Stereotypes of animals

A "wise old owl" in a 1940s poster from the War Production Board

When anthropomorphising an animal there are traits which commonly tend to be associated with particular animal species. Some of these are exaggerations of real aspects or behaviours of the creature in question, while other times the stereotype is taken from mythology and replaces any observation-based judgment of that animal's behavior. Once they have entered the culture as widely recognized stereotypes of animals, they tend to be used both in conversation and media as a kind of shorthand for expressing particular qualities.

Some modern stereotypes of animals have a long tradition dating back to Aesop's Fables, which draw upon sources that include ancient Egyptian animal tales. Aesop's stereotypes were so deeply ingrained by the time of Apollonius of Tyana that they were accepted as representative of the various types of animals' "true" natures:

And there is another charm about him, namely, that he puts animals in a pleasing light and makes them interesting to mankind. For after being brought up from childhood with these stories, and after being as it were nursed by them from babyhood, we acquire certain opinions of the several animals and think of some of them as royal animals, of others as silly, of others as witty, and others as innocent.

— Flavius Philostratus^[1]

Animal stereotyping in general

Many animal stereotypes reflect anthropomorphic notions unrelated to animals' true behaviors. Some stereotypes are based on mistaken or grossly oversimplified impressions; spotted hyenas, for example, commonly portrayed as cowardly scavengers, are efficient pack hunters with complex social structures.

Animal stereotypes in Western cultures

Mammals

Bats

• The bloodthirsty or evil bat
  • Since the dawn of humanity people have been scared of bats due to their appearance and the fact that they, due to being nocturnal animals, are mostly active at night. In many cultures bats were seen as bad omens and symbols of fear and death. Witches are often portrayed in the company of bats, demons have bat-like wings and vampires are traditionally shown to be able to transform themselves into bats.
  • The image of the blood sucking bat is mostly based on vampire stories. Among the 1,000 species only three species feed on blood and are therefore called "vampire bat"s, namely the common bat, white-winged vampire bat and the hairy-legged vampire bat, who all live only in Central and South America.^[2]
  • Examples of evil bats: Dracula, Fidget from The Great Mouse Detective, Darkwing in Kamen Rider Knight, Velifer in BIMA Satria Garuda, Bats, Bats: Human Harvest, Bat Boy
• The expression "as blind as a bat" is common but in reality bats are not blind.^[3] Microbats have poor visual acuity while some megabats have very good vision.
• Another stereotype associated with bats is that the animal will fly into one's hair. This is an urban legend. Bats can navigate very well in the dark thanks to echolocation.^[4]
• In many languages the word "bat" is cognate with the word "mouse", with the species being defined as either a "winged mouse" ("vlermuis" in Afrikaans, "vleermuis" in Dutch, "Fledermaus" in German, "fladdermus" in Swedish, "летучая мышь" in Russian), a "bald mouse" ("chauve-souris" in French), a "blind mouse" ("murciélago" in Spanish, "slijepi miš" in Bosnian), a "leather mouse" ("nahkhiir" in Estonian) or an "old mouse" ("saguzahar" in Basque). In reality bats are not related to mice, but belong to the Laurasiatheria.^[5][6]

Beavers

• The hard-working beaver
  • This image is based on the fact that beavers are always building dams and led to the expression "busy as a beaver"
  • Examples: Toothy, and Handy from Happy Tree Friends, Norbert and Daggett from The Angry Beavers, Beaver from Franklin the Turtle, the beavers from Open Season, the beaver in Lady and the Tramp, Ed and Willem Bever in De Fabeltjeskrant

Cats

• The cool, sly, charming and clever cat
  • Cats are crafty hunters who will sneak upon their prey.
  • In Ancient Egypt they were seen as holy creatures and worshipped. Bastet and Sekhmet were cat goddesses. See also Cats in ancient Egypt.
  • During the jazz era slick men would be nicknamed "cool cats" or "hep cats".
  • Examples: Puss in Boots, Cheshire Cat, Felix the Cat, Tom Puss, The Hep Cat, Top Cat, The Cat in the Hat, Fritz the Cat, The Aristocats, Blacksad, ...
• The beautiful/sexy feline or pussycat
  • Examples: Penelope Pussycat, Duchess, Doddeltje in Tom Puss, Catwoman, Omaha the Cat Dancer, ...
• The cute cat, usually a kitten
  • Examples: Tom Kitten, the cats in the paintings of Louis Wain, Tabitha Twitchit, Figaro, the kitty in Bad Luck Blackie, Poussy, Pussyfoot, the little kittens in The Aristocats, Tom Poes, Musti, Hello Kitty, Billy the Cat, Garnet
  • The Garfield character Nermal and the Krypto the Superdog character Snooky Wookums are ironic representations of this stereotype
  • On the Internet many images and short videos portray cute cats, see The Internet and cats and especially The Lolcat, who is typically portrayed as unable to use proper grammar, spelling and general proper use of the English language.
• The lazy cat
  • Cats tend to sleep in the day and go out hunting at night.
  • Examples: Fat Freddy's Cat, Garfield, Bill the Cat, Eek! the Cat, Stimpy
• In some cultures cats are believed to bring good luck. In Japan, for instance, the legendary maneki neko is a symbol of good fortune. Sailors often preferred to bring a black ship's cat along with them. Anarchists have used it as their symbol.

There is an ancient belief that cats have multiple lives, which explains how they manage to survive so many unfortunate situations. In many countries cat's lives are traditionally believed to be nine, but in Italy, Germany, Greece and some Spanish-language regions it's said to be seven,^[7] while in Turkish and Arabic traditions it's six.^[8] The idea of cat's luck is also based on the fact that falling cats often land on their feet, using an instinctive righting reflex to twist their bodies around. Despite this ability they can still be injured or killed by a high fall.^[9]

• Examples: The maneki neko, Shisa, Felix the Cat was often dubbed to be "Felix the lucky cat", the motivational poster Hang in there, baby
• The evil and/or unlucky black cat
  • In Western culture ancient superstition depicted black cats as bringing bad luck. One medieval superstition claimed that cats could kill human infants by sucking their breath, which is impossible as cats cannot fully close their lips.^[10] However, unlucky black cats are mostly a superstition found in Catholic countries. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and Asia black cats are seen as bringers of good luck.
  • Examples of "bad luck" black cats: The Black Cat, Bad Luck Blackie
  • In medieval Europe black cats were also associated with witches. Many believed them to be demons in disguise.
  • Examples of black cats as witches' pets: Graymalkin, cat of the three witches in Shakespeare's "Macbeth", Cosmic Creepers, Gobbolino, Salem, ...
• Many legends, myths and folk tales talk about demonic cats or werecats who could change to enormous size, for example The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was, Cat sìth, Cath Palug, Matagot, Phantom cat, Yule Cat, Wampus cat, Beast of Bodmin, Demon Cat, Hombre Gato, Cactus cat, Bakeneko
• The curious cat who gets himself into trouble
  • From the saying "curiosity killed the cat", which also bears little truth in reality.^[11]
  • Examples: The Cat Came Back, Dikkie Dik, Eek! The Cat, Scratchy
• Cats fear water
  • While many cats prefer to lick themselves clean rather than be washed they can enjoy a bath if the water isn't too cold or too hot. Some cat species have water-resistant coats and thus don't mind swimming, like the Maine Coon and the Turkish Van. Bigger cats like tigers and jaguars also love swimming.^[12]
• Cats love milk
  • While cats adore to drink milk, the kind available in supermarkets often contain little fat, which makes it difficult for them to digest. Like all infant mammals, kittens are born able to digest the main sugar in milk, lactose. Adult cats lack the enzyme that enables them to digest it, so they risk ending up with an upset stomach.^[11]
  • Examples: The Dutch song "Poesie Mauw" ("Pussy Meow") is about someone calling a kitten because he has tasty milk for him.

