1- MYTH: Ostriches bury their heads in the sand when they’re scared or threatened .Ostriches doesn’t bury their heads in the sand—they wouldn’t be able to breathe! But they do dig holes in the dirt to use as nests for their eggs. Several times a day, a bird puts her head in the hole and turns the eggs.
So it really does look like the birds are burying their heads in the sand! .Some times when there is a desert sand storm the Ostriches put their heads in the eggs hall to prevent the hall from barred under the sand , and moving the head every now and then to make sure that there is enough oxygen supplies to breath .
Animals do some pretty strange things. Giraffes clean their eyes and ears with their tongues.
Snakes see through their eyelids. Some snails can hibernate for three years.
HOW IT STARTED: It’s an optical illusion! Ostriches
are the largest living birds, but their heads are pretty small. “If you
see them picking at the ground from a distance, it may look like their heads
are buried in the ground,” says Glinda Cunningham of the American Ostrich
Association.
2-MYTH: Opossums hang by their tails. HOW IT STARTED: Opossums
use their tails to grasp branches as they climb trees. So it’s not surprising
that people believe they also hang from branches. WHY IT’S NOT TRUE: A baby opossum can hang from its tail for a few seconds, but an adult is too heavy.
Besides, says Paula Arms of the National Opossum Society, that wouldn’t help them, survive. “Why would they just hang around? That skill isn’t useful—there’s no point.
3-MYTH: Touching a frog or toad will give you warts. HOW IT STARTED: Many frogs and toads have bumps on their skin that look like warts. Some people think the bumps are contagious. WHY IT’S NOT TRUE: “Warts are caused by a human virus, not frogs or toads,” says dermatologist Jerry Litt. But the wart like bumps behind a toad’s ears can be dangerous. These
parotoid glands contain a nasty poison that irritates the mouths of some
predators and often the skin of humans. So toads may not cause warts, but they
can cause other nasties. It’s best not to handle these critters—warts and all!
4-MYTH: Mother birds will reject their babies if they’ve been touched by humans. HOW IT STARTED: Well-meaning humans who find a chick on the ground may want to return the baby bird to the nest. But the bird is probably learning to fly and shouldn’t be disturbed. The tale may have been invented to keep people from handling young birds.
WHY IT’S NOT TRUE: “Most birds have a poorly developed sense of smell,” says Michael Mace, bird curator at San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park. “They won’t notice a human scent.” One exception: vultures, which sniff out dead animals for dinner. But you wouldn’t want to mess with a vulture anyway!
5-MYTH:Penguins fall backward when they look up at airplanes. HOW IT STARTED: Legend has it that British pilots buzzing around islands off South America saw penguins toppling over like dominoes when the birds looked skyward. WHY IT’S NOT TRUE:
An experiment testing the story found that penguins are perfectly capable of maintaining their footing, even if they’re watching airplanes. “But the reality isn’t funny,” says John Shears, who worked on the survey. “Low-flying aircraft can cause penguins to panic and leave their nests.”
6-Myth; Alligator sheds tear due to sadness when they eat –Crocodile tears (or superficial sympathy) are a false, insincere display of emotion such as a hypocrite crying fake tears of grief.
The phrase derives from an ancient belief that crocodiles shed tears while consuming their prey. in fact alligator tear glands are squeezed by large meal causing the tear glands to secrete the fluid. So before you ls ten to the FAKE NEWS , ask for references, names, facts, date and time, whey ,when and where and by whom the news originated .
Steve Ramsey, PhD public health- Calgary.