What creatures in the animal kingdom have the worst reputation...undeserved that is?

‘Possums. They look and act dangerous, but they’d rather run than fight. I peed on one once.

‘Possum got Symbeline!!

Crows seem to get a bad rap, but they and other scavengers eat a lot of dead meat off the roads that would otherwise stink for most of the summer.

I’d have to say, the Great White Shark. Single handedly turned into a crazy killing machine by Stephen Spielberg, it CAN be a dangerous animal to humans, and humans have been fatally injured and killed by great whites, but it’s seriously blown out of proportion.
Thing is, the great white shark is, of course, a carnivore, and a hunter. But most of the times that people were attacked by this shark, was because the shark has mistaken the human for one of its habitual preys. Seals, sea lions…great whites often use a surprise attack by coming up from below, and can mistake a swimming human for one of those animals. But it doesn’t go out looking for humans, and doesn’t live to destroy everything. Unless it’s severely starving, it wouldn’t actually ’‘eat’’ a human. As well, it’s easy to say when it isn’t happening to you but…apparently, you get attacked by a great white, just smack it in its snout if possible, and the thing will turn tail and swim off like ass. don’t quote me, lol
As for hunting, great whites will sometimes stick their heads out of the water to actually get a better look at their prey from afar, AND to be able to smell it better. A human and a seal can smell the same to a shark, since both are warm blooded, which can also explain unintended attacks.

So, those sense for the shark don’t seem to always work so well under water, since it has to stick its head out to get a better feel for the situation, and can fuck up if it doesn’t, and therefore attack that which it usually doesn’t. But it also attacks underwater animals, like baby whales and other sharks.

Some sharks also have their senses in their teeth. Their teeth are like fingers with noses, this is how they smell and taste things. Great whites are also curious animals, it might come up to a human and bite it, to see what the hell it is, but this is probably pretty rare.

So, it’s not to say that sharks are not dangerous; far from it…but not for the reasons a lot of people think.

Also, there’s…aaaah! Possum!! Noooo!

Yeah @CWOTUS. Thanks Alfred Hitchcock

Why would sharks avoid eating humans any more than they’d avoid eating a seal?

Don’t know. Not a shark expert here, I’ve read about them, although different sources say a lot of different things. I’m thinking its habitual preys have proteins and stuff that the shark needs, and that we don’t have, or don’t have much of. I mean, if you check out shark attack files and stuff, yes people have been injured or killed by sharks; but I don’t remember ever hearing about a shark grabbing a person, and eating them. They always tend to reject our meat, that is, if they were hunting at the time of the attack, and not just exploring. It’s a hunter with a wide range of things it eats, but like all else, it has a selection, and we’re not included in it.

Sharks need blubber. The calories. All of that.

Sharks want full-fat milk. Humans are icky nonfat soy. We just don’t taste good.

Pit bulls for sure. I’ve been privelaged to own a few of these strong and loving dogs.

If you’re an intelligent owner with a firm sense of responsiblity, they are great companions.

Ah. Well, too bad they can’t figure that out before they take off your leg and then spit it out in disgust.
Mom shark “Junior! That’s junk food! Spit it out right this minute!”

Yeah, I picked up all that info on sharks too @Symbeline, discovery channel mostly, other stuff from that film Shark Tale & Spongebob is a fucking expert on all things shark related.
Apparently sharks have been around since dinosaur times, which pretty much makes them awesome survivalists if nowt else.
We must taste shitty to them though, coz why else do they spit out our chowder?

Tusk, tusk, not elephants.

^^Easy for you to say, sat up in your ivory tower.

@ucme Yeah, I saw a set of documentaries about sharks, they were selling the episodes on the PlayStation Network. Unfortunately, those shows concentrated a lot shark attacks and all the stuff they’re ’‘known for’’, so that doesn’t help their reputation. Discovery Channel is better haha.

And yeah, dinosaurs…check out this graph. If that’s true, prehistoric megamouth sharks were goddamn huge. :O

Spiders seem to be hated by most people and yet spiders to far more good than harm. Spiders have caused human deaths but not nearly as many human deaths and mutilations as our dearly loved domestic dogs cause. Perhaps the biggest crime that spiders cause is that they’re looks are considered repulsive. To me they are beautiful animals always on the lookout for bugs to eat.

Tusk

@Symbeline The BBC did a show a few years back with CGI dinosaurs, it was much better than it sounds XD They recreated a scene where one of those mega shark fuckers jumped out of the ocean & took out a T-Rex fishing in the shallow-ish waters…epic stuff, poor Rex had no clue what hit it, gone in a massive bite.

Ha yeah, apparently the megalodon was pretty much earth’s most badass predator. A lot of that was due to its size, but still…I didn’t know they also ate land creatures. That would be cool if I could find that show you’re talking about. Bad or good…CGI dinosaurs are always awesome. :D

I think it was imaginatively titled Walking With Dinosaurs, which fucking genius came up with that doozy eh? Really good show though, my kids loved it too…which is always a bonus :D

Wow, Dutrchess_III, I’d forgotten how much I loved that FM song. Thanks for reminding me.

Bats.

Anything that eats it’s weight in mosquitoes is all right in my book.

Definitely Pit Bulls. Also spiders and sharks.

Wasps.

Bacteria get a bad rap, but if it weren’t for them, there would be no “us”.