Incorrect 'facts' heard at zoos

[Osedax]

Hello.

Because of the disregard for taxonomy in newspapers, many Brazilians believe white rhinos are extinct. The same happens with any blue macaw, as no one differentiates the Spix's macaw (only extinct in the wild) from the others. This means many people are surprised when they see either of them at the zoo.

Here in Australia, something I hear without fail at every Tasmanian Devil exhibit is "But aren't Tasmanian Devils extinct?".

 

[Brayden Delashmutt]

"Sharks have remained unchanged for 450 million years"

This is a often-heard 'fact', but it simply isn't true. The shark lineage has indeed been around for that long, but they have most certainly changed and evolved in that time.

Another about sharks, but from the Two Oceans Aquariums website Evolution's ultimate predator: Here are our top 10 prehistoric sharks . It lists Acanthodians, Stethacanthus, Edestus and Helicoprion, none of which are sharks. It also states that Megalodon was primarily a deep sea predator and that the appearance of Orcas caused it to go extinct, both which are untrue.

Lots of things are like this, and facts are usually misinterpreted. I’ve heard many a person say they thought hyenas were cats

 

[Birdsage]

"Sharks have remained unchanged for 450 million years"

This is a often-heard 'fact', but it simply isn't true. The shark lineage has indeed been around for that long, but they have most certainly changed and evolved in that time.

Another about sharks, but from the Two Oceans Aquariums website Evolution's ultimate predator: Here are our top 10 prehistoric sharks . It lists Acanthodians, Stethacanthus, Edestus and Helicoprion, none of which are sharks. It also states that Megalodon was primarily a deep sea predator and that the appearance of Orcas caused it to go extinct, both which are untrue.

I don’t think Cladoselache counts either: it was not any more a shark than it was a ray. While there was a hypothesis for a time that selachians were paraphyletic to batoids (rays, including skates, guitarfishes, sawfishes, etc.) and therefore sharks should include all elasmobranchs, this no longer seems to be the case. Good luck trying to find anything from the actual shark lineage (as opposed to stem-group elasmobranchs) from before 300 mya. The factoid is more than “simply untrue” and a lot more than an “oversimplification”.

Spix's macaw (only extinct in the wild)

This comes to mind:

 

[Prochilodus246]

It will have been two years ago now but I heard this at the Cheshire Falconry Centre:

Barn owls aren't native to the UK, and were introduced over 100 years ago. I have a feeling he confused them with Little owl.

 

[Nile Hippo Expert]

Incorrect fact: "An average adult male Nile Hippo weighs 7,000-8,000 pounds."
Truth: Adult male Nile Hippos weigh between 3,000 and 5,000 pounds, rarely ever reaching 6,000 pounds.

 

[Golden Takin]

"hippo kills Nile crocodile in the wild" by an educator in Chimelong

 

[bongorob]

From a volunteer at Chester, "Tuataras belong to the world's oldest lizard family."

 

[Brayden Delashmutt]

An educator at San Diego said that Siberian Tigers weighed over 1000 lbs on average

 

[Dassie rat]

From a volunteer at Chester, "Tuataras belong to the world's oldest lizard family."

I've heard Chris Packham and David Attenborough say that that tuataras are lizards

 

[Brayden Delashmutt]

I've heard Chris Packham and David Attenborough say that that tuataras are lizards

David Attenborough called hyenas dogs in The Life of Mammals

 

[Birdsage]

David Attenborough called hyenas dogs in The Life of Mammals

This comes to mind:
The Birdist: Birds at Large: BBC's Life of Mammals

 

[birdsandbats]

I've heard educators at several zoos say that Lions and Tigers would never meet in the wild.

 

[Haliaeetus]

Once in Beauval the keepers said that the vegetarian regime of the Giant Panda was an adaptation to human pressure that pushed the Pandas to the mountains where animal preys weren't available.
Indeed it's a much older adaptation, as morphological adaptations (teeth, "false thumb"...) can testimony.
They have stopped to say that for a couple of years.

 

[Brayden Delashmutt]

I've heard educators at several zoos say that Lions and Tigers would never meet in the wild.

Did they say that about historical lion and tiger ranges or current ones? Because rn there aren’t any tigers in gir forest

 

[birdsandbats]

Did they say that about historical lion and tiger ranges or current ones? Because rn there aren’t any tigers in gir forest

How recent is that?

 

[Brayden Delashmutt]

How recent is that?

Well, tigers have never been common in gir forest, but the last one there was seen 25 years ago and dissapeared after a few days. It’s evidently just not a good place for them-even that tiger was relatively unique since they’re rarely sighted there at all

 

[Chlidonias]

"hippo kills Nile crocodile in the wild" by an educator in Chimelong

Hippos do kill crocodiles.

 

[Brayden Delashmutt]

“Aye ayes aren’t lemurs they’re primates” (heard from a fellow volunteer)

 

[Chlidonias]

I've heard educators at several zoos say that Lions and Tigers would never meet in the wild.

Did they say that about historical lion and tiger ranges or current ones? Because rn there aren’t any tigers in gir forest

How recent is that?

Gujarat state used to be home to lions, tigers, leopards, and cheetahs! The cheetahs became extinct in 1940 and tigers in the 1980s.The lions and tigers used to overlap considerably in distribution in Gujarat in the 1800s but hunting rapidly reduced the lions to a remnant population in Kathiawar. I can't actually find any valid references for tigers in Gir, and the article I'll link below specifically says tigers have never been recorded from Kathiawar.

This is a nice little article about Gujarat's tigers (it loads quite slowly for me though): https://roundglasssustain.com/wildvaults/tiger-gujarat

Well, tigers have never been common in gir forest, but the last one there was seen 25 years ago and dissapeared after a few days. It’s evidently just not a good place for them-even that tiger was relatively unique since they’re rarely sighted there at all

What is your source for the last tiger being seen in Gir "25 years ago"? Tigers became extinct in Gujarat state in the mid-80s (the date for the last animal is variably given as 1983 or 1985) - that's 40 years ago. The only tigers confirmed in the state since then are one straggler which entered from another state in 1992 and one in 2019, neither of which were anywhere close to Gir and both of which were killed or died soon afterwards.

 

[cloudedleopard611]

I overheard an employee at the Saint Louis Zoo referring to red pandas and raccoons as Mustelids. He actually did seem very knowledgeable about animal taxonomy from other parts of the conversation, so my guess is he knows they aren't in family Mustelidae, but was oversimplifying as they are in superfamily Musteloidea. In my opinion, if my hypothesis is correct, it was a bit too broad of a simplification.