Clever foxes, stubborn donkeys: Are animal characteristics true?
Published: Monday, Sep 30th 2024, 05:50
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Foxes are often associated with cunning and bees with diligence. This is due to humans, who like to project their characteristics onto the animal world. This fact check clarifies which of these are true.
The stubborn donkey, the stupid cow or even the old dirty sow: many German proverbs are associated with the animal world. We assign some, sometimes negative, characteristics to certain animals. Even in old fairy tales and fables, the fox was portrayed as clever and the wolf as evil. When animals are humanized in this way, we speak of anthropomorphism (from the Greek "anthropos": human and "morphe": form or shape). But a look at the research shows: Not all of these stereotypes are true.
Claim: Foxes are clever and cunning
That's right. Foxes have a pronounced learning and social behavior and can learn from their experiences, says Sven Herzog from the Technical University of Dresden. "Once a member of a family group has been caught in a trap, both they and their family members avoid these or similar structures," explains the expert in wildlife ecology and hunting management.
Foxes are also able to predict human behavior through observation. This means that they can tell whether a human is a harmless walker or a potentially dangerous hunter. What's more, their adaptability allows them to survive in different habitats.
Another characteristic that contributes to the cunning of the furry four-legged friends is their conspicuous play behavior, which indicates a high level of intelligence. The bond between siblings is more stable than that between parents and young animals, the expert emphasizes. For example, they hunt together in small family groups. "These social interactions require a certain degree of communication and social intelligence."
Claim: Sloths are lazy
Misleading. Sloths are indeed quite slow. They move almost as if in slow motion. According to the environmental foundation WWF, the fluffy animals shimmy through the trees at a speed of eight to ten meters per minute - the equivalent of less than one kilometer per hour. They are even slower on the ground. Sloths are also said to spend around 18 hours a day sleeping. What may seem lazy to us is actually an efficient energy-saving strategy.
Thanks to their special diet, these naturally slow animals are forced to be such couch potatoes. According to the WWF, sloths mainly eat leaves, sometimes flowers and fruit or even smaller animals. Their meals are low in nutrients and do not provide much energy. This is why the climbing furry creatures, which are related to anteaters and armadillos, avoid any unnecessary exertion. The animals even go to the toilet only once a week.
Claim: Donkeys are stubborn
Wrong. Donkeys are not stubborn, but simply cautious. "They come from mountainous and rocky areas where a wrong step can be disastrous," says a spokeswoman for the Zoological Research Museum Alexander König (ZMFK). That's why donkeys stop when they can't assess a situation.
According to the animal welfare organization Peta, unlike horses, donkeys are not flight animals and can be quite calm. Therefore, the hoofed animals would hardly react to pain, fear or illness. When in doubt, the attentive donkeys tend to stand still, which can be perceived as stubborn.
Claim: Bees are industrious
Partly true. Bees can indeed be described as industrious. However, this does not apply to all species, but rather to the honey bee, explains the German Beekeepers' Association. This characteristic refers primarily to the female honey bee, "the so-called worker bee, especially in its function as a forager bee." The honey bee diligently collects nectar, honeydew and pollen. They also provide the pollination service that is so important for nature and agriculture, which is central to biodiversity, species conservation and crop yields.
According to the beekeepers' association, the small nectar collectors are also very social insects that encourage each other to collect, so that they also exhibit communal collecting behavior. "Bees also work extremely economically and efficiently - there is practically no "idle time" for them and they only work when it is worthwhile for everyone." They use every opportunity to collect successfully.
Bees are particularly efficient when they work together as a colony. In a study, zoologist Jürgen Tautz and his colleagues marked forager bees from a hive with 4000 animals. The scientists observed what percentage of the forager bees went on flights and how often - with sobering results: Extrapolated to 25,000 forager bees, this resulted in only four flights per bee per day. According to Tautz, the entire bee colony performed amazingly well when collecting nectar, whereas the individual bees were rather lazy.
Claim: Raven parents are bad parents
Wrong. Ravens do not have a good reputation in this country. They are often seen as bad luck and bad parents. This is where the expression "raven parents" comes from. This is not justified. The saying has its roots in an old misunderstanding about the behavior of ravens.
Even in ancient times, the pitch-black bird was seen as a symbol of cruelty and indifference towards one's offspring. It was believed that ravens throw their young out of the nest and abandon them, which is why the term "raven parents" was coined and a negative image developed in many European cultures.
The exact opposite is the case. Raven chicks rarely have to deal with the separation of their parents, "as they live in monogamous permanent marriages", explains animal expert Herzog. Ravens are very intelligent animals, which is also reflected in the upbringing of their young. "The breeding pair takes devoted care of their offspring," says the wildlife expert.
Claim: Pigs are dirty and untidy places are pigsties
Wrong. Contrary to what is claimed, pigs are extremely clean animals. "What's more, the animals never defecate near where they sleep, so they even have a kind of toilet," explains zoologist Herzog. Where possible, they wallow in the mud to regulate their body temperature or to protect themselves from insect bites and sunburn with a dried layer of mud.
A study from 2015 also came to the conclusion that wild boars even wash their food. A team of anthropologists at Basel Zoo in Switzerland observed the animals systematically cleaning their food before eating it. However, the scientists were unable to determine at the time whether this behavior was learned individually or socially.
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