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10 Animals With Bad Reputations They Don’t Deserve

10 Animals With Bad Reputations They Don’t Deserve

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Animals are wonderful, wonderful creatures, but occasionally they get a bad reputation that isn’t always deserved. Whether they’re taking the rap for attacks, disease, or just funny antics, animals and other living things don’t always deserve the blame they’re handed down. Here are 10 living things with bad reputations they don’t deserve, and we threw in a germ at the end of this list for good measure.

Sources: Metro.co.uk, People.com, TrueFunnyStories.info, Cracked.com

Wikimedia.org
Wikimedia.org

The dingo that ate the baby

The cause of infant Azaria Chamerblain’s death was eventually decided, and a dingo was blamed. Back in 1980, the 8-week-old went missing from a campsite in Australia, and her mother was charged for her murder. But after a fragment of Azaria’s clothing later turned up in a dingo cave, the mother was exonerated and dingoes took the blame. It’s not entirely fair to label all dingoes as baby-eating monsters. Just look how cute they are!

Wikimedia.org
Wikimedia.org

Sharks

Sharks are always painted as the villain, ever since “Jaws” did them a huge public relations disservice. But, as we know now, sharks hardly ever attack unless provoked, and are really just magnificent creatures. Watch a bit more of Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week” and see if you don’t agree.

Wikimedia.org
Wikimedia.org

The randy geckos

Russia recently sent up a space shuttle packed with geckoes to observe their sexual habits while in space. Russia gained even more international attention after losing contact with the shuttle, and people were quick to jump down the geckos’ throats (do geckos have throats?) for going at it in space. But seriously, if you were lost in space, wouldn’t you try to entertain yourself in some way?

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Pixabay.com

Bears

They’re really just trying to have a good time. Like the time that they were “guarding” marijuana reserves. Or the time they had to be rescued from a house on a trampoline. Or that time that they taught people you shouldn’t walk and text at the same time.

Wikimedia.org
Wikimedia.org

Blaming rats for the Black Death

In the mid-1300s, the outbreak of bubonic plague known as the Black Death killed an estimated 75 million people. Rats were initially blamed, but it was later determined that the disease was actually transmitted by the fleas of warm-blooded mammals in general, not just rats. Rats appeared responsible because they are so common, but they weren’t the only culprits.

TrueFunnyStories.info
TrueFunnyStories.info

Gorillas actually acting out “The Jungle Book”

Gorillas are often known as territorial, aggressive creatures, so panic set in at the Jersey Zoo in the U.K. when a 5-year-old fell four meters into the gorilla enclosure. The leader of the gorilla zoo population, Yangbo, immediately went to the boy’s side and protected him from the others, shielding him until help came. This is not the behavior of a blood-thirsty ape, if you ask me.

TrueFunnyStories.info
TrueFunnyStories.info

Rabbits are all about the health craze

This isn’t actually a bad rap, but more of a misconception. Everyone assumes that eating “rabbit food” — lettuce, carrots and such — can help you stay thin. But, as the picture above proves, this is not always the case with rabbits…

Wikimedia.org
Wikimedia.org

Cockroaches

Cockroaches, also known as scum of the Earth, are associated with cesspools of disease and grossness. But in reality, cockroaches have obsessive grooming tendencies that render them quite clean most of the time! Germs don’t stick to them easily, so they’re really only as dirty as what they’re standing on at that time. Plus, cockroaches help the natural decomposition process, and serve as predators to icky bollworms and armyworms.

Wikimedia.org
Wikimedia.org

“Killer” bees

Africanized bees, often referred to as “killer bees,” don’t deserve the name. They aren’t enormous, they don’t have deadly stings (unless you’re allergic, but that’s with all beestings), and they don’t behave aggressively if unprovoked. They do have a history of invading other hives and killing the queen to take it over, but as long as they aren’t trying to assassinate our human world leaders, I’m really OK with that.

Wikimedia.org
Wikimedia.org

E.coli

The bacteria known as E.coli have a tendency to cause panic when it’s announced that food sources are being recalled due to an overabundance of them. But E.coli isn’t exactly foreign to our bodies. There are already millions of bacteria cells inside us that work to protect our immune systems and keep out other, more harmful, bacteria.