You
may not have known it, but there’s a myth out there about arachnid
urine. We looked into that— and some other animals myths, too.
Myth: Wolves howl at the moon.
How it spread:
People all over the world developed myths involving wolves and the
moon. (In Norse mythology, for example, the wolves Skoll and Manegarm
chase the sun and moon around the sky, and will do so for eternity.)
It’s not hard to see why such myths came to be: Wolves are nocturnal,
doing their hunting— and howling— at night. Over the eons people came to
associate these feared and respected night hunters with that other
great symbol of the night, the moon. Not only that, but wolves point
their snouts to the sky while they howl, which makes them look like they
are “howling at the moon.”
The truth: Wolves
howl to communicate with other wolves, whether there’s a moon out or
not. Scientists who study wolves say their howls can mean different
things, including a call for the pack to gather, or a message to rival
packs to stay away.
Myth: Peonies need ants to open their flowers.
How it spread:
This is a popular myth among gardeners. It spread because it’s common
to see ants swarming peony buds in the morning, and before and while
they’re opening.
The truth: Peonies can open
just fine without ants. Ants swarm the flowers because peonies secrete a
nectar that ants love to eat. (The same myth is also associated with
hibiscus flowers— and it’s untrue in that case, too.)
Myth: Elephants love peanuts.
How it spread: Peanuts
became a popular food in the United States in the mid-1800s, and they
became a staple treat at the many circuses traveling the country at the
time. Around this same time, elephants started being introduced to
circuses.
People walking around with bags of peanuts naturally
tried to feed them to the elephants, and the elephants often ate them.
So the idea spread: Elephants really like peanuts!
The truth:
Elephantologists say elephants have no particular affinity for peanuts—
they eat them simply because they’re offered. Elephants much prefer
the foods they eat in the wild— primarily grasses, leaves, shrubs,
fruit, and especially tree bark.
Myth: Camels store water in their humps.
How it spread: This
myth is thousands of years old, and probably came from a simple
mistaken inference made by people observing some obvious camel
characteristics: 1) camels can go for a long time without drinking
water— about seven days on average; 2) when they finally get water they
can drink enormous amounts— up to 30 gallons in one go; and 3) they have
humps. Combine these things and it’s not too hard to see how this myth
came to be.
The truth: Camels’ humps don’t
store water, but are made up primarily of fat, which allows for another
camel characteristic that you rarely hear about: they can go for just as
long, or longer, without eating as they can without drinking— all
because of that extra fat stored in their humps. The real reason they go
so long without water is because their liver and kidneys are extremely
efficient when it comes to water usage, which also accounts for the fact
that camels can go many days without urinating. When they finally do
go, their urine is as thick as syrup. Plus, camels’ red blood cells are
oval, rather than circular, like most other mammals. This more
streamlined shape allows the vital cells to continue to circulate even
in a very dehydrated state, making them yet another key characteristic
regarding the camel’s ability to go so long without water.
Myth: Bees make honey.
How it spread: This one spread because, well, bees do make honey.
The truth:
However, only a small number of bees make beeswax hives and fill them
with honey. In fact, there are only seven species of true honeybees— out
of the approximately 22,000 species— on the planet. Several other
species not considered true honeybees make and store honey, too, but not
in the amounts that honeybees do. Some of the remaining bee species
make tiny amounts of honey to feed to their young, but most make no
honey at all and don’t even live in hives. (Most bees are solitary, and
make nests in the ground.)
Myth: Elephants are afraid of mice.
How it spread:
This is another very old myth, with its first recorded mention going
all the way back to AD 77, when Roman scholar Pliny the Elder wrote,
“The elephant hates the mouse above all other creatures.” Pliny’s work
was read and respected for centuries in the Western world, and the
elephant and mice myth became “common knowledge,” even to this day.
The truth: Modern
biologists have tested this myth numerous times, and elephants appear
little more than bored at the sight of a mouse. Experts say the myth may
come from the fact that elephants have poor eyesight and usually barely
notice something as small as a mouse until it’s right on top of them,
at which point they may be surprised by the tiny creature’s smell.
Extra:
It should be noted the Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage of the Discovery
Channel show MythBusters also tested this myth in 2007. The two
elephants they observed actually seemed putoff by the sudden appearance
of a white mouse and went out of their way to walk around it. So maybe
this needs more testing after all?
Myth: Some spiders have 10 legs.
How it spread:
This has probably been around as long as people thought to count spider
legs, and it’s still something that arachnologists are regularly asked
about.
The truth: All known spider species— all
40,000 and more of them— have eight legs. The answer to why some people
think they’re seeing 10 legs lies in basic spider anatomy: All spiders
have pedipalps, a pair of appendages that grow from the front of their
heads and are segmented in roughly the same way spiders’ legs are.
Except they’re not legs— they’re mouthparts. Pedipalps are used for
holding prey, not for walking. They’re also usually very short, much
shorter than legs, though in some species, especially the tarantula,
pedipalps can be as long or longer than the spiders’ legs. So sometimes
it looks like spiders have 10 legs. Each year, rice blast fungus
destroys enough rice to feed 60 million people.
Myth: Spiders can cause skin ulcerations similar to those caused by bites… just by peeing on you.
How it spread:
According to Rod Crawford of the Burke Museum of Natural History and
Culture at the University of Washington, this myth started in Central
America, and in recent years has made its way to the United States. And
it originally had to do with horses, not humans. Crawford wrote: In
Guatemala this myth (still going strong in 2008) centers on a tarantula
species locally called araña de caballo (horse spider), which is said
to cause severe hoof and leg trouble in horses and other livestock by
urinating on them.
Page, 76, was flying over the sea
near Great Yarmouth when he spotted something unusual around Scroby
Sands. "‘So I thought we’ll go and investigate – well thousands and
thousands of seals," the pilot said to Metro. "I've never seen so many in 40 years of flying."
What time is it? Don't ask kids ages 6 to 12 in one Oklahoma City school to read analog clocks, because chances are, they can't.
Jill
Ralston of the Avon Lake Public Library shows off more than two dozens
A.1. Steak Sauce bottles left hidden in the shelves. Photo: Bruce
Bishop/ChronicleIt's a whodunit of the rarest of degree ... a
real meaty mystery with high steaks: someone very saucy has been hiding
bottles of A.1. Steak Sauce throughout the Avon Lake Public Library in
Ohio, and nobody knows why.
Embattled
President Nicolas Maduro has sent government inspectors and soldiers
into the bakeries of the country's capital in search for illegal
brownies (no, not that kind) and other pastries, as part of a new "bread war."
Did you find a four-leaf clover this St. Patrick's Day? Was it Luck o' the Irish? ... Or was it science?
