Animal Proverbs: Myth or Truth?

Foxes are often associated with cunning and bees with diligence. This stems from humans' tendency to project their own traits onto the animal world.

Editorial Wild beim Wild — 30 September 2024

The stubborn donkey, the stupid cow, or even the filthy old pig: many German proverbs are connected to the animal world.

We assign certain, sometimes negative, characteristics to specific animals. Even in old fairy tales and fables, the fox was portrayed as clever and the wolf as evil. When animals are anthropomorphised in this way, it is referred to as anthropomorphism (from the Greek «anthropos»: human and «morphe»: form or shape). However, a look at research shows that not all of these stereotypes are true.

Claim: Foxes are clever and cunning

True! Foxes have a pronounced capacity for learning and social behaviour and can learn from their experiences, says Sven Herzog of the Technical University of Dresden. “If a member of a family group was once caught in a trap, both that individual and family members will avoid that trap or similar structures,” explains the expert in wildlife ecology and game management.

Foxes, as well as deer and others, are also capable of predicting human behaviour through observation. This means they can distinguish whether a person is a harmless walker or a harmful individual such as a hobby hunter. Furthermore, their adaptability allows them to survive in a variety of habitats.

Another characteristic that contributes to the cunning of these furry four-legged animals is their notable play behaviour, which is indicative of high intelligence. The bond between siblings is more stable than that between parents and young, the expert emphasises. They hunt together, for example, in small family groups. “These social interactions require a certain degree of communication and social intelligence.”

Claim: Sloths are lazy

Misleading. Sloths are indeed quite slow. They move almost 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 — which translates to less than one kilometer per hour. On the ground they are even slower. In addition, sloths are said to spend around 18 hours a day sleeping. What comes across to us as laziness is in reality an efficient energy-saving strategy.

These naturally slow animals are forced to be such reluctant movers due to their particular diet. According to the WWF, sloths eat mainly leaves, sometimes also flowers and fruit, or even smaller animals. Their meals are low in nutrients and provide little energy. For this reason, these climbing, furry creatures — which are related to anteaters and armadillos — avoid any unnecessary exertion. The animals even make a trip to the toilet only once a week.

Claim: Donkeys are stubborn

False. Donkeys are not stubborn, but simply cautious. “They originate from mountainous and rocky regions, where a wrong step can be fatal,” says a spokesperson from the Zoological Research Museum Alexander König (ZMFK). That is why donkeys stop when they cannot assess a situation.

Unlike horses, donkeys are, according to reports, not flight animals and can be quite composed. As a result, these hoofed animals would hardly react to pain, fear, or illness. When in doubt, the attentive donkeys tend to stand still, which can be perceived as stubbornness.

Claim: Bees are industrious

Partly true. Bees can indeed be described as industrious. However, this does not apply to all species, but rather to the honeybee, as the German Beekeepers' Association explains. This characteristic refers primarily to the female honeybee, “the so-called worker bee, and in particular in her role as a forager.” The honeybee diligently collects nectar and honeydew as well as pollen. At the same time, it performs the pollination services so vital to nature and agriculture, which are central to biodiversity, species conservation, and crop yields.

According to the beekeeping association, the small nectar collectors are also highly social insects that motivate each other to engage in foraging activities, thus displaying cooperative foraging behavior. “Bees also work in an extremely economical and efficient manner — there is virtually no ‘idle time’ among them, and they only work when it is worthwhile for all.” In doing so, they seize every opportunity to forage successfully.

Bees are most efficient when working together as a colony. In one study, zoologist Jürgen Tautz and his colleagues tagged forager bees from a hive of 4’000 individuals. The scientists observed what percentage of forager bees went on flights and how frequently — with sobering results: Extrapolated to 25’000 forager bees, this amounted to only four outings per day per bee. According to Tautz, the entire bee colony achieved remarkable feats in nectar collection as a whole, while the individual bee was, by contrast, rather lazy.

Claim: Raven parents are bad parents

False. Ravens do not enjoy a good reputation in this country. They are often regarded as harbingers of misfortune and bad parents — which is also the origin of the German expression “Rabeneltern” (literally ‘raven parents’, meaning neglectful parents). This reputation is not justified. The saying has its roots in an old misunderstanding about the behavior of ravens.

Even in antiquity, the pitch-black bird was regarded as a symbol of cruelty and indifference toward one’s own offspring. It was believed that ravens threw their young out of the nest and abandoned them, which gave rise to the expression “Rabeneltern” and created a negative image in many European cultures.

In reality, the exact opposite is true. Young ravens would rarely have to cope with the separation of their parents, “since they live in monogamous, lifelong partnerships,” explains animal expert Herzog. Ravens are highly intelligent animals, which is also reflected in the way they raise their young. “The breeding pair devotes itself wholeheartedly to its offspring,” says the wildlife expert.

Claim: Pigs are dirty and untidy places are pigsties

False. Contrary to the claim, pigs are extremely clean animals. “Furthermore, the animals never defecate near their sleeping area — they even have a kind of toilet,” explains zoologist Herzog. Where possible, they wallow in mud in order to regulate their body temperature or to protect themselves from insect bites and sunburn with a layer of dried mud.

A study from 2015 also concludes that wild boars even wash their food. A team of anthropologists at Basel Zoo in Switzerland observed the animals systematically cleaning their food before eating it. Whether this behavior was learned individually or socially, however, the researchers were unable to determine at the time.

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