10 Animals Everyone Gets Wrong

There is hardly a soul alive who does not enjoy watching wildlife and the other wonders of the natural world. When it comes to watching wildlife in particular, one of the most fun parts is trying to determine which animal you are looking at, especially beyond just “look at the bear!” But the animal kingdom is a big place.

With internet misinformation and good old confusion between human slang and scientific taxonomy, there are many misunderstandings about which animals are actually what. We are here to shed light on some common misunderstandings and clear up the confusion.

Related: Ten Animals That Produce and Store Toxins in Unlikely Places

10 There Are No Buffalo Native to America

As far as pop culture is concerned, buffalo are about as American as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. There’s Buffalo Bill, the city of Buffalo, folk songs that sing about roaming buffalo, and many more. The funny thing about this, though, is that all of these pop culture references are based on the mistaken notion that there had ever been wild buffalo in America in the first place. Some stories claim that early French settlers called them “boeuf,” the French word for beef, and this evolved into buffalo, but there is no confirmation that this is true.

What we do know is that the animal early settlers confused with the buffalo was actually the bison. Bison tend to have shorter, sharper horns than buffalo, as well as shaggy coats they shed in warm months, larger heads, and humps on their shoulders. This sets them apart from buffalo, which are native to Africa and Asia. Apart from the anatomical differences, whoever came up with the scientific name for the bison really wanted to drive the point home, as the plains bison’s full scientific name is Bison bison bison. While “buffalo” remains a common nickname, the animal is technically a bison.^[1]

9 Is It a Cougar, Panther, Mountain Lion, Catamount, or Puma?

Ah, the good old mountain lion, cougar, puma, panther, catamount debate. This animal is a creature with no shortage of names, no question about that. Its naming situation is so confusing that, by putting all those names together, everyone reading knows what animal is being referred to and yet likely also has an opinion on which name is the most appropriate. Likely the most popular, apart from mountain lion, is cougar, but the others all see use. Another particularly confusing bit is that puma is one of the less-used names, when its scientific name includes the word puma.

And this is where things get serious, as its full scientific name is Puma concolor, which essentially just means it is a puma of solid color without spots, stripes, or other similar markings. So what actually is it? The truth is, this is a confusing one. Most people don’t refer to things by their full taxonomic name, and depending on your region, it is called different things, so going with the flow wherever you are is likely the best strategy here. It’s not like we don’t all know what one another is talking about. One caveat is that “panther” is often a regional nickname and can refer to different big cats depending on where you are. Still, if you are talking about big cats in America, there can be only one.^[2]

8 Despite Persistent Rumors, Koalas Are Not Bears

Koalas are lovable, cute, fuzzy little animals, the kind that pop up in pop culture over and over because they trigger all the “that’s so cute!” responses in our brains. It’s like a real-life teddy bear, and it doesn’t even eat meat; talk about perfect! This belief has led many to get stuffed plush toys of koalas so they can have a plushie version of that real-life teddy bear. The only problem here, of course, is that despite incredibly persistent misinformation, the koala is still not a bear.

It turns out a real-life miniature bear was a bit too good to be true. The koala is not a koala bear but actually a marsupial. This is similar to animals like kangaroos and wombats, which are also marsupials. They are mammals that have pouches in which they keep their young after birth for them to complete the maturation process. Koala pouches have teats on the inside from which joeys can suck milk. So just remember, there are no bears in Australia to worry about, except the drop bear. You gotta watch out for those; you never know when one will drop right out of a tree and land on top of you.^[3]

7 What Actually Is a Killer Whale?

For the longest time, everyone accepted that the orca, also known as the killer whale, was a whale. Then things were upended when people pointed out that if you want to get really technical, the orca is a type of dolphin, and people on the internet love to get technical. This was accepted for some time before it turned into yet another debate, as people argued about the taxonomic differences and relationships between whales, dolphins, and orcas.

As it turns out, this is a complex situation where people often end up talking past one another. Orcas belong to the dolphin family, Delphinidae, and are actually the largest dolphins on Earth. However, dolphins themselves are part of the toothed whale group, meaning an orca is both a dolphin and a toothed whale. To put it simply, all whales, dolphins, and porpoises are cetaceans, and dolphins are one family within that larger group. Dolphins have prominent dorsal fins, cone-shaped teeth, and bottle-shaped beaks, but they are still classified as toothed whales.^[4]

6 The King Cobra Is Not Actually a True Cobra

Ah, the king cobra, the most iconic-looking of all snakes, known for its venom and often seen in pop culture used by snake charmers. They are called the king cobra, so we assume they are the king of all cobra snakes, as in, the greatest of them all. But it turns out there is a bit of confusion here, as the king cobra is not actually a true cobra at all.

See, where the confusion lies is the assumption people make when hearing its name. It is called the king cobra largely because it preys on other snakes, including cobras. This can be understood by its scientific name, Ophiophagus hannah, which basically means “snake that eats snakes.” However, while being a snake eater in general, it does not just eat cobras but other snakes as well as other reptiles. Unlike the true cobras of the genus Naja, the king cobra belongs to its own genus, Ophiophagus. In fact, it actually has some rather strange eating habits. It may develop a preference for one type of snake and refuse any other.^[5]

5 Many Canada Geese Are Now Actually American Geese

In the United States of America, Canada geese are becoming an increasing problem. They are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. This means the ability to hunt or manage them is very strictly regulated and can be hard to get around. Due to their protected status, their numbers have increased over the years, and, making it even more difficult, many Canada geese are now choosing to overstay their yearly guest visas and become permanent residents.

