Is What They Tell Us True?: Myths and Stereotypes About Animals
WINDMILL BOOKS Table of Contents Don’t judge a book by its cover 2 Bat 4 Bear 6 Fox 8 Ostrich 10 Hyena 12 Pig 14 Rat 16 Wolf 18 Snake 20 Shark 22 Turtle 24 Elephant 26 Chameleon 28 Black cat 30
BEWARE boar wild A BEWARE A wild bat BEWARE A fox BEWARE A wild snake WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO DESERVE THIS Ignorance is no excuse People used to think that chameleons change their color depending on their surroundings Now we know that this isn’t exactly true When chameleons are calm they’re green or brownish and blend with their environment better The way they change color depends mainly on their mood emotions and situation Therefore you shouldn’t expect a chameleon to change color as soon as you put it somewhere new WHY DON'T YOU CHANGE Don’t judge a book by its cover People often unjustly assign characteristics to animals that aren’t particularly flattering According to them snakes are slimy foxes sly and sharks life-threatening What did these animals do to deserve this Let’s take a look around forests savannas and waterways to find out what’s behind all this 2
Don't assume Some characteristics were assigned to animals more or less by mistake All it takes is one look and reality can appear in quite a different light Ostriches stick their heads in the sand you say Not at all What do you think that opossums spent the whole day hanging from tree branches by their tail The young can manage it for a while but adults use their tail to maintain balance on short branches What our ancestors believed Distorted ideas about animals can have a long tradition For example some of our ancestors believed that when an owl especially a little owl hoots it ushers in danger Who doesn’t get a fright at night right However there’s no reason to believe these superstitions as they mostly don’t have even a kernel of truth in them Opossum by its tail hangi Don’t believe everything you see You’ve certainly read a fairy tale or seen a movie that showed certain animals as evil creatures Let’s take the wolf for example He threatened not only Little Red Riding Hood but the three little pigs as well What we need to realize though is that such a depiction and reality may be miles apart BOO People were afraid of them Very often people used to associate certain animals such as bats and black cats with dark forces Naturally this caused fear These animals were considered to be helpers of witches vampires and many forces of evil Fear of such animals is ingrained so deep that some people are afraid of them to this very day That is a pity because these are some very interesting creatures that definitely don’t deserve the bad reputation they have 3
