Animal Stereotypes That You Hate

[Sphenisciologist]

What animal stereotypes do you guys hate? Stereotypes examples:
- Lions are the king of the jungle
- Goats eat peoples clothing
- Black cats are a sign of bad luck
- Turtledoves are a sign of good luck
- Monkeys are obsessed with bananas
- Pandas are cuddly and cuddly
- Dogs will eat your homework

I, personally hate the stereotype that large predators (such as bears, wolves and lions) are depicted as evil machines and savages, when at the end of the day they simply need to kill other animals to eat for survival.

 

[Great Argus]

- Goats eat peoples clothing

- Dogs will eat your homework

These two are known to happen every once in awhile.

 

[Haliaeetus]

Gorillas are ferocious beasts, while the Chimpanzees are joyful and funny animals.
Cf. King Kong vs. Cheeta

All snakes and spiders are dangerous ; additionnally the Snake is the Devil's animal.

 

[Pertinax]

Ostriches bury their heads in the sand...

All monkeys and apes go 'Hoo Hoo Hoo' and I hate when zoo visitors do this...

 

[DesertRhino150]

I hate probably all of the stereotypes about hyenas (for example, that they are stupid, evil or ugly).

That every bat is a disease-riddled monster that either sucks your blood or gets caught in your hair.

 

[Dassie rat]

I agree, DesertRhino150

Hyenas are considered to be cowards, as they often eat meat from animals killed by other animals.

Of course, meat-eating humans kill their own food, don't they?

 

[birdsandbats]

Animals only live where there are trees. This one is commonly believed in my area and does nothing to help rapid loss of Wisconsin's remaining prairie.

 

[DaLilFishie]

"Sharks are mindless killing machines". Shark attacks are actually quite rare. If anything, humans are the killing machines, 100 million sharks are killed by humans annually, compared to about 10 humans killed by sharks annually.

"Snakes/jellyfish/venomous spiders/any dangerous animal are evil". An animal that does not know the difference between right and wrong cannot be evil, they are just doing what they need to survive.

 

[birdsandbats]

"Grackles are evil".

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

I find most incorrect and lazy stereotypes of animals to be irritating (snakes are slimy etc) but these are still interesting IMO to think about and to analyse why these beliefs are held and what the origin of these ontologies are.

If you don't know where the stereotypes come from then how can you expect to change them with education ?

If you don't want to change such beliefs with environmental education then by simply condemning them and not being proactive you are actually just part of the problem and in my opinion possess the same lazy thinking that created the stereotypes.

I think the stereotypes which I find most frustrating is the charismatic megafauna bias when it comes to bias towards public interest / support and funding for conservation which typically bleeds into the political sphere and translates into a systemic lack of will to conserve species that don't fit that very narrow and superfluous criteria.

If we are talking about culturally specific animal stereotypes then I find negative or strange folkloric beliefs about animals objectively interesting (particularly if this is somehow connected to their conservation) but more often than not deeply disheartening.

 

[lowland anoa]

What animal stereotypes do you guys hate? Stereotypes examples:
- Lions are the king of the jungle
- Goats eat peoples clothing
- Black cats are a sign of bad luck
- Turtledoves are a sign of good luck
- Monkeys are obsessed with bananas
- Pandas are cuddly and cuddly
- Dogs will eat your homework

I, personally hate the stereotype that large predators (such as bears, wolves and lions) are depicted as evil machines and savages, when at the end of the day they simply need to kill other animals to eat for survival.

You’ve clearly never kept a dog

 

[HungarianBison]

- Goats eat peoples clothing

This is not a stereotype though... Once a goat has almost eaten my cap

 

[ZooElephantMan]

That gorillas beat their chests with their hands shaped like fists, when really they beat their chests with the hands open and flat.

 

[lowland anoa]

That gorillas beat their chests with their hands shaped like fists, when really they beat their chests with the hands open and flat.

In BSL (British Sign Language) that unfortunate stereotype, in fact is the actual sign for gorilla

 

[birdsandbats]

In BSL (British Sign Language) that unfortunate stereotype, in fact is the actual sign for gorilla

That's no sadder than the misnomers we use in English, of which there are plenty.

 

[Pertinax]

All monkeys have prehensile tails, stick-out ears and hang from branches by their tails while holding a banana and going 'ooh aah aah aaah'...

 

[Sphenisciologist]

You’ve clearly never kept a dog

I have a dog, but them eating your homework is still a stereotype. Stereotypes can be true.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

All monkeys have prehensile tails, stick-out ears and hang from branches by their tails while holding a banana and going 'ooh aah aah aaah'...

Yes, that one is both very annoying and encountered everywhere, I agree, lol

 

[Dylan]

I hate hearing the red-tailed hawk call for bald eagles, harris hawks or almost any other bird-of-prey

 

[ZooElephantMan]

Most people I know think that Tigers are indigenous to Africa, which annoys me SO much.

I'm not sure if this counts as a stereotype, but it is definitely a very common misconception where I am from so I thought I'd share it anyway.