Weird and Strange Animal Myths

In the US, a lot of people seem to think Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefoli) is poison ivy.

4 Likes

The maned Wolf (Lobo-guará, a canid) was once hunted for their eyes, beleived to be good-luck charms.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maned_wolf

1 Like

Yesterday I heard from someone who grew up in Assam, India, that house geckos are poisonous and that his mom was paranoid about the possibility that one might fall into food being cooked and poison the whole family.

2 Likes

I’ve known people who felt the same way about the daddy-long-legs/cellar spiders. They thought that if the spiders fell into a saucepan of food then everybody would be poisoned.

2 Likes

Just read this morning that venomous spiders have slime in them and others don’t.
Hard to read all, but nighthawks are valled goatmilkers and it was believed they were milking them, as well as toads and frogs (also those are eating strawberries, they can’t just sit there, right?). Toads=automatic warts. Earwigs live just to crawl into your ear (though it can happen) and eat your brain.

3 Likes

Fear of lizards is arguably more common in India than a fear of snakes or spiders

1 Like

Here’s a few snake ones:

“Poisonous snakes can’t cross rivers.”
“Triangular head on a snake means it’s poisonous.”
“All snakes found in water are extra poisonous.”
“Snakes will chase after you and bite you even if you don’t provoke them.”
“Brightly colored snakes are deadly poisonous.” - To be fair, in some areas, this could make sense, but not in Indiana. That milksnake is not going to kill anyone, leave it alone.

Another vote for the whole ‘Harvestmen are the most poisonous spiders’ myth that will not die.

Then there’s the whole misunderstandings concerning common names, misapplied names, and general confusion over how taxon names work regarding plants. Sure, we call that one common annual a geranium, but it’s actually not a geranium. My family and I would split the difference by calling it an ‘annual geranium’ because going further would just make everyone roll their eyes at me. :joy:

6 Likes

Yesterday was told about rafting on the Orange River.
The campsite owners justified shooting a baby puff adder - because the babies kill people, they haven’t learnt to dose their poison?! Another defenceless dead snake.

5 Likes

My grandmother told me to cover open wounds (especially knees and elbows) as spiders lay their eggs in it.

2 Likes

Coachwhip snakes bite people and whip them with their tails.

1 Like

They definitely do bite if you pick them up, I’ll say that. I don’t remember being whipped at all, however.

2 Likes

Touting that SmokeyBear is the fix all against forest fires. Look where we are to today.

Anything with teeth can bite. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Black flies pollinate blueberries.

2 Likes

In Senegal gecko pee is supposed to be poisonous. Geckos will try to poison people by deliberately peeing in their food or in their mouths while they sleep.

2 Likes

The funny myths in Lithuania are about slow worms and horsehair worms (Gordius aquaticus). The former is considered to be a deadly snake (more dangerous than the only poisonous one found in the country – adder), on the other hand, it is said that, if touched, it will disintegrate into small pieces. However, I’ve never heard of intentional killing of slow worms, just warnings not to touch them. Horsehair worm is thought to be able to penetrate through any orifices of a human taking a swim, lay eggs and cause a mortal disease. On the other hand, there are beautiful myths, too. It is said that one must never kill a grass snake because the Sun will cry. And – all Lithuanian babies are brought by white storks :-)

3 Likes

I spent time in Xochimilco, Mexico City, where the human made canals still exist (chimpanas). Some indigenous people (nahua) were breeding Aqualote, which are axolotl. I understood that the canals were the only place they lived in Mexico. They were once used as food pre contact but now the canals are so polluted and filled with introduced fish (tilapia, carp) that no one knows if there are any left in the wild. Since a place that tried to use biofiltration to clean the water had to treat the plants as hazardous waste, I don’t foresee the introduction very soon. Kids who live there swim in the canals.

1 Like

This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.