Cattle

• The aggressive bull who attacks everyone and everything with the color red
  • This stereotype can be found in many comic strips and cartoons and is based on bullfighting where the bullfighter taunts the bull by waving a small red cape (muleta). This has led to the urban legend that bulls will attack anything in the color red. In reality bulls attack the waving cape instead of the color. The reason those capes have the color red is its association with blood and the tradition itself. Cattle are dichromats, so red does not stand out as a bright color.^[13][14][15]
  • In popular culture all bulls used for bullfighting will be called "El Toro", which is simply Spanish for "the bull".
• The vicious bull
  • Bulls have been used in many European coats of arms and weapon shields
  • In Greek mythology the Minotaur was a monster who was a man with a bull's head.
    • Examples: Man-Bull, ...
• The powerful, mighty bull and the holy cow
• Many ancient cultures have worshipped cattle as divine creatures. In Hinduism the holy cow is still in effect.
  • Examples: Apis, Io, the Sacred bull, Bulls of Guisando, the Cretan bull, Camahueto, Kamadhenu, Khalkotauroi, Ox in Chinese mythology, Nandi, Ushi-oni, Auðumbla, Glas Gaibhnenn, ...
    • More modern examples of powerful bulls: Babe the Blue Ox, Ferdinand in The Story of Ferdinand, the logo of basketball team Chicago Bulls
• The dumb bull, cow, or calf
  • Since cattle seem to do nothing more than stand in grassy fields, obstruct traffic and stare at everything passing by, people have portrayed them as characters who are not very bright.
  • In many languages being called "a stupid cow" or "dumb calf" is an insult. Being "treated as cattle" or expressing a "herd mentality" are also pejorative expressions.
  • The urban legend of cow tipping is also based on this perception.
  • Example in fiction: Heffer Wolfe.

Donkeys

• The stubborn, stupid, lazy or slow ass
  • Examples: The Golden Ass, Buridan's Ass, Nick Bottom, Maud, Platero, Contrary Mary, Rabadash (who is changed into a donkey as a form of humiliation), Donkey, stupid and naughty children are transformed into donkeys in Pinocchio, the donkey in most adaptations of the Town Musicians of Bremen
  • The English expression "you are making an ass out of yourself" refers to dumb behaviour.
  • In previous centuries schools often forced naughty or "dumb" pupils to sit in a classroom corner while wearing a donkey-eared dunce cap.
  • In many cultures parading on donkey is used as a humiliating punishment.
  • The Dutch word for mnemonic is "ezelsbruggetje", literally "donkey bridge".
  • In Dutch, the word "ezel" is also used as an insult, denoting dumb or stubborn people.
  • Exceptions are Eeyore, Benjamin in Animal Farm, Wise Donkey, the donkey of Sinterklaas in The Adventures of Nero, Baba Looey who are all smart donkeys. Also, in Christian religious tradition donkeys do get some respect as the simple but noble animal that Joseph the Carpenter and Maria rode when they fled Egypt and who, together with the ox, warmed baby Jesus with its breath, hence characters like Little Donkey and Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey.

Elephants

• The unforgetting elephant
  • From the folk-saying "An elephant never forgets" and the expression "an elephant memory" (in some languages, such as Dutch, they speak of a "horse memory"). There are numerous anecdotes and examples of elephants who remembered information or incidents that happened decades earlier.^[16] Scientific research has also proven that the hippocampus is linked to emotion through the processing of certain types of memory, especially spatial. This is thought to possibly be why elephants suffer from psychological flashbacks and the equivalent of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).^[17][18]
• The mice-fearing elephant
  • Because of the comedic image of such a large animal being so frightened of something so tiny, mice-fearing elephants have been a popular staple of children's novels, comic strips and cartoons. Elephants are known to be startled by sudden movements of various kinds of animals, including dogs, cats or snakes, but have not been found to fear mice especially.^[19] Research has shown, however, that elephants are particularly afraid of bees.^[20] In the 2007 MythBusters episode Shooting Fish in a Barrel the team found that an African elephant in the wild was in fact startled when it saw a mouse that they had released in its vicinity, and even turned back. As a result, the team deemed the myth "plausible".^[21]
  • Examples: The story about elephants fearing mice goes back to A.D. 77, when Pliny the Elder mentioned it in his text "Natural History".^[22] The image also appears in Dumbo, The Sword in the Stone and Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
  • Examples: Hannibal the elephant in the Nero album "Hannibal", ...
• An ancient belief states that old elephants leave their herd and instinctively direct themselves toward a specific location known as an elephants' graveyard to die. This is an urban legend.^[23]

Foxes

Foxes are often stereotyped as sly and cunning tricksters, for instance in the famous fable of The Fox and the Crow, portrayed here on Léon Rousseau's painted panel of the fable, Musée Jean de La Fontaine.

• The wily, cruel, cunning or intelligent fox
  • In many fables, legends, fairy tales and myths they were portrayed as cunning animals who always try to trick others and get away without being punished for it. The medieval West-European legends about Reynard the Fox are the best known example. Thanks to this tale many foxes in popular culture are named Reynard, Rénard, Reintje, Reineke or variations thereof. In French the word "rénard" even means "fox".
  • In the fable The Fox and the Crow by Jean de La Fontaine a fox spots a raven sitting in a tree with a piece of cheese. He then tricks it by asking him to sing for him, whereupon the cheese falls out of the crow's beak unto the ground, where the fox can grab it away and eat it.
  • In the fable The Fox and the Stork the fox tricks a stork by stealing his food, only to be tricked himself when the stork puts all his food in a long tube that only his bird beak can reach.
  • Examples of foxes being portrayed as cunning antagonists: Teumessian fox, Kitsune, The fable of the Fox and the Cat, The Fox and the Cat in Pinocchio, The Fox and the Grapes, The Wedding of Mrs. Fox, Mr. Tod, Lowieke de Vos in De Fabeltjeskrant, Marlfox, Mei Ling in Kung Fu Panda Legends of Awesomeness, ...
  • In Japanese mythology the nine-tailed fox Kitsune is portrayed as being both a good as well as a bad spirit.
  • More sympathetic portrayals of foxes: Genkurō, The Greek Princess and the Young Gardener, Vuk, Gon, the Little Fox, Robin and Marian in Disney's Robin Hood, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Nick Wilde in Zootopia, the foxes from The Fox and the Hound, Fox from The Animals of Farthing Wood, Slylock Fox & Comics for Kids, Tails and Fox from Skunk Fu are all depicted as good and noble characters.

