Zoologist debunks misconceptions about animals

Zoologist debunks misconceptions about animals
Originally published Saturday, July 25, 2009

By Nadia Malik
Daily Herald Staff Writer

It seems many animals have been greatly misunderstood.
To hear Zoologist Robert James tell it, much of what the average person knows about the creatures who share the Earth with us is incorrect.
Hedgehogs and porcupines, for example, can't shoot their needles at you. That would be like saying humans can shed their hair at will. A neat trick, sure, but not very likely.
Bats don't like flying into people's hair. And alligators won't bite you out of the water - although you need to watch out for those tails, their real defense mechanism.
"Out of the water, they'll never, ever use their mouth," James said.
James, who is based in Lombard and often brings his animals to area schools, is sharing his knowledge this weekend with crowds at the DuPage County Fair in Wheaton. James will make presentations at 10:30 a.m., 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday in the Ag-Venture Land area of the fairgrounds at 2015 W. Manchester Road.
It's an interactive event, where everyone gets a chance to pet all the animals, including an emu who understands Spanish, a bat, a tarantula and a python.
Don't worry about being poisoned, though. Apparently, tarantulas and pythons aren't lethal, either. Another falsehood debunked.
Bats, it turns out, are pretty cuddly. The hair on the back of the brown bat James brings is, as he describes it, softer than any teddy bear.
The animals all have been injured and brought back to health by James.
The python was crushed when it was being removed from under a house in Florida, and the hedgehog was hit by a car.
James said he uses only affection training when working with the animals, maintaining they all have to be treated with respect.
James also likens the different species of animals to the variety of humans in the world. He encourages everyone to pet all the animals he brings, regardless of prior fears they may have.
"What's on the outside of somebody means absolutely nothing," he said.
Tarantulas may look a bit scary, but they're around to eat bugs - and only bugs. Plus, James said, he's been bitten by everything from a monkey to a third-grader, but snakes have never harmed him.
"The first thing you do is meet somebody and then you figure out if you like them or don't like them," he said.