Too Big to Cuddle (12 Photos)

Giant animals, very small humans

A gorilla holds a whole group of visitors in one hand. A squirrel plays tug-of-war with a person. These 12 animal murals and sculptures turn familiar creatures into giants, with people, windows and cars showing just how big they are.

More: SMOK’s Art Is Easy To Love (10 Photos)

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🐱 Lynx — By Alegria del Prado in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France 🇫🇷

Owls, songbirds, butterflies and flowers make up the body of this seated lynx, with a hare tucked beside its front leg. Alegria del Prado painted it for Boulogne-sur-Mer’s 2025 street art festival on Rue Ferdinand Buisson. The duo worked entirely with brushes.

Photo by Adeline Maria.

More: Beautiful Wildlife Murals by Alegria del Prado (9 Photos)

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🦍 Straw Gorilla — By the Wara Art Festival team in Niigata, Japan 🇯🇵

One enormous hand wraps around a whole group of visitors. This gorilla was one of five sculptures made for the 2017 Wara Art Festival by Musashino Art University students and local residents. It stood in Uwasekigata Park, where that year’s sculptures were displayed from September until November 1.

💡 Nerd Fact: The festival’s construction process includes weaving rice straw into strips called toba, roughly five meters long and half a meter wide. These are tied to a framework of timber and plastic pipes to withstand wind and rain.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsGorilla (ゴリラ)Musashino Art Univ. students · 2017 · Uwasekigata Park, NiigataWara Art Festival 2017One of five 2017 animalsShown for two months1It was one of five giant animals made for the festival’s 10th anniversary, on the theme “10 × beasts”.Niigata City2Wara is the straw left over after rice grains are threshed out; the festival turns Niigata’s harvest leftovers into sculptures.Modern Farmer20172–3 SepFestival days; five works finished20172 OctSpoon & Tamago photo201710 OctModern Farmer photo201711 OctTime Out names the gorilla20171 NovDisplay ends (city)Read the full file →

More: Giant Straw Animals at the Wara Art Festival (12 Sculptures)

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🐼 Peekaboo Panda — By SMOK in Antwerp, Belgium 🇧🇪

A panda leans out from a painted recess at Klauwaardsstraat 30 in Berchem. In a statement reproduced on Street Art Cities, SMOK explains that the white walls, black windows and bamboo being planted during his first visit suggested the animal. He uses the building’s real edge to give the panda somewhere to hide.

💡 Nerd Fact: SMOK first painted graffiti in 1986. After a 15-year break, he returned to painting in 2013.

More: SMOK’s Art Is Easy To Love (10 Photos)

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🦊 Stadsnatuur — By Nina Valkhoff in Rotterdam, Netherlands 🇳🇱

A fox curls above its painter, surrounded by strawberries, leaves and a small bird. Nina Valkhoff painted Stadsnatuur in 2023 on Doelstraat beside Hofplein. She chose the animal to celebrate the foxes living in Rotterdam.

Photo by Rob Martínez.

More: Wildlife Murals by Nina Valkhoff

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🐈 Two Cats — By AREN in Mexico City, Mexico 🇲🇽

Two cats look up toward a blossom, their pale green eyes catching the light. AREN paints their faces close together across a wall in Mexico City, with fine whiskers against pink and blue.

More: Cats On Walls (9 Photos)

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🐻 Kicking Up Dust — By Sonny Behan in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada 🇨🇦

A woman in yellow passes beneath a grizzly’s lowered head, while turquoise shapes break through its golden fur. Sonny Behan painted Kicking Up Dust for the 2017 Cambridge International Street Art Festival, as the second mural in his To The Bone tour. The mural was painted over in 2023.

💡 Nerd Fact: Sonny painted this mural in response to grizzly trophy hunting in British Columbia. At the time, his conservation partner IFAW was working with the Northern Lights Wildlife Society and the provincial government to rehabilitate orphaned grizzly bears.

Photo by Yuliya Viarheichyk.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsKicking Up DustSonny Behan · 2017 · Galt, Cambridge, OntarioGiant grizzly bearTo The Bone tour, mural 2Made with IFAW1It was the second mural of Sonny’s “To The Bone” tour with IFAW, made to protest trophy hunting of grizzly bears.Sonny2In September 2023 the wall was painted plain green, and a city spokesperson said the city does not know why.Cambridge Times201728 JunArtist posts the finished bear201721 JulGraffitiStreet interview, photos2022TourMural tour stops at the bear202326 SepCambridgeToday: painted green202328 SepArtist responds20234 OctCambridge Times: wall bare202430 SepCaption: painted over in 2023Read the full file →

More: Sonny Behan’s Grizzly Mural (6 Photos)

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🐕 Chien Pirate — By DULK in Le Locle, Switzerland 🇨🇭

A white dog carries an owl, bags and pocket watches up the side of a house. DULK painted Chien Pirate for Le Locle’s Exomusée in 2023, covering 110 square meters at Rue du Tertre 6. Below, a person walks a much smaller dog.

