For the first time in human history, most people on earth now live in cities. Among the many profound implications of this process has been a radical alteration in the relationship between humans and nature. Increasingly, human life appears remote and independent of natural processes, and is often accompanied by historically novel interactions with and perceptions of wild species. Deprived of the usual intimacy between people and wildlife, contemporary urban humans are now subject to what has been termed "the extinction of experience". While most wild species do not survive urbanisation, those that do often thrive in the new anthropogenic environments. Such synanthropic species typically develop or evolve a range of behavioural traits including tolerance or habituation to the presence of humans. These traits are often correlated with species known for serious wildlife-human conflicts, as well those that are welcomed into our private spaces. This plenary address will explore some of the more important wildlife-human interactions that occur in suburban environments, including attacks on humans by Australian magpies, the invasion of mound-building birds into cities and the dilemma of urban flying fox roosts. I will also outline recent work on the most universal of suburban wildlife-human interactions, wildlife feeding, a ubiquitous past-time that is remarkably controversial in Australia.