C.G.P. Grey busts some myths you may have heard about animals. He goes pretty fast, so in case you want to check the facts more slowly, the script is available at his site. Link -via The Daily What
The part about the daddy long legs wasnt entirely true. There are a few things we call daddy long legs. The one he was talking about lives under logs and outdoors and is not a spider. But the ones we commonly see inside are actually spiders. The idea that they are the most poisonous spider around but have fangs that are too small is bite a human is still untrue. But they do have poison and small fangs but its only to kill small prey. There poison cant hurt humans. This goes further, to the fact, the venom has never been tested, not even on animals, so we dont have a clue what would happen, there is no scientific proof and classing them as a highly poisonous spider is just going too far. So its a myth.
The idea that lemmings committed mass suicide was promulgated by a Walt Disney documentary whereby the documentary crew chased innocent lemmings off cliffs while the other crew members filmed. (I believe neatorama.com covered this story somebtime in the past four years, but failed the provide the reader with further information.)
Also the whole daddy long legs facts and their potential to kill is slightly mis-described (is that a word?). It cold easily be clarified by a simple google search.
@Master of Things - I've heard the daddy long legs story (in Australia) for the last 40 something years.
I've more recently heard that the venom/tiny fang thing was a myth, and the not a spider thing blew me away... briefly. It's an arachnid, so it's close enough to a spider to count as a spider in my view. Although an interesting piece of knowledge I just found in my research is that apparently a spider doesn't have a penis but a daddy long legs does.
I never ever thought that daddy long legs were poisonous at all. That's the first I've ever heard of that. As soon as it came up I was like 'why is this on this list?' I'm curious to know what part of USA, or the world for that matter, even thinks that. Nevvvver heard it.
The ostriches section was interesting. It never even crossed my mind that they are the closest living thing to raptors are. A bit far fetched if you ask me, I visited heaps of ostriches farms and have yet to be attacked by one. Whenever they feel scared they just tend to walk off. When it comes to ostriches dealing with other ostriches, it's a different story, they can be quite vicious and mean to each other.
There are a few things we call daddy long legs. The one he was talking about lives under logs and outdoors and is not a spider. But the ones we commonly see inside are actually spiders. The idea that they are the most poisonous spider around but have fangs that are too small is bite a human is still untrue. But they do have poison and small fangs but its only to kill small prey. There poison cant hurt humans. This goes further, to the fact, the venom has never been tested, not even on animals, so we dont have a clue what would happen, there is no scientific proof and classing them as a highly poisonous spider is just going too far. So its a myth.
Also the whole daddy long legs facts and their potential to kill is slightly mis-described (is that a word?). It cold easily be clarified by a simple google search.
I've more recently heard that the venom/tiny fang thing was a myth, and the not a spider thing blew me away... briefly. It's an arachnid, so it's close enough to a spider to count as a spider in my view. Although an interesting piece of knowledge I just found in my research is that apparently a spider doesn't have a penis but a daddy long legs does.