Hyenas

• The comical/always-laughing hyena, usually portrayed as a bully or a downright villain^{[citation needed]}

A hyena call bears an uncanny resemblance to a human laugh.^{[citation needed]} Hyenas are also scavengers, which led people to portray them as cowards who would rather steal meals from more successful predators than hunt or kill their prey themselves. This is a simplification of far more complex social structures and hunting tactics within the species.^{[citation needed]}

Examples:

• In North African folklore the werehyena was their equivalent of the werewolf.
• In Middle Eastern literature and folklore striped hyenas were often referred as symbol of treachery and stupidity.^{[citation needed]}
• The Hyena-Swine in H. G. Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau is also portrayed as a menacing antagonist.
• Supervillain The Joker owns two pet hyenas, Bud and Lou.
• Shenzi, Banzai and Ed in The Lion King are henchmen of Scar the villainous lion.
• In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "The Pack" hyena possessed bullies appear.
• The hyena in Bedknobs and Broomsticks is part of a vicious soccer team.
• Zig in Zig & Sharko always tries to eat Marina the mermaid, but fails.

Lemmings

• The suicidal lemming
  • Lemmings tend to migrate in large numbers, which can include jumping off cliffs into the water and swimming great distances to the point of exhaustion and even death, but such an outcome is unintended. The stereotype of lemmings jumping off cliffs as a deliberate act of suicide was influenced by a Disney documentary, White Wilderness (1958) where the animals were chased off a cliff by the documentary makers, purely for some sensational images.^[24] The misconception itself is much older, dating back to at least the late 19th century.^[25]
  • The Lemmings series of video games is based on the myth of the suicidal lemming: the player has to guide a group of lemmings marching blindly forwards to that they can reach the exit.^[26]

Lions

The Lion of Judah is an example of a lion portrayed as a noble monarch.

• The proud, brave, noble, or royal lion
  • From the assumed position at the "top" of the food chain, the lion is often referred to as the "king of beasts" or "king of the jungle" (even though lions do not live in jungles) and is frequently portrayed as the literal ruler of the other animals in a given territory.
  • The expression "a lion's share" means that the majority of something goes to one person.
  • Examples: King Nobel, Aslan, Linus the Lionhearted, King Richard in Disney's Robin Hood, Kimba, Mufasa and Simba, Socrates in Animals United, King Franz Ferdinand in Alfred Jodocus Kwak, Lion-O, Leon, Alex the Lion The first movement of Camille Saint-Saëns' musical piece Carnival of the Animals is described as "The Royal March of the Lion".
  • In several African and Asian cultures lions were depicted as gods.
  • Examples: Sekhmet, Nubia, Maahes, Dedun, Narasimha
  • Many European regions and countries use a lion in their coat of arms or flag. See Lion (heraldry) and Cultural depictions of lions.
  • In Ancient Egypt the sphinx is used as a guarding statue, while in China Chinese guardian lions were used for the same purpose. In European culture lions are also popular guarding statues and symbols, such as the Albani lion.
  • Strong lions are also popular as advertising characters and corporate mascots.
  • Examples: Leo the Lion, Singa the Lion
  • Because the lion's image as the "king of the beasts" they were often used as a challenge for the hero in epic tales and/or as a hungry, horrific monster.
  • Examples: The Lion and the Fox, The Fox and the Sick Lion, Daniel in the lion's den, Samson and Delilah, the Nemean lion, Jad-bal-ja, Prey
  • The shy, cowardly or otherwise vulnerable lion is a subversion of this image.
  • Examples: Androcles, The Lion and the Mouse, The Lion in Love, Jerome and the lion, The Wounded Lion, Yvain, the Knight of the Lion, the Cowardly Lion, Slap Happy Lion, Parsley the Lion, Lambert the Sheepish Lion
• The majestic hunting lion
  • Lions are often portrayed hunting in art, sculptures and popular culture. In reality the lionesses do most of the hunting for their pride.^{[citation needed]}

Opossums

• The opossum which hangs by its tail
  • This is an urban legend. An opossum does use its semi-prehensile tail to stabilize position while climbing, but its adult body weight makes it impossible to hang from a tree by its tail alone.^[27]
• The opossum who "plays possum".
  • When threatened by predators an opossum may fall into a catatonic state, acting as if it is dead. This behaviour deters predators, as an animal which suddenly appears to die could have been suffering from illness. While opossums do fake their own deaths humans have often misinterpreted it as if the animal just faints, or is "playing". In reality the act of an opossum playing dead is a reflex action.^[27]
• Opossums are also often thought to be huge rats, which are rodents. They are actually marsupials.^[27]

Pigs

• The obnoxious, filthy, greedy, ugly and/or dirty pig
  • All these aspects are due to the natural pig lifestyle (when raised on a farm rather than a feedlot)—"greedy" from the way they devour any food put in front of them, "filthy" from the fact that a pig-sty is generally a soup of mud and feces which the pigs do not seem bothered by (this also gives rise to the saying "As happy as a pig").^{[citation needed]} The stereotype may also derive in part from Judeo-Islamic cultures, whose concepts of kosher/halal teach that pigs are "unclean" for various reasons.^{[citation needed]}
  • "Pig" is a pejorative nickname for a filthy or ugly person in many languages.^{[citation needed]} It also is a derogatory word for the police in English slang, which is why all policemen in Fritz the Cat are pigs, and why Chief Wiggum of The Simpsons resembles a pig.^{[citation needed]}

Sheep

• The cute little sheep
  • An image derived from its soft wool. Many nursery rhymes talk about cuddly, sweet and innocent sheep. Children who are not tired enough to go to sleep are often told to count sheep.
  • Examples: Shaun the Sheep, Pleasant Goat (who, despite his name, is a lamb), Lamb Chop, Derek the Sheep
  • In Judeo-Christian religious traditions sheep are often used as metaphor for good people who need to be kept on the good path by a shepherd (often a metaphor for a priest or God or Jesus Christ himself). Examples can be found in the Parable of the Lost Sheep and The Sheep and the Goats.
• The sacrificial lamb
  • Due to their innocent image lambs have been sacrificed in various cultures and religions.
  • Examples: Lamb of God.
• The gullible sheep
  • Much like geese sheep are also a popular metaphor for people who bow down to herd mentality. Just like real sheep they will follow the dominant sheep or their shepherd and don't dare to move or think outside the crowd. The English words Sheeple and sheepish are derived from this image.
• The black sheep
  • A black sheep standing out of a crowd of white sheep is also a popular metaphor, with two different interpretations. A "black sheep" is someone who unfavorably stands out within a group, a family, a company, a class room, etc., ... It can either be someone whose bad reputation is deserved or someone who is a victim or prejudice and discrimination. Penguins are sometimes used in this context as well.
  • Example: Baa, Baa, Black Sheep.

