Kid Territory: Why Are Some Animals Considered "Bad" or "Scary?"

You've heard the stories and seen the movies. Wolves gather in the woods to attack helpless people, especially girls (remember Little Red Riding Hood?). Bats with huge fangs seek you out to suck your blood. Black cats live with witches and put a curse on you. Snakes deliberately find people to attack. Toads give you warts. Actually, none of these things are true. So why do humans have so many fears and superstitions about certain animals? Why do people think some animals are evil?

Learn the facts

Most of the time it's because of ignorance, not knowing the facts about an animal or not understanding what its behavior is for. Humans tend to fear what they don't know or understand. So if someone sees a vampire bat sucking a cow's blood, he might assume that all bats do that, and that they will do it to anything they can. Stories are made up and rumors start, and the next thing you know, people believe that all bats attack deliberately and suck blood. But this isn't based on fact. There are thousands of bat species, and most of them eat fruit or insects and are very important to the environment. Only a few bats suck blood—they are small and not aggressive, and they hang around livestock and nip at their heels to get blood. They don't ravenously attack, and they are just an annoyance to the cows and horses—they don't kill them. If people took the time to ask questions and do research, they would find out that many of the things they hear about animals just aren't true. As they say, knowledge is power!

Why they behave as they do

Sometimes people's fears about animals are based on instinctive reactions from a long time ago. Thousands of years ago when humans didn't have houses and roads and cars, they did have reason to be frightened of some animals, especially big carnivores, because people could be hunted for dinner just like other prey animals. That's why the roar of a lion, the snarl of a jaguar, or the howl of wolves can send chills up our spines—instinctively, we remember when we were prey. And we still can be—a tiger or a killer whale could certainly decide to eat you if it wanted to. But that's where knowledge comes in. If you researched the animal's behavior, you'd find out it probably wouldn't want to eat you. Humans are not a "natural" prey source for any of the top carnivores. They have many other regular sources of food that they'd rather eat. If they can't find their regular food and they are starving, or if a human intrudes upon them and makes them defensive, they will kill people, but it's not a common occurrence. So even though we might instinctively feel frightened of an animal, knowing its behavior and staying out of its way can help us live together peacefully.

It's a matter of survival

Some people belive that animals think the same way we do, and that they are deliberately trying to hurt us or hunt us down—that they have evil intentions. That just isn't the case. Animals behave the way they do to survive. If a carnivore is hungry, it will kill something—but not because it is "evil," just because it will die if it doesn't eat. Venomous snakes don't hunt people down to bite them just because they feel like it—they only strike in order to defend themselves. Animals are wonderfully adapted to look and act the way they need to in order to live in their habitat and circumstances. They're just being themselves and going about their business. It's up to us to learn about them and understand them, rather than just thinking they are "bad."

So the next time you hear something strange about an animal, such as bats who zero in on you to get tangled in your hair, or hyenas who eat young children for fun, don't assume it's true. Do some research and find out what that animal is really like!

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