was witnessing their amazing leaping ability. They could jump over a six-foot fence from a stand-still!
Um, bat crossing? Yes bats have incredible maneuverability and sonar that allows them to catch insects in flight, but they are still no match for a Buick traveling 70 miles per hour. Here, next to a remote highway in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, lies a deep natural well (a cenote) that is home to millions of bats. This cenote is in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, one of Central America's wildest patches of jungle. Each night at 5:30 nearly three million bats exit the cave in a swirling vortex, and each night dozens are struck by passing cars. At least eight different species of bats can be seen exiting from the "bat volcano"!
This is a really cute bear crossing sign I spotted in northern California. Aww, a bear cub. But what strikes me most about the sign is that the illustration looks like it is supposed to be a grizzly (there is a small hump in the shoulder blade area). Even though the state flag of California proudly displays a large grizzly bear striding across its middle, the grizzly was exterminated from the state nearly a hundred years ago. There has never been another grizzly spotted in the "Bear Republic" since then. More likely, this sign is supposed to refer to the still numerous black bear.
I found this sign in the Northern Territory of Australia near Kakadu National Park. I love it because 1) it reminds me that one of the world's most terrifying creatures, the Saltwater Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) might appear in the road in front of me at any moment, and 2) because it has the most highly detailed drawing I've ever seen on any animal crossing sign! Pretty creepy right?
Here's another great sign on the road to Tikal in Guatemala. It is a Coati, also known as a Coatimundi. This sign is referring to the local White-nosed Coati (Nasua narica). They are adorable members of the raccoon family that wander around in large bands and forage through the forest with their long flexible noses. This sign depicts their nose as being quite a bit longer and pointier than they actually are.
Though I have yet to see one in the wild, the Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) is probably my all-time favorite creature in the world. It was a thrill just knowing that these beautifully bizarre creatures could be lurking somewhere nearby as I drove through the Pantanal wetlands of Brazil.
I love the name "wombat" and I love the creature. Some of my fondest memories of wildlife watching in Australia are of crawling around in a field behind the large round bottom of wombat while it dined lazily on grasses. They are close relatives of the koala and, like other marsupials, they raise their young in a pouch. However, the wombat has the fascinating distinction of having a pouch that points backwards! This prevents dirt from entering the pouch while wombats burrow through their tunnels.
As a bonus, here is one final animal crossing sign. It is the only one I've ever seen that was dedicated to an insect. The Flightless Dung Beetle (Circellium bacchus) is listed as "vulnerable" and is only found in a few locations in South Africa, including Addo Elephant Park where this sign was photographed. Cars are their primary source of mortality. So if you see a big shiny black beetle rolling a ball of poop, hit the brakes!
All creatures deserve our respect and protection. Please do your best to look out for animals, great and small, when you take your next drive. You never know who might be watching you roll by!
Read this next: 20 More of my Favorite Animal Crossing Signs!
Can't get enough of these cool animal crossing signs? Get one to put in your own yard! Here are some of my favorites I've found online. These are the closest I could find to the real signs that I've shown in this post. Woo hoo!
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Our Churchill Polar Bear crossing signs must not have been up while you were here or I know we would have made the list. Hope all is well with you both.
Nice to see so many southern African signs make your list. An interesting thing about dung beetles in Addo is that you're advised not to drive over animal poo (there are LOTS of elephant and buffalo droppings in the road) because it usually contains some of these busy little beetles.
Glad to know I'm not the only who takes these kind of signs. Interesting how the quality of illustrations vary. The funniest is the dung beetle which I not only took a pic of the sign but the beetles in action as well. Also can be thorns in that poop. Great collection. Hope you'll share more.
Great post! Imagine seeing a panther in the U.S. That sign would get us quite excited. There are no penguin signs in Antarctica, but there were plenty of "penguin crossings" – and we were told that penguins have the right of way (we humans have to give way to them).