When the sun sets over our cities, a hidden world awakens. In the alleys of Mumbai, yellow eyes glint from the darkness– leopards on the prowl. In Harar, Ethiopia, hyenas silently roam the streets, scavenging and observing the humans who feed them by hand.
Even in the frozen outskirts of Canada or the suburbs of Durban, polar bears and black mambas are quietly navigating the edge between wilderness and civilisation.
These aren’t just stray animals—they are apex predators, scavengers, and survivors who have learned to thrive in human-dominated landscapes.
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Leopard, Mumbai, India
Two yellow orbs shine back at you in the darkness, as something catches the beam from your headlights in its eyes. Moments later, they’re gone. Should you find yourself driving along the back streets of Mumbai after dark, you might just have glimpsed a leopard.
Against the odds, the world’s most cosmopolitan big cat has gained a pawhold in the megacity, home to more than 20 million people.
By day, the leopards mostly hide up in Sanjay Gandhi National Park, the green heart of the city, where researchers counted 47 adult cats and eight cubs in 2018. At night, they prowl the neighbouring alleys and backyards, picking off stray dogs, and feral pigs and goats.
Black mamba, Durban, South Africa
Averaging lengths of two to three metres, the black mamba is Africa’s largest venomous snake. It is an apex predator, feeding on rodents, birds and other animals. When these prey species are exposed to pollutants, they absorb heavy metals, which are then passed on to the feasting snakes. The metals gradually accumulate in the snakes' tissues.
“Black mambas are common in the Durban area, and individuals often live in the same refuge for years,” explains Professor Graham Alexander, a herpetologist (someone who studies amphibians and reptiles) at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
Polar bears, Churchill, Canada
Once the Arctic sea ice has melted in the summer, polar bears are half-starved for much of the year, and it’s this that makes them dangerous. They gather in great numbers in the small town of Churchill, on the western shore of Hudson Bay, waiting for the sea ice to refreeze so they can hunt seals again, and encounters with humans are not uncommon though not usually fatal.
Hyenas, Harar, Ethiopia
The hyenas of Harar, Ethiopia—often called the “Hyenas of Hyena Man”—are part of a long-standing and unusual relationship between humans and wildlife.
For generations, spotted hyenas have roamed the ancient walled city, scavenging food at night and playing an important role in controlling waste and reducing disease.
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What makes Harar unique is the tradition of “hyena feeding,” in which selected families pass down the practice of offering meat to the animals . Over time, the hyenas have become remarkably tolerant of people, approaching calmly and even eating directly from a feeder’s hand or mouth.
This coexistence blends practicality with spiritual belief: many locals view the hyenas as protectors that guard the city from harmful spirits, preserving a fascinating example of mutual adaptation between humans and a typically feared predator.
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