Simians

• The comical and mischievous ape or monkey, fond of bananas and practical jokes
  • Examples: Curious George, Terk from Tarzan, Mighty Joe Young, Jocko in Jo, Zette and Jocko, Choco in Jommeke, Chee-Chee in Tor, Magilla Gorilla, King Louie, The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, Abu, Boots in Dora the Explorer, Kongo, from Misha, Aipom from Pokémon.
• Out of all animals apes and monkeys have the strongest physical and behavioral resemblance to humans. In circus acts and comedy films they are often dressed up and made to perform tricks that mimick human behaviour. Especially chimpanzees and little monkeys are popular with children because of this stereotypical portrayal. However, simians can be unpredictable and therefore dangerous. When people are caught off guard they can easily create mayhem by climbing on top of things, grab things away or even attack people.
  • The Three wise monkeys image also falls into the idea that monkeys are too unintelligent to acknowledge a problematic situation.
• The monstrous or brutish ape (usually a gorilla)
  • The word "gorilla" is used in many languages to describe a heavy thug or body guard. The term 800-pound gorilla refers to a person or organization so powerful it can act without regard to the rights of others or the law.
  • Before the 20th century many people saw apes as brutish monsters, not unlike a hairy "man-beast".
  • Examples: King Kong, General Ursus, Gorilla Grodd
• The imitating ape or monkey
  • Apes and monkeys are able to adapt behavioral patterns quite quickly. The hundredth monkey effect is based on this phenomenon. The downside of their talent for mimicry is that people see monkeys as dumb creatures who imitate everything without actually understanding what they are doing, even foolish or dangerous behaviour. The metaphor infinite monkey theorem and the idiom monkey see, monkey do are based on this idea.

Sloths

• The lazy sloth
  • This stereotype is largely true, as sloths do indeed move very slowly in reality due to their metabolism being very low.^{[citation needed]} They are named for the one of the seven deadly sins, sloth, meaning spiritual apathy.
  • In the 2016 animated film Zootopia, sloths are depicted as performing basic tasks extremely slowly to the point where even completing basic sentences is difficult for them.^{[citation needed]}
  • Sid the prehistoric sloth in the Ice Age films is depicted as lively and fast-talking, in contrast to the "slow" stereotype.

Squirrels and chipmunks

• The hyperactive squirrel
  • This is derived from their extreme speed. In animation squirrels and chipmunks will often speak with sped-up voices.
  • Examples: Twitchy from Hoodwinked!, Screwy Squirrel, Scrat, Skippy Squirrel, Chip and Dale, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Rocky the Flying Squirrel, and Scaredy Squirrel.

Tigers

• The vicious tiger
  • Examples: Shere Khan, The Tyger
• The heroic and powerful tiger
  • Example: Tigger in Winnie The Pooh, Dragon from Misha, Tigress from Kung Fu Panda, Tony the Tiger, the advertising campaigns for the oil company Esso used tigers in their slogan "put a tiger in your tank".

Weasels

• The sneaky and thieving weasel who always manages to flee^{[citation needed]}
  • From the English sayings: "As scared as a weasel" and "to weasel out of a situation". A weasel word is a subjective term in an otherwise objective sentence.
  • The weasel in the song Pop Goes the Weasel is also fleeing from the monkey.
  • Other examples: The weasels in The Wind in the Willows and Who Framed Roger Rabbit
  • Exceptions: I. M. Weasel, the titular character in the cartoon I Am Weasel is portrayed as civilised, good-natured and a model citizen with many achievements. Buck from Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is another exception, being heroic and fearless but insane. Weekly in Blacksad is a tabloid journalist, falling into the sneaky stereotype, but is the best friend of the protagonist.
• The backstabbing weasel^{[citation needed]}
  • To call someone a weasel is to call someone treacherous.
  • Examples: The Professor from Conker's Bad Fur Day.

Wolves and coyotes

Wolves are often stereotyped as cruel, evil and seductive, for instance in the fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood, here illustrated by Gustave Doré.

• The cruel, villainous wolf/coyote
  • Humans have feared wolves since the dawn of men because the animals attacked them and their farm animals. At night, people were creeped out by wolves howling in unison.
  • Monstrous wolves are found in many legends and myths, often overlapping with hellhound creatures: Fenrir, Amarok, Marchosias, Wolf of Gubbio, Beast of Gévaudan, ...
  • The Big bad wolf is a recurring antagonist in fables and fairy tales.
  • Examples: The Boy Who Cried Wolf, The Dog and the Wolf, The Wolf and the Crane, The Wolf and the Lamb, Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids, The Goat and Her Three Kids, Peter and the Wolf
  • In comic strips, cartoons and other children's stories evil wolves and coyotes are also omnipresent.
  • Examples: The Big Bad Wolf in Disney's The Three Little Pigs, the unnamed wolf in Tex Avery's work, Wile E. Coyote, Bor de Wolf in De Fabeltjeskrant, Volk (Волк), Mildew Wolf, Big Big Wolf, the wolf in Hoodwinked
  • The werewolf is another evil stereotype in association with wolves. In past centuries people have often been accused of being werewolves. A disease named hypertrichosis may explain the origin of this myth.
  • Examples: Rougarou, Wulver, Reynardine, Pricolici, The Wolf Man, An American Werewolf in London
• The hungry wolf
  • Similar to the image of the cruel and dangerous wolf the animals are also associated with hunger. Many sayings and proverbs all over the world have kept this image intact.^[28]
• The wolf/coyote who howls at the moon
  • Wolves and coyotes are nocturnal animals and thus can often be heard howling faced toward the sky, which gave humans the impression that they are actually crying directly at the moon. In reality wolves and coyotes are communicating with other members of their species and just point their faces upward so that the sound carries farther.^[29][30]

Birds in general

• Birds are often portrayed as stupid. The English language has the expression birdbrain, for people who aren't very bright. There are many urban legends about birds being so stupid that they accidentally hurt or kill themselves.^[31][32]
• Another expression, "eat like a bird", derives from the notion that birds have small appetites, while in fact a bird eats very much compared to its weight.^{[citation needed]}
• Some birds have an association with beauty, peace and love. In British English "bird" can mean "pretty, attractive girl". The fact that songbirds whistle has also contributed to an association with peace, beauty and tranquillity.^{[citation needed]}
• An often told story claims that when humans touch birds' eggs or baby birds their mother will later reject them, because of the human scent. This is an urban legend, because birds have a limited sense of smell and cannot detect human scent. The story was likely thought up to prevent people from accidentally breaking eggs or separate baby birds from their parents.^[33]

