There are certain wildlife myths that, for some reason, persist to this day. Example? Toads give you warts (they don’t); porcupines shoot their quills (they can’t); owls are able to rotate their heads 360 degrees (ew, nope). These myths are ridiculous, but maybe not completely outside the realm of possibility. On the other hand, long ago, there were theories to explain wildlife behaviour that today sound so absurd that it seems impossible that anybody thought they were true. And yet. Here are a few of—in our opinion—the most bonkers wildlife beliefs to ever have existed. (They have no basis in science. Needless to say.)
Belief No. 1: Milksnakes steal milk. False. These poor, maligned snakes got their name because farmers once believed that they siphoned milk from cows’ udders. Which…they did not. The snakes were common in cattle barns because of all the rodent prey they could find there. For the record, nighthawks also used to be blamed for milk thievery. These birds got the nickname “goatsuckers” because at one time, folks believed that they flew into barns and stole goats’ milk. Um, okay, sure.
Belief No. 2: The Virginia opossum gives birth by sneezing. Well, no, but we can understand the source of confusion: opossums are marsupials. After a mega-short gestation period—thirteen days—a female produces many tiny, tiny, embryo-like offspring that continue to grow inside her pouch. But they don’t get there because Mom sneezed. Obviously.
The origins of 7 wildlife idioms
Belief No. 3: Tree swallows hibernate on the moon. Of course not—nothing hibernates on the moon. But at one time, folks thought that this species did because in the spring, large flocks would arrive from their winter whereabouts all of a sudden, seemingly descending from high in the sky.
Belief No. 4: The woolly bear caterpillar forecasts the severity of winter. One thousand times no. People used to believe that the rust-and-black caterpillar’s body colouration held the secrets to whether the coming winter would be mild or severe; in reality, it has to do with the bug’s age. Woollies are a common sight in the fall, and easy to notice as they travel to their hibernation spots in leaf litter. The fact that people saw them frequently ahead of winter probably reinforced the notion that their presence was related to winter. (Which it was. Just not in the way that everybody thought.)
Belief No. 5: Bats wants to drink your blood. Okay, fine: it’s true that three species of bats—vampire bats—subsist entirely on blood. But they don’t consume human blood. (Plus, in case there’s any confusion, there’s absolutely no way that getting bitten by any bat could turn you into a vampire. Only Dracula has that power.)
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