It is estimated that there are currently more than 3.2 million resident Canada geese that have stopped migrating and might as well be American now. As this problem has gotten worse over the years and migratory patterns have changed, some hotspots have begun trying to decrease the surplus population. Many of these resident geese are descendants of birds that adapted to year-round life in the United States. The city of Rochester, New York, for example, is known for having a year-round Canada goose population that has become larger over the years, all basically permanent residents now. The city’s attempts have been mixed, and some don’t want to see them go.^[6]

4 Blood-Drinking Vampire Bats Are Incredibly Overhyped

Vampire bats are truly iconic. They are part of the imagery that helped shape modern vampire folklore and the popular image of creatures that drink blood in the night. The idea of bats drinking blood is so ingrained in the public imagination that we can hardly imagine bats doing anything else at all. For the most part, we see them as evil, dirty sky rats that drink blood and spread disease. However, the vast majority of bats really are not at all what you think they are. The truth is, most bats do not actually drink blood; it’s just that the most shocking and crazy things get the most attention.

The reality is, our amazing animal kingdom has a wealth of different species. When it comes to bats, there are more than 1,400 species. Out of all these species, only three of them are vampiric, and all three are native to the Americas. This means in your life, out of all the bats you have seen, there is a good chance you have never seen one that drinks blood. Further, while they get a bad rap for spreading disease, it is usually through no fault of their own. Some fruit bats are considered likely reservoirs for viruses such as Ebola, but vampire bats are not the species associated with those outbreaks.^[7]

3 What Is a “Daddy Long Legs” and Why Is It So Confusing?

Ah, the daddy long legs. What young boy has not picked one up in the grass and played with it? They are so unthreatening: no obvious teeth, such thin legs, no scary appendages, fangs, or terrifying chitinous armor. As kids, we also heard all kinds of rumors about them, chiefly that they were venomous and could not kill you because their teeth were too small. We also, of course, heard that they were spiders. As it turns out, the venom claim is simply total nonsense. On the other hand, the confusion over the whole spider thing is a lot more nuanced.

Now, daddy long legs, which are technically harvestmen if we are referring to the arachnid most people see outdoors, are arachnids, but they are not true spiders. Harvestmen belong to the order Opiliones, while true spiders belong to the order Araneae. Spiders have venom, can spin silk, have segmented bodies, and most have eight eyes. In comparison, harvestmen do not have these things.

However, the whole thing gets even more confusing, as when some people talk about daddy long legs, they are referring to an indoor arachnid often also called a cellar spider that is a true spider. This spider has rather long legs, increasing the confusion. If it helps, you will generally only see harvestmen outside and cellar spiders indoors.^[8]

2 The Fisher “Cat”: What Actually Is This Animal?

For those who have heard of them, the fisher cat is a solitary and elusive predator that stalks the Americas and is particularly well known in the Northeastern United States. The animal is called the fisher, and sometimes the fisher cat, but this is a bit odd, as this creature neither fishes nor is it any kind of cat. It is actually a very large member of the weasel family, with males reaching up to 3 feet (0.9 m) in length and 20 pounds (9 kg) in weight. The fisher cat is covered in glossy fur, often a darker brown color.

So if this elusive, secretive, human-fearing, and legendary predator is a weasel, why do people often call it a cat, and if it doesn’t fish, why is it called a fisher? Well, the first one is a bit easier to answer, as fishers have short muzzles, long whiskers, and retractable claws, similar to cats. Add in their desire to avoid humans, and you only see glimpses of them, making it harder to identify what they are. Fishers are mustelids, placing them in the same family as weasels, martens, otters, and wolverines.

As for the fisher thing, there is some speculation that early European traders saw a resemblance to the fitch polecat, and fitch became fisher over time, but there is no solid evidence of this claim.^[9]

1 Not All Black Bears Are Black, Leading to a Lot of Confusion Among Tourists

When many tourists go to places like Yellowstone, what they are most excited about is the chance of seeing a bear. What makes it even more exciting is correctly identifying said bear. However, park rangers are often exasperated by how often people get bear identification wrong and how stubborn they can be when corrected. See, the issue is that tourists think they can tell bears apart simply by color: A black bear is black, and a grizzly is brown, simple, right? Case closed!

Except it’s not that simple, and whoever first came up with the name black bear was clearly trying to play a joke on everyone, because the black bear, Ursus americanus, comes in all kinds of different colors. Black bears in mainland America can also be rusty cinnamon and dark brown. Further, if you go to southeastern Alaska, there are glacier bears, which are bluish gray. In the archipelagos of British Columbia, there are white black bears known as spirit bears—all of these are Ursus americanus.

This confusion is common enough that the authorities at Yellowstone have a page just for teaching people the differences between black bears and grizzlies. The guide makes a point of noting that both bears come in many different colors, as color is one of the least reliable ways to distinguish the two species. There is far more to proper bear identification than what color it is.^[10]