Chickens

• The stupid, cowardly and easily frightened chicken
  • The term "chicken" has become a playful term for someone too scared to engage in a slightly intimidating task.
  • Since chickens can't fly very high they tend to run around whenever they are scared of something. This encouraged their stereotypical image as dumb and panicky creatures. In many languages the phrase "to run around/operate/work like a headless chicken" also expresses this image.
  • In the English language "to chicken out of something" means to appear a coward. Calling somebody "chicken" and cackling is seen as an insult.
  • Examples: Nanny from Count Duckula, several characters in Chicken Run, the song Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens
  • The three bold, fox-fighting chicken sisters in Foxbusters are a notable exception.
• The motherly hen
  • Out of all animals they tend to be stereotyped the most as motherly characters with a strong sense of responsibility and work ethic, being very protective of their little chicks.
    • Examples: The Little Red Hen, The Wise Little Hen, Billina
• The vain, macho cock/rooster
  • Roosters are polygamous animals. When rival roosters enter their territory they will attack them in cock fights. Therefore, humans have often stereotyped them as robust, tough, machoistic males. The words "cocky" and "cocksure" in English refer to assertive, arrogant behaviour,^[34][35] while the Dutch term "haantjesgedrag" ("little rooster behaviour") defines boys or men trying to impose one another.^[36] In English the word "cock" is also used as slang for the word "penis".^[37]
  • Some countries or communities use roosters as their proud emblem: the Gallic rooster, for instance.
  • Roosters usually sit on high perches, looking out for their group. When it spots danger it will crow loudly. This led people to portray roosters as people who crave attention and suffer from delusions of grandeur. The image of the high perched rooster is also prevalent in Christian traditions, where statues of cocks are often put on top of church steeples as a weather vane.
  • Examples: The "Chanticleer and the Fox" tale from The Canterbury Tales, Foghorn Leghorn, Tortellini the rooster from the 1997 film The Fearless Four (based on the Town Musicians of Bremen), Markies de Canteclaer in Tom Puss, Rocky and Fowler in Chicken Run, General Tsao from Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves
  • Thanks to the story Chanticleer many cocks and roosters in fiction have this name or a variation thereof.^{[citation needed]}
• The cock/rooster whose cries announce the break of dawn
  • Roosters can be heard crowing as it begins to get lighter. In past centuries people believed the rooster controlled the rise of daylight and thus only crowed at this occasion. While roosters do indeed crow at dawn and therefore were often used as a prototypical alarm clock in past centuries,^[38] they can and will crow at any time of the day, not just in the morning. The idea that the rooster scares the darkness away led to its worship in various religious belief systems. In English the word "cock-crow" is a synonym for "early morning".^[39]
  • Examples: Chantecler in the eponymous play literally believes his crows cause the sun to rise.

Game fowl

• The proud peacock^{[citation needed]}
  • From the saying: "as proud as a peacock".
  • Peacocks are often used as a symbol of vanity and pride.

Crows and ravens

• The ominous raven or crow
  • In ancient folklore ravens and crows were often seen as foretellers of death and destruction, as portrayed in Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven". Also, in Celtic and Irish myths, goddesses of war often appeared in the form of a raven or crow. The stereotype of ravens portraying death could stem from the fact that they are often seen feasting on the gore of dead soldiers after battle.
  • In Norse mythology Huginn and Muninn were ravens who brought the god Odin information and thus subverted this stereotype.
  • Crows and ravens are also often depicted as villains.
  • Examples: Diablo, Dolf in Alfred J. Kwak, and corvids such as General Ironbeak and his horde in the Redwall series
    • Subversions include Salomo the raven in Paulus the woodgnome, who is portrayed as being very wise and erudite. The crows in Dumbo first mock Dumbo, but as they learn how he was mistreated they feel remorse and help him gain the confidence to use his ears for flying. Meneer de Raaf in the Dutch TV series De Fabeltjeskrant is a raven who can be sarcastic, but is still a good character.
• The Afro-American crow
  • In the 19th and early 20th century white Americans often compared black people with crows, due to the black colour of the bird. Crows in these stereotypical depictions speak in jive.
  • Examples: Jim Crow, the crows in Dumbo, the comic strip and animated version of Fritz the Cat.

Ducks

• Ducks in general are very popular as humoristic characters in comics and animated cartoons. This could be attributed to their wobbly walk and call, which bears some similarity to a human laugh.^{[citation needed]} Specific examples of comedic ducks in fiction: Donald Duck, Daffy Duck, , Inspector Canardo, Alfred Jodocus Kwak
• A popular story often claims that a duck's quack doesn't echo, but this is an urban legend.^[40]

Eagles

Eagles are often incorrectly portrayed as kidnappers of little children and animals, as shown here in this scene from D.W. Griffith's Rescued from an Eagle's Nest (1907).

• The child-stealing eagle
  • Eagles are often depicted in stories as creatures who like to attack humans, especially children, and pick them up with their claws to feed them to their own children. This is a myth, since eagles can only lift up to 4 pounds and are more likely to attack other, smaller animals.^[41]
• Examples: Roc, Hræsvelgr, Anzû, Rescued from an Eagle's Nest
  • In contrast, the giant golden eagle Marahute in Disney's The Rescuers Down Under is a loyal, protective friend of a boy named Cody after he saves her from a poacher.
• The proud, noble eagle
  • Several heraldic emblems use eagles in their weapon shields or as a national symbol, for instance the French Imperial Eagle and the bald eagle used in American propaganda. See also: Eagle (heraldry).
  • Examples: Sam the Eagle, a character in The Muppets who parodies Republican politicians, is a bald eagle. Ernie was the mascot of the British comic book magazine Eagle.

Geese

• Compared to ducks and swans geese are usually depicted more negatively. They are often portrayed as being stupid, arrogant, naïve, gullible and/or gossipy.^{[citation needed]}
  • The English language has the expression "silly goose".
  • The geese in Charlotte's Web, the ones in The Ducktators, Gladstone Gander, Gus Goose, Doctor Von Goosewing from Count Duckula, Lucy from 101 Dalmatians
• Since geese travel to the South during the winter they are often depicted as travelers.
  • The geese in Nils Holgersson, Little Bear, Franklin the Turtle

Magpies

• The thieving magpie^{[citation needed]}
  • This image is derived from the belief that magpies sometimes steal shiny objects and bring them to their nest. In reality, while magpies do indeed steal, they do not target shiny objects, instead stealing food and the eggs of other birds.^{[citation needed]}
  • Examples: the opera The Thieving Magpie by Gioacchino Rossini, the magpie in Alfred J. Kwak, the one in the Tintin album The Castafiore Emerald, Heckle and Jeckle, and in cartoons such as Mr. Bean.

Ostriches

• The nervous and easily frightened ostrich
  • Ostriches are often portrayed as being nervous and are widely thought to bury their heads in the sand at the first sign of danger. In reality this is not true; the ostrich is more likely to respond by fleeing, or, failing in that, delivering powerful kicks, easily capable of killing a man or a lion.^[42]

Owls

A cemetery monument for Hungarian engineer  [hu] in Kerepesi, depicting him in the presence of an owl, symbolizing the man's wisdom.

• The wise old owl
  • In Greek mythology, Athena, goddess of wisdom, is regularly associated with an owl.^[43]
  • Other examples: Owl in Winnie the Pooh, Oehoeboeroe in Paulus the woodgnome, Owl in The Animals of Farthing Wood, Owl in Guardians of Ga'Hoole, Owl in Bambi, Meneer de Uil in De Fabeltjeskrant, Archimedes in The Sword in the Stone, Kaepora Geabora (The Legend of Zelda)
• Although owls are often associated with wisdom and intelligence, this is not universal, nor a timeless image. During the Middle Ages owls were seen as stupid and evil helpers of witches. In many paintings of Hieronymus Bosch the bird is seen as a symbol of stupidity and/or evil. The Dutch profanity word "uilskuiken" ("owl chick") is used to insult a stupid person; the Dutch saying "Wat baten kaars en bril als de uil niet zien wil?" ("What use are a candle and glasses if the owl refuses to see?") reminds people of this opposite view of owls. In Asian culture owls are traditionally seen as dumb instead of wise. Portrayal of owls as evil can also be seen in films such as Rock-a-Doodle.

