Johannesburg - South Africans aren’t too fussed about spotting a tiger, a hippo or a camel; what they really want to see is a gorilla, according to Google.
In a report commissioned by the travel company Explore, data analysts studied 12 months of Google searching to see which animals were Googled the most in more than 180 countries.
The study, called the Wildlife Online Trends Report, looked for search terms that included the name of the animal, with “+ safari” or “how to see a (particular animal)”.
South Africa, home of the Big Five, had the gorilla as its most searched animal.
Worldwide, the animal that came up on top when it came to Google searches was the tiger.Forty-four countries had the big cat as the most searched animal. The hippo came in second, the dolphin third and the gorilla fifth..
Regionally, the study found that in Europe, whale and dolphin watching was top of most European’s wish list of animals they wanted to see.
But in Germany and Sweden, they were more interested in seeing elk. Icelanders were keen to see a zebra.
Asians searched for a mix of animals. Indonesians searched for pandas, and South Koreans bears. In Japan and Singapore, the preference was for cats.
Most African countries had the hippo as its most must-see animal. In second place was the tiger.
In South America, whale safaris and “how to see whales” made up the most Google searches in seven countries, among them Brazil, Colombia, Chile and Venezuela.
In Argentina, wild horses were listed as the most popular animal to see.
While most Americans had Tigers on their wish lists, to the west of the US, the favourite animal to see was the camel.
All data was correct as of January 2023.