As cities around the world mandate lockdowns, quarantines and social distancing, social media posts about animals frolicking through deserted cities have enchanted people anxiously seeking silver linings.

We must sadly report that many of these optimistic posts have turned out to be fake – there were no dolphins in Venice’s celebrated canals, or drunken elephants ambling through China’s Yunnan province.

But as the coronavirus crisis changes the rhythms of urban life, there are some early signs that animals – especially the creatures that lurk in the periphery of big cities…