Parrots, cockatoos and mynahs

• The talkative, annoying, and/or smartypants parrot/cockatoo/mynah (no distinction)
  • Parrots are also often portrayed as if they can actually converse with people, whereas real parrots can only mimic certain sounds.
  • Examples: Paulie, Beo the mynah in the Nero story Beo de Verschrikkelijke ("Beo the Terrible"), Flip in Jommeke, Nigel in Rio, Popugai in 38 Parrots, Iago and Preston from Garfield 2

Pelicans

• In ancient Egypt pelicans were associated with death and the afterlife. As a result, they are depicted on a lot of walls of tombs and funerary text as a protective symbol.^[44]
• In medieval Europe pelicans were portrayed as being particularly attentive to their young, to the point of providing their own blood by wounding their own breast when no other food was available. This legend may be a result of the impression the bird gives that it appears to be stabbing itself with its bill. In reality, it often presses it onto its chest in order to fully empty the pouch. Another possible derivation is the tendency of the bird to rest with its bill on its breast; the Dalmatian pelican has a blood-red pouch in the early breeding season and this may have contributed to the myth. Since then the pelican came to symbolise the Passion of Jesus and the Eucharist,^[45] and usurped the image of the lamb and the flag.^[46]

Penguins

• The formal-attired penguin
  • From the typical colouring which resembles a tuxedo or black tie suit—they are often portrayed as upper-class restaurant waiters.^{[citation needed]}
  • Examples: the penguins in Mary Poppins and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Pingo in Rasmus Klump wears a bowtie.
  • In the Batman comics, the Penguin always dresses in a formal tuxedo and is notable for being the only one of Batman's main foes who is sane and in control of his actions.
• The funny penguin

  Since penguins look "dressed in formal attire ", but walk in what humans perceive as an amusing way they are very popular as cute comedic characters.^{[citation needed]}

  • Examples: Alfred in Zig et Puce, Ping in , Mr. Popper's Penguins, the penguins in Mary Poppins, Opus, Pokey, Frobisher, Puck, Parker, Pewcey and Presley in Love Birds, Happy Feet, Pingu, Tuxedo Sam
  • Tux, the mascot of the Linux operating system kernel, is a plump, jovial penguin.

Pigeons and doves

12th century Venetian mosaic depiction of Noah releasing a dove after the Great Flood ended. This is one of the origins of the image of doves as symbols of peace and goodwill.

• The peaceful dove
  • The peace dove is a universal symbol of pacifism and peace.
  • In biblical stories the dove is often used as a sign of goodwill or a peaceful messenger. This image can also be found in other religious and mythological traditions, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh. Today doves are often released from cages into the open air to inaugurate a special event.
• The loving pigeon couple.
  • The European turtle dove in particular has become a symbol of devoted love. The mournful singing voice of the bird and the fact that it forms strong pair bonds provided this image.
  • Examples: The biblical Song of Songs, William Shakespeare's poem The Phoenix and the Turtle and the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" mentions a turtle dove as a love gift. The word "tortelduif" (the original name for a European turtle dove in Dutch) is still used in Dutch to refer to a young romantic couple.
• The dumb pigeon
  • Like most other birds pigeons are frequently depicted as stupid. In Flemish dialect the word "simpele duif" ("simple pigeon") is a pejorative term used to refer to dumb or naïve people.^[47]

Songbirds

• The joyful, beautiful, elegant songbirds

  Since birds' tweeting sounds melodic to humans, songbirds have usually been portrayed as creatures bringing happiness, beauty and good tidings.

  Examples: the bluebird of happiness, Woodstock from Peanuts, Tweety Pie, Willy the Sparrow, the Beatles song "Blackbird", the Bob Marley song "Three Little Birds", Olivier Messiaen's Catalogue d'oiseaux

Storks

• The baby-delivering stork
  • In western folklore, parents have told their children for centuries that babies are delivered by a stork.^{[citation needed]} Examples can be found in the film Dumbo and the short Lambert the Sheepish Lion. Ollie from Alfred Jodocus Kwak, Vlasic....

Swans

• The beautiful, gracious, elegant yet fragile swan^{[citation needed]}
  • At the end of the tale of the Ugly Duckling the duck turns out to have been a swan all along.
  • Examples: The composition Schwanengesang, the ballet Swan Lake, The Swan Princess, Seven Swans
  • Female characters in fiction tend to have the surname "Swan" to imply their beauty. Examples are Elizabeth Swann, Bella Swan, and Emma Swan.
  • The Dying Swan is a very popular ballet dance, based on the idea that a beautiful creature like a swan is also mortal.
    • The word "swan song" also refers to the final masterpiece by a creator.

Vultures and buzzards

• The starving vulture or buzzard preying on dying creatures^{[citation needed]}
  • Inspired by the fact that vultures and buzzards feed on carcasses and dead bodies.
  • Examples: The vultures from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Beaky Buzzard, What's Buzzin' Buzzard, the Lone Gunslinger from Ice Age: The Meltdown, the Belgian comic strip Les Voraces ("The Vultures"), in the comic strip Lucky Luke the local mortician has a vulture as a pet
  • The expression "to go at something like starving vultures"
• The villainous vulture or buzzard:^{[citation needed]}
  • Examples: Buzz Buzzard, Igor from Count Duckula, Commander Seagrid from Doraemon: Nobita and the Winged Braves, Aeon from Rudolph's Shiny New Year, Boris from Gadget Boy and Heather
  • The evil Skeksis from The Dark Crystal strongly resemble vultures.

Reptiles and amphibians

Alligators and crocodiles

A cartoon by Bernhard Gillam depicting Ulysses S. Grant in a crocodile suit, literally crying crocodile tears.

• The weeping and hypocritical crocodile
  • Many political cartoons, legends and stories feature crocodiles who claim to be sad about someone else's grief and then cry fake tears as a result. This stereotype is based on the fact that in real life crocodiles can often be observed with teary eyes while they consume their dead prey. The reason for this behaviour is that crocodiles are unable to chew and thus are forced to rip their food into chunks and swallow them whole. Since the glands that keep their eyes moist are right near their throats this eating habit actually forces them to produce tears. This observation lead humans to believe that crocodiles are crying about the death of the animal they hypocritically just killed themselves and created the expression "crying crocodile tears", which means that one shows emotions without really meaning it.^[48]
• The villainous crocodile/alligator
  • Crocodiles and alligators are often cast as evil characters in stories.
  • Examples: The crocodile in Peter Pan (although it only attacks the main villain Captain Hook), Leatherhead (who later becomes the Ninja Turtles' ally), The Enormous Crocodile, Brutus and Nero in The Rescuers, Alligator, Dinocroc, Crocosaurus, How Doth the Little Crocodile.
  • There are a few examples of kinder, more sympathetic crocodilian characters, including Wally Gator, Schnappi, Louis from The Princess and the Frog, and Vector the Crocodile from Sonic the Hedgehog.

