MBD busts some animal myths!

Following the recent news of owls being placed in Alexandra to curb the current rodent scourge, but being hunted down by residence becuase of superstitious beliefs that owls bring bad luck, we decided to bring in some experts to dispell some of these myths.

 

 

Themba with 'Chloe', the Cape Eagle Owl.

Owls are generally regarded as bad luck in many cultures around the world, who are victims of many people believing that should you see an owl on or around your house or property, somebody close to you will pass away. This is stemmed from the fact that owls are only ever spotted at night, and night time dwellers are historically regarded as evil spirits. 

 

 

Naturally this is a myth that we just had to bust, and as Themba explained, owls mainly feed on rats and mice which are only active at night (rats and mice are more active at night as it is safer for them to forage for food when most predators sleep), hence owls being nocturnal. 

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'Karma Smarties' the Madagascan Chameleon using the studio microphone boom as a perch as Martin looks on.

Chameleons were next on the list, chameleons are also regarded as creatures with superstitions around them, with stories around the world that say that these little critters are more than they appear. This is becuase chameleons have qualities that no other animals in the animal kingdom share, for example they do have the ability to change color (although they don't do this ALL the time - another myth that we busted today), they move incredibally slowly, and they can move their eyes on each side of their head independently from one another, which some people mistake for unworldly qualities.

 

 

Vultures are also victims of superstition.

Although we did not have a vulture in studio, we did dispell the myths that Vultures have magical qualities, as in certain cultures body parts of vultures including their eyes and they feet are used in tradition healing, or 'Muti', that when used can give you extraordinary abilities like seeing the future. As Themba explained, vultures are merely the recyclers of the animal kingdom, and clean carcasses when no other animal will, and nothing more, apart from being beautiful animals, of course!