Foxes are often associated with cunning and bees with hard work. This is due to humans, who like to project their characteristics onto the animal world. This fact check clarifies which of these is true.
The stubborn donkey, the stupid cow or even the old dirty pig: many German proverbs are connected to the animal world. We assign some, sometimes negative, characteristics to certain animals. In old fairy tales and fables, the fox was portrayed as clever and the wolf as evil. When animals are humanized in this way, it is called anthropomorphism (from the Greek “anthropos”: human and “morphe”: form or shape). But a look at the research shows that not all of these stereotypes are true.
Claim: Foxes are smart and cunning
True! Foxes have distinctive learning and social behavior and can learn from their experiences, says Sven Herzog from the Technical University of Dresden. “If a member of a family group has been caught in a trap, both he and family members avoid this or similar structures,” explains the expert in wildlife ecology and hunting management.
Foxes are also able to predict human behavior through observations. This means that they can distinguish whether a person is a harmless walker or a hunter who may be dangerous to them. And: Their adaptability allows them to survive in different habitats.
Another feature that contributes to the cunning of these furry four-legged friends is their conspicuous playing behavior, which indicates a high level of intelligence. The expert emphasizes that the bond between siblings is more stable than that between parents and young animals. They would hunt together in small family groups. “These social interactions require a certain level of communication and social intelligence.”
Claim: Sloths are lazy
Misleading. Sloths are actually quite slow. They move almost as if in slow motion. According to the environmental foundation WWF, the fluffy animals move through the trees at a speed of eight to ten meters per minute – the equivalent of less than one kilometer per hour. On the ground they are even slower. Sloths are also said to spend around 18 hours sleeping every day. What seems lazy to us is actually an efficient energy saving strategy.
Thanks to their special diet, these naturally slow animals are forced to be reluctant to move. According to the WWF, sloths mainly eat leaves, sometimes flowers and fruits or even smaller animals. Your meals are low in nutrients and don’t provide much energy. That’s why the climbing furry animals, which are related to anteaters and armadillos, avoid any unnecessary effort. The animals even go to the toilet only once a week.
Claim: Donkeys are stubborn
Incorrect. Donkeys are not stubborn, just 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.
In contrast to horses, donkeys are not flight animals and can be quite calm, according to the animal protection organization Peta. Therefore, the ungulates would hardly react to pain, fear or illness. When in doubt, the attentive donkeys tended to stop, which can be perceived as stubborn.
Claim: Bees are hardworking
Partly true. Bees can indeed be described as hardworking. However, this does not apply to all species, but rather to honey bees, explains the German Beekeepers Association. This characteristic primarily refers to the female honey bee, “the so-called worker, and especially in her function as a forager bee.” The honey bee diligently collects nectar, honeydew and pollen. At the same time, it provides 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 show 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 worth it for everyone.” They use every opportunity to collect successfully.
The bees are particularly efficient together as a colony. In a study, zoologist Jürgen Tautz and his colleagues marked forager bees from a hive with 4,000 animals. The scientists observed what percentage of foraging bees go on flights and how often – with sobering results: extrapolated to 25,000 foraging bees, this resulted in only four trips per bee per day. According to Tautz, the entire bee colony performed amazingly well when collecting nectar, but the individual bees were rather lazy.
Claim: Raven parents are bad parents
Incorrect. Ravens don’t have a good reputation in this country. They are often considered bad luck and bad parents. This is where the expression “raven parents” comes from. That 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 considered a symbol of cruelty and indifference towards one’s own offspring. It was believed that corvids threw their young out of the nest and abandoned them, which is why the term “raven parents” was coined and a negative image arose in many European cultures.
The exact opposite is the case. Raven chicks rarely have to deal with the separation of their parents, “since they live in a monogamous long-term marriage,” explains animal expert Herzog. Ravens are very intelligent animals, which is also reflected in the upbringing of their young. “The breeding pair devotedly look after their offspring,” says the wildlife expert.
Claim: Pigs are dirty and untidy places are pigsties
Incorrect. Contrary to what is claimed, pigs are extremely clean animals. “The animals also never defecate near where they sleep, so they even have a kind of toilet,” explains zoologist Herzog. If possible, they wallow in mud to regulate their body temperature or to protect themselves from insect bites and sunburn with a layer of dried mud.
A 2015 study also found that wild boars even wash their food. A team of anthropologists at the Basel Zoo in Switzerland observed the animals systematically cleaning their food before eating it. However, the scientists were unable to find out at the time whether this behavior was learned individually or socially.
Peta on donkeys Duden on anthropomorphism Study on the diet of wild boars Study on the behavior of bees Duden – definition of raven father WWF Germany on sloths