💡 Nerd Fact: DULK based Chien Pirate on the region’s 18th-century smuggling history. Smugglers trained dogs to carry concealed goods across the Swiss–French border to avoid taxes.

More: Chien Pirate by DULK in Le Locle, Switzerland

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🐾 Opossum — By ROA in Chicago, USA 🇺🇸

ROA’s opossum stretches along a railway wall at 1539 West 16th Street in Pilsen. Painted in 2012, it looks intact from this viewpoint, but photographs from another angle reveal painted exposed organs around the wall’s corner. Its nose reaches over the parked car.

💡 Nerd Fact: Virginia opossums give birth after a gestation of just 12–13 days. The newborns, each about the size of a honeybee, climb into the mother’s pouch and remain attached to a teat for roughly two months.

Photo by Elizabeth.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsOpossumROA · 2012 · 16th Street, Pilsen, ChicagoOn a 16th Street rail wallThree days’ work (Tribune)About 20 ft (Hyperallergic)1According to the Chicago Tribune, from one spot the opossum looks whole; a few steps to the right, a chunk of its body is missing.Chicago Tribune2Almost a year later some neighbours complained it looked like a rat; the alderman’s spokeswoman replied that Chicago has possums too.DNAinfo Chicago20127 AugStreetArtNews: “just completed”201213 AugBrooklyn Street Art, Pawn Works photos201217 AugChicago Tribune on the wall201210 SepHyperallergic photos201318 JunDNAinfo: neighbours complain201529 DecStreet Art NYC photo20197 JunGetty Images photo202314 JulFlickr photo (uploaded)202415 JunStreet Art Cities: last marked seenRead the full file →

More: By ROA – In Pilsen, Chicago, USA

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🐾 Numbat — By ROA in Fremantle, Australia 🇦🇺

A striped numbat stretches across a white brick wall in Henderson Street mall. Commissioned by the City of Fremantle, ROA painted the 25-meter mural in October 2011. The city’s cultural development coordinator told The West Australian that ROA chose the numbat because it was endangered. The shopfront and street barriers look small beside it.

💡 Nerd Fact: A real numbat weighs just 400–700 grams and can eat up to 20,000 termites a day. It cannot break into termite mounds, so its feeding schedule follows the insects’ movements into accessible soil layers.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsNumbat — ROA, FremantleROA · 2011 · Fremantle, AustraliaBlack-and-white muralOpposite Fremantle Markets1Fremantle council commissioned ROA’s numbat in 2011 for A$15,000.Fremantle Herald2According to the city’s cultural coordinator, ROA chose the numbat because it was endangered.The West Australian201129 OctStreetArtNews photo report201131 OctCity interview in The West20131 FebHerald commission report201324 OctGnangarra photo · camera date202213 AugFenced, awaiting demolition202229 AugFREOVIEW demolition report202525 AugInventory: decommissionedRead the full file →

More: ROA — A Street Art Collection

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🐶 Kelly the Wonder Dog — By Jimmy Dvate in Major Plains, Australia 🇦🇺

Kelly rests both paws over the painted edge of a silo, the dog’s face filling almost the entire curved surface. Jimmy Dvate painted the real Kelly the Wonder Dog at Wanamara Farm, a private property in Major Plains.

More: Kelly the Wonderdog by Jimmy Dvate

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🦬 Forest Bison — By Cukin in Mirosławiec, Poland 🇵🇱

A bison fills the house gable, with deer standing on its horns and a lynx crossing its nose. Cukin painted the mural as part of Mirosławiec’s nature education project, bringing local wildlife together on one enormous face.

More: Cukin’s Bison Mural in Mirosławiec

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🐿️ Squirrel Tug-of-War — By SCAF

The squirrel has both paws on a heart-patterned cloth, and the person at the other end is pulling hard. SCAF lines up the real fabric with the painted paws, making this oversized squirrel a stubborn opponent.

More: 26 Amazing 3D Paintings by SCAF

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