Ostriches hide their heads in the sand, and dogs are disinterested: debunking the most stupid myths about animals

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

These misconceptions are imposed on us by Disney cartoons, popular films and children's books.

Mice love cheese

Despite the fact that in popular culture cheese is a favorite product of mice, in reality it is not. Of course, rodents will eat it if they are very hungry, but they are generally indiscriminate in food.

Perhaps the stereotype Do mice really love cheese? about the love of mice for cheese appeared in the Middle Ages. Then the meat was traditionally stored hanging from the ceiling on a hook or rope, but large heads of cheese were placed directly on the floor, covered with wax or wrapped in cloth. And the mice gnawed at him only because they could get to him.

There is also another point of view. David Holmes of the University of Manchester suggests Nuclear Energy's Future, the Mouse-Cheese Relationship that the stereotype originated from animators and cartoonists who were comfortable drawing triangular slices of cheese in the paws of Jerry Mouse - they are more recognizable than peanut butter or a handful of rice.

Cheese seems rather unpleasant to mice, because they have a too sensitive sense of smell for it. Consider this when you feed your pet … or set up a mousetrap.

These animals prefer What should I feed my pet mouse ?, Do mice really prefer cheese? sugary foods such as chocolate; fruits, vegetables, meats, and lard.

There are warts from frogs and toads

No, they don't. Warts are caused WARTS are NOT caused by touching a toad or frog! human papillomavirus. They can appear if you come into tactile contact with people who already have them. Amphibians do not tolerate papillomaviruses.

Some frogs, however, are poisonous Phyllobates terribilis, and if you touch them, you will not get warts, but simply die. But do not worry, all sorts of terrible leaf climbers and poison dart frogs with skin secreting batrachotoxin are found only in South America.

Dogs are incredibly loyal

Dog lovers will want to tear us apart for such words, but still. Dogs are not nearly as disinterested as it is commonly believed. In his book The Truth About Dogs, Cunning canines, researcher Stephen Budyansky says that pets deceive us with their affectionate behavior and playfulness. They feign loyalty in exchange for food, shelter, and care.

A group of Hungarian researchers installed Sensing sociality in dogs: what may make an interactive robot social? that dogs react to robots with the same joy if the machine offers them food. Moreover, between the immobile owner and the robot, which held out treats to the tested dogs and repeated their nicknames, the dogs chose the latter.

If the Day of Judgment still comes and the terminators begin a victorious march across the planet, the dogs will instantly jump over to them as soon as they offer a bone.

It is sad to admit that a dog is a man's best friend, not because he loves him disinterestedly, but because it is beneficial to be friends with a man.

Pigs - dirty

When we want to accuse someone of being sloppy, we usually compare him to a pig. The paradox is that they are actually quite clean creatures.

Pigs don't sweat. That is why they sometimes roll around Evaporative Cooling in the Pig, Review of wallowing in pigs: Description of the behavior and its motivational basis in puddles to cool off. But if possible, these animals do not mind swimming and are good at Swimming Pigs Rule This Tropical Island | National Geographic swim.

Contrary to the beliefs of The truth about pigs, pigs are rather picky about food and do not eat feces (unlike rabbits), and also do not defecate where they live (unless they are locked in a cramped pigsty). And some even wash their food in streams or puddles before they eat it.

Yes, and the story that a pig's orgasm lasts 30 minutes is also not true. In fact, the total time of copulation with orgasm is "Libido" in the larger farm animals: A review 4-5 minutes.

Finally, pigs are very smart. Some researchers believe Pigs Prove to Be Smart, if Not Vain, The Joy of Pigs, that they are even smarter than dogs, because they can find food in a trap with mirrors, open and close cages on command, solve puzzles and control PIGS PLAYING VIDEO GAMES with a computer with gamepad.

Penguins must be turned over

For a long time, such a bike has been walking around the Web. Signal operator, cook and penguin flipper. Jobs at the polar station. The rarest profession on earth is the penguin flipper. Allegedly, penguins living in the Falkland Islands (in some versions - at the South Pole) lift their heads too high, watching the flying airplanes. Then, not keeping their balance, they fall, cannot get up and die of hunger.

That is why the personnel of nearby aerodromes (or polar bases) have the position of "penguin flipper". This employee walks around the area and helps the fallen birds to get back on their feet.

By the way, the penguin flipper vacancy for Edinburgh Zoo even popped up a penguin flipper vacancy on Twitter in 2018.

That's just nonsense. Both RAF pilots and scientists have repeatedly stated Do Penguins Fall Over Watching Airplanes ?, The penguin is a proud bird, but vulnerable that penguins do not pay attention to planes and helicopters and do not fall after looking at them. And if they do fall, they can easily roll over and stand up without assistance. As for the vacancy, then at the Edinburgh Zoo about her.

And penguins do not always live at the South Pole. Some of them live If you think penguins are cute and cuddly you’re wrong in temperate and even tropical latitudes. And among penguins there are often ‘Depraved’ sex acts by penguins shocked polar explorer homosexual contacts, obviously just by mistake. At the same time, many females force Male Adélie Penguins Acquire Nest Material from Extrapair Males after Engaging in Extrapair Copulations to help them build a nest, and then abandon him, leaving him without reciprocity. No moral principles.

