#misunderstood animals

They are normal animals, no different than thousands of other species. They're not evil, not rapists, not perverts, not monsters, not demons etc. Just wild animals. That's all.

Many well loved animals do very similar behaviors that dolphins get blamed for, including other highly intelligent species (crows, elephants, apes). A dolphin is no more "evil" than a dog or cat.

Most negative stereotypes surrounding dolphins are rare amongst the entirety of the dolphin family, and mostly just seen within bottlenose dolphins. Generalizing all dolphin species over the (often rare or exaggerated) behaviors of just a couple species is NOT A VALID JUDGEMENT!!

Applying human morals onto nature is wrong and a deeply flawed mindset. It warps our perspective of nature and holds wildlife accountable for their actions, when they cannot and will never be able to meet our moral and ethical standards. All this mindset does is harm animals and spreads fear and hate towards important species who need our protection. Dolphins are worth infinitely more to this planet alive, than extinct.

Romanticizing wildlife is also harmful because it tends to make people upset when they realize that their "cute and cuddly" favorite animal is actually just a wild animal like any other. Manatees, capybaras, butterflies etc. they all have aggressive sides to them and gross behaviors sometimes. And that's ok!! You shouldn't hate them because of that.

There are literally no animals (besides sea sponges or coral I guess) who don't do something "unsavory" in the eyes of humanity. And that's ok!! Nature is messy, often brutal and gross, and we have to accept that and learn to appreciate it despite all that, especially in this day and age... They can't change, but we can.

Hating dolphins or any other animal over behaviors it cannot control, or because of fear mongering and myths is WRONG.

Negative public perception around wildlife hurts wildlife, and that's a fact. Look at what happened to sharks, wolves, and thylacines. We cannot afford for this to happen again.

Dolphins deserve respect, protection, appreciation and care.

🩵🐬🩵

EDIT: removed the pufferfish intoxication slide since pufferfish toxin TTX is non addictive and non hallucinogenic. It cannot cause a high, the dazed behavior is due to the adolescent dolphins experiencing early stages of paralysis. Also other animals such as lemurs, wallabies, cats etc. like to get intoxicated off of toxic invertebrates, fungi or plants.

Also

She is just baby

This is a cobalt blue tarantula.

When they were discovered in southern India, they were almost extinct. Correctly recognizing their potential, a few were caught and bred and are now almost exclusively kept as pets. A beautiful and striking animal that you don't have to feel the same level of that yuck feeling you get when someone owns an exotic animal. They were almost gone when we found them! Being pets is probably why there are any number of them left at all.

This is a zebra jumping spider

Cute, right? This little guy could fit comfortably on a match head. They're a personal favorite of mine, as I have a strong memory from when I was like 10 of seeing one on my bed rail and being fascinated by its patterns(visible as repeating stripes when not viewed up close) i live somewhere cold so this was very cool for me.

This, brace yourself, is the fearsome wolf spider.

It's about as different from a zebra as you can get while still being found outside my house. I've never seen one up close, since they're tenacious and resourceful creatures. They have excellent eyesight, unlike many spiders that are usually almost blind. They can see because they are nomadic predators. They prowl around looking for bugs smaller than themselves, and maybe even small birds that aren't if you live somewhere that lets them grow that big. They're among the most intelligent spiders, capable of situational awareness like knowing they can trust a specific person, or knowing they are being helped and cooperating. I've seen a video of a guy gingerly helping a wolf spider that had become entangled in a discarded fine plastic line. The spider, after fighting and wiggling away from the person, recognized that one of its legs was freed. After this, it seemed to extend its legs, one by one, to this giant helpful creature. After it was free, it sat there and looked at the person, even stretching its legs and accepting a small pet on the head. They may be intimidating, many people are terrified of their size and speed, but they simply aren't capable of hurting you, even if they tried! They're fascinating and intelligent animals with a hunting range, territory, survival skills, maternal instinct enough to carry their young on their back AND STILL HUNT BIRDS with babies in tow. They eat roaches and other pests while hating being in our houses and wishing to avoid us, they are misunderstood animals.

Lastly, this is the common house spider.

So I am feeling a tiny bit better I think good enough to write this post. So today I want to talk about the misunderstood animals in this world that people think are “evil” and not what they think they are so here we go:

1. Sharks

Sharks actually don’t feed off of humans. In fact shark attacks aren’t as common as many people think. Your family dog is more likely to attack you then a shark. In fact the chances are 1 in 3,748,067 source to get attacked and killed by a shark... the reason sharks go after humans usually is because they often mistake humans as their main source of prey (seals/sea lions and even sea turtles). Cause from above it looks often similar to them. We kill more sharks every year then they kill us which is really sad truth about these magnificant creatures. 