Frogs and toads

• Toads are often anthropomorphized as obese people.
  • Examples: Mr. Toad in The Wind in The Willows, Ed Bighead, Old Mr. Toad in the tales of Thornton Burgess, Baron Silas Greenback (Danger Mouse), the Toad in Flushed Away
• Frogs on the other hand are typically depicted as lean, thin and energetic, due to the fact that they can hop quite high in real life and are quick swimmers.
  • Examples: Jeremy Fisher, Kermit the Frog, Flip the Frog, Michigan J. Frog, Superfrog, Dig'em (from the Honey Smacks cereals)
    • Video games also use frogs as characters because of this image: Frogger, Frogs
• While frogs are generally depicted as joyful and sympathetic characters toads tend to be portrayed more as grumpy and serious, or downright villains. A prime example of this distinction are Frog and Toad in the stories of Arnold Lobel.
  • Examples: Ed Bighead, Old Mr. Toad in the tales of Thornton Burgess, Baron Silas Greenback (Danger Mouse), the Toad in Flushed Away
• Since frog legs are a French culinary tradition the word "frog" has become a derogatory term to describe French people. As a result, frogs in English popular culture sometimes have French accents.
  • Examples: Jean-Bob in The Swan Princess, Prince Naveen
• Another stereotype associated with frogs is the urban legend about the boiling frog, incorrectly claiming that if a frog is placed in slowly heated water it will not perceive the danger and be cooked to death.^[49][50] However, some 19th-century experiments suggested that the underlying premise is true, provided the heating is sufficiently gradual.^[51][52]
• Due to the fairy tale of The Frog Prince frogs are often portrayed as princes in disguise.
  • Examples: Puddocky, The Frog Prince, The Princess and the Frog

Snakes

The Midgard Serpent in Norse mythology is an example of a snake being portrayed as an evil monster.

• The evil or untrustworthy snake
  • Throughout history and in almost every country humans have feared snakes because they are either venomous or constrictors.
  • In Judeo-Christian religious traditions the snake earned its stereotypical image due to its depiction in the Book of Genesis where the serpent deceives Adam and Eve into the first sin. As implied in the text the snake was actually Satan in disguise. Because of their seductive image snakes are often portrayed to be sly hypnotists.
  • Examples of evil snakes: Nag, Nagaina and Karait from Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, Kaa (in Disney's The Jungle Book), Sir Hiss, Cy Sly the python in Ovide and the Gang, Nagini
  • Exceptions: Adder in The Animals of Farthing Wood and Kaa in The Jungle Book (Rudyard Kipling's original book); both of them, while disturbing to other characters, prove to be helpful allies.
  • Monstrous and often gigantic snakes and serpents are also prevalent in many ancient myths and legends: Bakunawa, the Feathered Serpent, the Midgard Serpent, the Rainbow Serpent, the Hoop snake, the Lernaean Hydra, Nāga, Tsuchinoko, Yamata no Orochi Some are half-woman like Echidna, Medusa and Madame White Snake. Others are dragons.
  • Vicious snakes are also popular in horror movies.
  • Examples: Venom, Snakes on a Plane, Anaconda
• The cobra who is hypnotized by a snakecharmer
  • In India snakecharmers often play a flute (named a pungi) while a cobra rises out of a basket as if it is mezmerized by the music. This is a misconception, since snakes have no outer ears that would enable them to hear the music. In reality they just instinctively follow the movement of the flute.^{[citation needed]}

Turtles and tortoises

• The patient or slow-witted turtle/tortoise
  • The tortoise in The Tortoise and the Hare, Cecil Turtle, Verne from Over the Hedge, the composition "The Tortoise" from Camille Saint-Saëns' The Carnival of the Animals is an adaption of Jacques Offenbach's Can-Can only played much, much slower.

Fish and sea mammals

Dolphins

• The joyful and heroic dolphin.
  • Examples: Flipper, Ecco the Dolphin

Goldfish

• The forgetful goldfish
  • This is based on the idea that the goldfish has only a three-second memory, which is an urban legend.^[53][54] It is much longer, counted in months.
  • Examples: Darwin from The Amazing World of Gumball

Orcas

• The vicious, ravenous, merciless orca
  • Examples: Orca: The Killer Whale, Camu from the Angry Beavers episode "Moby Dopes", Buster from Kenny the Shark
• The powerful, majestic orca
  • Examples: Free Willy, Moby Lick from Street Sharks, Spot from The Little Mermaid
  • Orcas are often considered the most formidable and respected hunters of the sea, feared even by great white sharks.

Sharks

• The evil or bloodthirsty shark
  • Sharks have often been portrayed as monsters who will immediately attack anything that swims in their vicinity. Contrary to popular belief, only a few sharks are dangerous to humans. Out of more than 470 species, only four have been involved in a significant number of fatal, unprovoked attacks on humans: the great white, oceanic whitetip, tiger, and bull sharks.^[55][56] These sharks are large, powerful predators, and may sometimes attack and kill people. However, even then, shark attacks on humans are extremely rare. The average number of fatalities worldwide per year between 2001 and 2006 from unprovoked shark attacks is 4.3.^[57]
  • Examples: Watson and the Shark, The Gulf Stream, Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only, Licence to Kill, Jaws, Deep Blue Sea, The Reef, Sharktopus, King Shark, Monster Shark, Misterjaw, Samebito, Mega Shark Versus Crocosaurus...
  • Subversions of the "evil shark" stereotype are Kenny the Shark, Jabberjaw, Street Sharks, Sherman's Lagoon, Lenny from Shark Tale, Sharky in Sharky & George and Bruce, Chum and Anchor, the three sharks from Finding Nemo, who try to swear off eating fish.
  • In Hawaiian mythology sharks were revered as gods, with Kamohoalii and Pele as well known examples. In Fijian mythology Dakuwaqa was also a shark-god.
• Sharks are often thought to be immune to disease, especially cancer. However, this is an urban legend.^[58][59] Both diseases and parasites affect sharks. The evidence that sharks are at least resistant to cancer and disease is mostly anecdotal and there have been few, if any, scientific or statistical studies that show sharks to have heightened immunity to disease.^[60]

Invertebrates

Ants

• The diligent ant
  • This stems mainly from a fable, The Ant and the Grasshopper, in which the ant works hard to prepare for the winter while the grasshopper wastes the summer and autumn having fun, only to have to beg food from the ant or starve.
  • Examples: The Ant and the Aardvark, in which the ant is often busy working.
• The militant ant
  • Ants, like many animals that form colonies or hives, are known for working together like an army.^[61][62] Some popular culture stories portray ants as military soldiers.
  • Example: the ants from Antz
• The thieving/bothersome ant
  • Ants are often portrayed stealing food from picnics, kitchens, etc., as they do in real life. Examples can be found in many cartoons, like the 1955 Tom and Jerry cartoon Pup on a Picnic and Garfield and Friends.

Bees

• The workaholic bee
  • Bees are usually cast as "good" characters as opposed to wasps. This image may be derived from the fact that bees are popularly associated with spring, fertilisation of flowers and making honey. See also the birds and the bees.