The severed earthworm will turn into two earthworms

The earthworm, although it looks the same from both ends, still has a head and tail. And if you share The Myth of Cutting a Worm In Half, Can a worm cut in half sense anything? it in half, the part on which the head remains, still has a chance to grow a tail, albeit a short one. The back half will inevitably die.

But flatworms like Dugesia are really capable of how many times can a worm be split in half and still grow back? regenerate even from pieces that are 1/300 of the original body size. It's like raising a clone of a human from a severed little finger. In addition, flatworms also "copy" their instincts and memories. Decapitated worms can regenerate their brains, and the memories stored inside, An automated training paradigm reveals long-term memory in planarians and its persistence through head regeneration to a new carrier.

Owls can turn their head 360 °

Not really. But they can How Owls Twist Their Heads Almost 360 Degrees rotate their heads 270 °, which is also not bad.

How is it that owls do not lose consciousness from stopping the flow of blood to the brain? This is because their vertebral artery expands Biological Twist: How Owls Spin Heads Around at the brain itself and there is a store of blood that allows neurons to function even when the vessels are pinched.

If the owl keeps its head turned for a long time, then sooner or later it will really lose consciousness. But birds do not prudently do this.

By the way, owls rotate their heads like this, because How Owls Spin Their Heads Around are practically unable to move their eyes. And these birds are not at all as wise as they are believed to be. Are they less savvy Do Great Gray Owls Comprehend Means - end Relationships? than crows, hawks, parrots or even pigeons, and are virtually impossible to train.

Bulls are annoyed by the red color

The bull, seeing the matador brandishing a red cloak, flies into a rage and rushes into the attack. Does the color of the cloak drive him crazy? Not likely, because bulls are actually color blind. That Bull Is Seeing Red !: Science’s Biggest Mistakes about Animals and Plants. They do not distinguish between red and green, but they see Improving Animal Welfare in yellow.

Somehow the MythBusters on Discovery did the Why Do Bulls Charge When they See Red ?, MythBusters Episode 85: Red Rag to a Bull experiment: they made a bull rush at three different flags - red, blue and white. And the animal attacked all three, not seeing much of a difference between them. And this means that the bull is infuriated not by the color of the cloak, but by the sharp movements of the matador.

The bird will refuse chicks if they are touched by a person

Surely you know that if you pick up a chick that has fallen out of the nest and put it back, the bird will throw the clutch. Because the nest now smells like a man.

Sounds creepy, of course, but don't worry. Birds are simply not capable of Fact or Fiction ?: Birds (and Other Critters) Abandon Their Young at the Slightest Human Touch to smell a person. According to Do Birds Really Abandon Their Chicks If Humans Touch Them? Mieko Chu, a specialist at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, they do not have enough sense of smell for this.

So if you return the chick to the nest, then the parents will most likely continue to look after him as if nothing had happened.

Lemmings are massively thrown off the rocks

It is not clear where the myth about the mass suicides of these animals came from. According to Lemming Suicide Myth Disney Film Faked Bogus Behavior biologist Thomas McDonough of the Alaska Fisheries Department, lemmings are very wary and not eager to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff.

Perhaps this legend comes from the 1958 Disney movie White Wilderness.

It depicted a flock of lemmings suffering from an obsessive desire to commit group suicide. But why the filmmakers decided that rodents were capable of this is not entirely clear.

Bats are blind and drink blood

Firstly, only three species of Common Vampire Bat, White Winged Vampire Bat, Hairy Legged Vampire Bat drink blood and they all live in South America. So we have nothing to fear from them.

Second, according to 6 Bat Myths Busted: Are They Really Blind? Rob Mees, executive director of the Michigan Bats Conservation Organization, they not only have eyesight, but sometimes they see more sharply than humans. The ultrasonic sonar used by bats is not their only sensing instrument.

Finally, bats are not eager to grab your face or hair. They don't hunt humans.

There are no bats that build nests. In your hair for sure.

Rob Meese

By the way, the image of a vampire turning into a bat was apparently invented by the writer Bram Stoker. In traditional European legends, ghouls turned into wolves, dogs and even pigs. But then nothing was known about bats - bloodsuckers.

Ostriches hide their heads in the sand

The stories that the bird buries its head, guided by the slogan "If the danger is not visible, then it is not," do not correspond to reality.

In fact, a female ostrich can Do ostriches really bury their heads in the sand? lie on the ground, pressing your head and torso to the soil in order to disappear into the vegetation and thus protect your masonry. But in general, these birds are not used to hiding from danger.

Moreover, an adult ostrich is quite capable of overwhelming the Ostrich - San Diego Zoo lion with one blow. And he runs so that it is not easy to catch up with him. And it's even harder to escape.

This myth appeared Ostrich head in sand thanks to the labors of Pliny the Elder. He wrote: "Ostriches imagine that when they put their head and neck in the ground, their whole body seems to be hidden." Perhaps this observation was made when the birds were setting up nests or eating something lying on the ground.