Animal myth-busters
Blind bats and raging bulls: Debunking 10 common myths about wild animals
Published on October 29, 2024
Image: Carlos Torres
Wild animals have long captivated our imaginations (and often even fuel our nightmares), but our understanding of them is frequently clouded by myths and misconceptions. Despite the abundance of information available today, several myths about wild animal behavior persist, often stemming from misunderstandings, cultural beliefs, or sensationalized media. From suicidal lemmings to head-burrowing ostriches, it’s time to separate fact from fiction to honor our wild friends. Here are 10 common myths about wild animals that need urgent debunking.
Bats are completely blind
Image: Nils Bouillard
Contrary to popular belief, bats aren't blind at all! They can see quite well, though their vision varies by species. In fact, some bats have excellent night vision, which they use in combination with echolocation to navigate in what we might consider pitch-black conditions.
Although the saying "blind as a bat" is inaccurate, these nocturnal creatures do rely heavily on sound waves through their sophisticated auditory system. Their eyesight, however, assists them in locating food and avoiding obstacles, making them formidable hunters of the night.
Sharks can smell a drop of blood from miles away
Image: Gerald Schömbs
While sharks have an exceptional sense of smell, the idea that they can detect a drop of blood from miles away is an exaggeration. Although they are highly efficient predators, they are not infallible bloodhounds. Sharks can actually sense blood at concentrations as low as one part per million, but this still requires them to be relatively close to the source.
Their olfactory prowess is influenced by water currents, turbulence, and other environmental factors that can affect how far and accurately they can detect scents. Additionally, while their sense of smell is incredibly keen, it is just one of several senses sharks use to hunt, along with their acute hearing and electroreception capabilities.
Ostriches bury their heads to hide
Image: Wolfgang Hasselmann
Ostriches don't bury their heads in the sand to avoid danger. Curiously, this myth seems to have originated in ancient Rome (talk about a pervasive misconception!), and is often used as a metaphor for someone avoiding their problems.
The myth likely stems from their behavior of lowering their heads to the ground to eat or to check on their eggs, which can give the appearance of burying their heads. When actually threatened, ostriches either run at high speeds—up to 45 miles per hour—or lie flat on the ground to blend into their surroundings and avoid detection.
Goldfish have a 3-second memory
Image: Rachel Hisko
If you ever thought this idea sounded a bit fishy, you were in the right. Although this myth has been debunked several times over, it still somehow persists, likely due to the influence of exaggerated media.
In reality, research has shown that fish have amazing learning abilities—sometimes even surpassing those of primates! They can be trained to recognize colors, shapes, and even perform complex tricks, retaining information for months or years on end. And this makes a lot of sense because, how else could they survive in the often treacherous and intricate world of aquatic environments?
Camels store water in their humps
Image: Steven Su
Sorry to break it to you, but camels don't actually store water in their humps. In reality, their iconic humps are reservoirs of fatty tissue, which camels use as an energy source when food is scarce. They do, however, store water in their bloodstream, allowing them to go long periods without drinking.
The misconception arises from camels’ remarkable ability to survive in arid environments, but it’s their efficient water management, not hump storage, that allows them to endure the harsh desert conditions.
Bulls hate the color red
Image: Giovanni Calia
Bulls not only do not hate the color red, but they are also actually colorblind to it! The myth that bulls charge at the color red likely stems from traditional bullfighting. In reality, it is the matador’s movements, not the color of the cape, that provoke the bull to attack.
Bulls are reactive to motion rather than color. Their vision is similar to that of a person with red-green color blindness, meaning they cannot distinguish red from green. So, next time you're near a bull, don’t worry about the color of your shirt—just avoid sudden movements or attempts to scare the animal.
Touching a baby bird will make its parents abandon it
Image: 85GB photo
Birds generally don't abandon their chicks if touched by humans. In fact, most birds have a limited sense of smell, so they won't detect human scent on their offspring. That being said, it’s often best to leave baby birds alone. While birds won’t abandon their young solely due to human touch, they might do so in response to disturbance.
If they feel threatened, they may attempt to relocate their offspring to a new nesting site. Some more risk-averse species, such as hawks, might actually abandon their nest if they feel sufficiently threatened. However, in most cases, birds will not readily abandon their young after a minor disturbance.
Piranhas will strip a human to the bone
Image: Sofia Rotaru
Piranhas have a fearsome reputation, but they aren't the man-eating monsters depicted in movies. While they do have sharp teeth and a powerful bite, piranhas are generally scavengers and rarely attack humans. Curiously, part of the blame for their exaggerated reputation lies with President Theodore Roosevelt, who, after a trip to the Amazon, described them as the "most ferocious fish in the world."
In reality, piranhas are far from being exclusive carnivores. Most species have a diet primarily consisting of plants and small insects. Their infamous feeding frenzies and occasional attacks on humans are usually triggered by extreme conditions and hunger, not an inherent appetite for flesh.
Lemmings commit mass suicide
Image: Walter Frehner
Lemmings are small rodents usually found in Arctic biomes, infamous for their alleged suicidal tendencies—and penchant for tall cliffs, apparently. However, the idea that lemmings commit mass suicide by leaping off cliffs is a myth, in part popularized by the 1958 Disney documentary White Wilderness.
Like many rodents, lemmings experience periodic population booms and migrate in large numbers. These unexplained fluctuations in their populations likely contributed to the myth of mass suicide, which has since become a metaphor for mindless group behavior.
Bears hibernate all winter
Image: Daniele Levis Pelusi
While bears do enter a state of deep sleep during winter, they don’t hibernate in the traditional sense. True hibernators, like ground squirrels, lower their body temperature drastically, but bears only reduce theirs slightly and can wake up easily.
This semi-hibernation, called torpor, allows bears to conserve energy while still being alert to danger. However, during this state bears can go without eating, drinking, urinating, or defecating for months, relying solely on their fat reserves to survive the winter.