Crickets and grasshoppers

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• Crickets and grasshoppers look very similar and because of this they are often confused with each other.
• The violin playing cricket/grasshopper
  • Male crickets are known for the chirping sound they make. In some cultures this sound is seen as a sign of good luck, while in other cultures it is associated with bad luck. Some cartoons depict crickets as violinists because the movements they make to produce their chirping sound resemble someone playing a violin.
  • Examples: The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden, the grasshopper in the Disney cartoon The Grasshopper and the Ants and in Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach.
• The lazy/carefree grasshopper
  • This stems mainly from a fable, The Ant and the Grasshopper, in which the ant works hard to prepare for the winter while the grasshopper wastes the summer and autumn having fun, only to have to beg for food from the ant or starve. For this reason, grasshoppers are also sometimes characterized as social parasites (as in the Pixar movie A Bug's Life).
  • An exception is the Old-Green-Grasshopper in Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach, who is portrayed as a well-mannered gentleman and musician. Similarly, the Humbug from The Phantom Tollbooth.

Ladybugs

• Ladybugs are always depicted as female in popular culture.^{[citation needed]} This is a very old association. Though historically many European languages referenced Freyja, the fertility goddess of Norse mythology, in the names, the Virgin Mary has now largely supplanted her, so that, for example, "freyjuhœna" (Old Norse) and "Frouehenge" have been changed into "marihøne" (Norwegian) and "Marienkäfer" (German), which corresponds with "Our Lady's bird".^[63] This also explains with it is one of the few insects associated with beauty, luck, peace and tranquility,^{[citation needed]} making it a popular logo and mascot.
  • Examples: The ladybirds in the songs Ladybird, Ladybird and "Mala Biedroneczka" are described as a mother with children. The ladybug in James and the Giant Peach is a motherly character. Cococinel in the 1990s animated series of the same name is female and Ferda Mravenec ("Ferdy the Ant")'s partner is also a ladybug.

Mantises

• The wise, religious mantis monk. This stereotype is derived from the term praying mantis, as the insect's standard posture resembles prayer.^{[citation needed]}
  • Mantis from Kung Fu Panda.
  • Manny from A Bug's Life.
• The sinister, menacing and/or evil mantis.^{[citation needed]}
  • The She-Mantis in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Teacher's Pet"
  • Queen Bakrakra/Katheter in Insektors
  • The mantis briefly seen in Antz
  • The Deadly Mantis
  • Zorak

Spiders

• The evil spider^{[citation needed]}
  • Spiders often frighten people due to their appearance. Arachnophobia is one of the most common phobias.^[64][65] However, spiders are important in the ecosystem as they eat insects which humans consider to be pests. Only a few species of spiders are dangerous to people.^[66] Spiders will only bite humans in self-defense, and few produce worse effects than a mosquito bite or bee-sting.^[67] Most of those with medically serious bites, such as recluse spiders and widow spiders, would rather flee and bite only when trapped, although this can easily arise by accident.^[68][69] Funnel web spiders' defensive tactics include fang display and their venom, although they rarely inject much, has resulted in 13 known human deaths over 50 years.^[70] They have been deemed to be the world's most dangerous spiders on clinical and venom toxicity grounds,^[66] though this claim has also been attributed to the Brazilian wandering spider, due to much more frequent accidents.^[71]
  • Examples of spiders as antagonists and/or scares: The Spider and the Fly, Ungoliant, Kingdom of the Spiders, Thekla in Maya the Bee, The Spider Bite urban legend... The Greek mythological character Arachne was transformed into a spider as a punishment. The spider in Little Miss Muffet scares Miss Muffet away. Peter Parker in Spider-Man gained his powers due to a spider-bite.
  • In horror stories the giant spider is a popular monster, for instance: Tsuchigumo, The Black Spider, Earth vs. the Spider, Shelob, Atlach-Nacha, Tarantula, The Shooting Star, Aragog, The Giant Spider Invasion, Eight Legged Freaks, Lolth, ...
  • Rare examples of a positively depicted spider include: Legend of the Christmas Spider, Iktomi, The Spider Grandmother, Areop-Enap, Anansi, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Charlotte A. Cavatica from Charlotte's Web, Spider, and Miss Spider from James and the Giant Peach.
• Spiders are also often falsely described as insects.^{[citation needed]} In reality they are arachnids.^{[72][page needed]}

Wasps

• The wanton and vicious wasp^{[citation needed]}
  • Since wasps are able to sting humans they are considered to be pests.
  • The word "waspish" refers to comments with the intention to insult somebody.
  • The wasp is also a popular horror monster.
  • Examples: The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth, The Wasp Woman
• A wasp waist is associated with beautiful female silhouettes.

Worms

• Annelids, particularly Earthworms (and by conflation maggots, which few laypersons recognize as being kin to insects rather than to actual worms), are often regarded as "the lowest of the low", and popular culture references to them will usually reflect this.^{[citation needed]}
  • Example: Grima Wormtongue in The Lord of the Rings.
• In children's stories worms are often portrayed as tiny, feeble, sympathetic sidekicks.^{[citation needed]}
  • Examples: Lowly Worm, Slimey the Worm, Quentin in Ollie and Quentin, Earthworm Jim, Wormmon from Digimon
• Bookworms are always portrayed as little worms with glasses who carry books in one arm. This is based on the expression "bookworm" to describe a bibliophile.^{[citation needed]}
  • Examples: Bookworm in "Tiny Toon Adventures"
• Earth worms are often believed to become two worms when cut in half. However, only a limited number of earthworm species^[73] are capable of anterior regeneration. When such earthworms are bisected, only the front half of the worm (where the mouth is located) can feed and survive, while the other half dies.^[74] Species of the planarian flatworms actually do become two new planarians when bisected or split down the middle.^[75]

Indian animal stereotypes

India has a rich tradition of animal stories and beast fables, including one of the world's oldest collections of stories, the Panchatantra and its later derivatives such as the Hitopadesha. Throughout these fables, the talking animals behave as humans (unlike the Aesop model, in which animals behave as animals), and are used to invoke characters with stereotypical personalities. There is also a distinction between wild and domesticated animals. Some common stereotypes include:

• Lion: king of the forest; demonstrates all royal strengths and weaknesses. Brave, noble and proud but can be haughty and foolish. Has natural rivalry with the elephant.^[76]
• Jackal: greedy and cunning (akin to the fox in European tradition); sometimes punished but often gets away. Is often a manipulative minister to the king.^[77]
• Hare: small and vulnerable but compensates by being crafty, outwitting stronger rivals.^[77]
• Elephant (wild or domestic): noble, proud, strong; enemy of the lion but like the lion can be naive and, when in rut, wild and unpredictable.^[78]
• Cat (domestic or wild): cunning and hypocritical, with a calm appearance hiding murderous intentions.^[79]
• Tiger: Symbol of might and courage; celebrated as national animal of India.^[80]
• Dog: considered unclean and impure, reviled—not a pet but a pest; considered to lack self-respect.^[78]
• Mongoose: loyal and useful pet, best known for its natural enmity toward snakes. See The Brahmin and the Mongoose.^[81]

References

• The Five Discourses on Worldly Wisdom (The Pañcatantra by Viṣṇuśarmā). Translated by Patrick Olivelle. Clay Sanskrit Library. 2006. pp. 26–31.
• Friendly Advice (The Hitopadeśa by Nārāyaṇa). Translated by . Clay Sanskrit Library. 2007. pp. 36–45.