2. Pigs

Pigs are often seen as dirty and unclean creatures, which is so not true, in fact pigs are super clean believe it or not! And they are super intelligent and can learn many tricks and some even claim are smarter then dogs! Certain pig breeds have even been taught to sniff out truffles for humans! The reason pigs roll around in the mud is for sunscreen. The mud acts as a sunscreen to protect the pig from the sun rays. And pigs aren’t the only animals that do this either, Rhinos have also been known to do this! 

3. Snakes

So many people are afraid of snakes in fact it’s one of the most common animal related fears! But many don’t realize not all of them are vemonus and it’s easy to tell if you have done your research on what a venomous snake looks like. Snakes are also more fearful of humans then we are of them. They rather hide or flee then try to bite you. They only will bite if they feel cornerd and feel like they have no choice. Plus a snake can only swallow something as big as the widthest part of their body. So no a small-medium snake cannot swallow a human. And they flick their tongues out cause that’s how they smell. It’s how they smell their surrondings. If you just take the time to learn about these creatures you’ll learn how fascinating they really are! 

4. Bats

People associate bats as scary creatures because people think they all have diseases which isn’t true. In fact in Australia’s 250 year history only 3 have died from a bat transmitted infection. Plus there is only 1 blood sucking bat the vampire bat and even those bats don’t go after humans they go after cattle usually and other animals. They are also vital for the ecosystem cause the insect-eating bats eat the insects while the fruit bats eat the fruit and then they spit out the seeds and it helps grow more trees! Circle of life my friends circle of life. 

5. Stingrays

Ever since Steve Irwin died from a stingray in Australia, people started thinking these guys were dangerous. Well the truth is these guys are pretty much harmless really. There has not been much record of people dying from stingrays, and stingrays can not bite since they have no teeth. I snorkled in Mexico before and encountered few wild stingrays and the stingrays would always flee as fast as they can once they see me or any human. They rather flee and the only reason Steve Irwin died from the stingrays is because he swam right above them and the stingray thought it was a predator and stung him in the heart. Even steve irwin would say the stingray wasn’t at fault if he was alive. Stingrays are great animals. 

6. Vulture 

Vultures get a bad rap because of their scary appearence. But as long as you are alive and well you aren’t on the menu for these birds. These birds only go after the dead. And are basically nature’s cleanup crew. They have a bald head because when they dig into a carcass they won’t get blood and guts stuck on their face like it would with feathers. 

7. Pitbulls and Black Cats 

Now even though I am not a huge fan of pitbulls not because of their bad rep but because I just not a fan of dogs with square faces personal prefrence, (I like pointy faces) these guys don’t deserve the bad rep they get. Same goes with Black Cats, and I even own a black cat and she’s the sweetest, ninja cat I love her and black cats are literally just like any other cat. All it is the color that’s all. They can be sweet cats just like any cat. And pitbulls can be very sweet and loyal dogs, especially if trained properally and raised properally. 

Hello everyone sorry for a hiatus, about the facts but today I am gonna share things that I really wish humans understood about animals so here they are:

1. That humans are not the only animals that uses tools. In fact several species use tools, including lot of primates, Egyptian vultures, sea otters and more.

2. Gay animals exist in the wild. In fact studies shown several species showing natural homosexual behavior in the wild.  

3. Not all animals are group or social animals. Not all animals want friends to be with them. So it’s annoying when people think solitary creatures need a friend cause no they will kill eachother... 

4. APES AND MONKEYS ARE NOT THE SAME THING. The easiest way to tell the two apart is that APES have NO TAILS and MONKEYS have TAILS. 

APE (no tail)

MONKEY (notice the tail)

5. HUMAN FOOD IS BAD FOR ANIMALS. Yeah you would think this is common sense... but apparently it’s not. I have caught so many humans feeding wild animals human food (other then the ducks and bread). At bronx zoo I saw ppl feeding peafowl froot loops which is high in sugar and bad for the animals. Animals don’t eat human food in the wild, they eat stuff in their natural habitat that is around. (like Lion eating a zebra) or Monkey eating figs or fruit. 

6. Speaking of which the term “peacock” does not refer to the species. Instead it is only refering to MALE peafowl. Male peafowl are called peacocks, while female peafowls are called Peahen while the chicks are called Peachicks. Peahens and Peacocks are easy to tell apart cause Peahens are a brownish color while Peacocks have those beautiful infamous feathers. So next time you see a peahen remember to not say peacock cause it ain’t no peacock lol. 

7. Running away from a predator (including dogs) is a bad bad bad bad bad idea. Never run away from a predator. Especially domestic dogs. Yeah I know this sounds weird but it’s true. If you run away from a predator it will likely chase you. Because predators have a predator instinct to chase. If a dog is barking at you do not run just walk past ignore. Dogs tend to bark at everything barking does not mean aggression but if you run from a dog that is barking they will likely chase you. Making the situation worse.