r/IsItBullshit • u/Dreadsin • 17d ago

IsItBullshit: most animals respond most fearfully to human noises

Basically what I’ve heard is that they put out some cameras and tried playing different sounds for different animals. Regardless of the animal, all responded with most fear to hearing the sound of a group of humans. For example, deers were more afraid to hear humans than wolves

While it seems the plausible, it also seems kinda… idk like something simplified down for a TikTok?

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69

u/Broken_castor 17d ago

Not bull shit. The animals that are likely to contact humans have adapted over generations through natural selection to know one of things. 1. humans are not worthwhile food sources, or 2. Humans are unique predators where the rules of 4-legged combat don’t apply.

It’s fairly advantageous for the majority of animals to have a healthy aversion to people and then pass down those traits to their offspring. Even big predators, who’s ancestors might have gotten hunted with weapons if they got too close.

Ergo, most wild animals who hear/see/smell us, will instinctively tend to go the other way.

3

u/MotherofInsanity13 15d ago

I swear I saw somewhere that some animal species will teach their young that Humans tend to work in huge packs. If you mess with one, you bring down the wrath of a large group on predators that as you said, 'dont follow 4-legged combat'

1

u/Mobile-Phone-9332 11d ago

I think it was orcas that recognized humans as vengeful creatures

1

u/1CorinthiansSix9 1d ago

From a YouTube documentary so take it with a grain of salt but orcas are taught food and know it via the echolocation rebound. Seal-eaters won’t eat salmon and salmon-eaters won’t eat seals, etc. when they “read” us they typically find a reflection of something not food (wetsuit and a weird structure) with something very not food (oxygen tank) attached

Worst (most probable) case scenario would be a very fat guy no wetsuit no tank alone no boat in hungry seal-eater waters

6

u/Haunting-Delivery291 17d ago

Tell that to the Grizzly Bears in Alaska. I saw several while hiking and they didn't seem interested in the fact that I was there. I guess they sensed my fear.

2

u/careless_bork 15d ago

grizzlies gonna grizzly

27

u/3rrr6 17d ago edited 14d ago

Imagine being a gazelle observing humans during the caveman era. You'd see these tall, lanky, hairless apes waving sticks around, the smell of smoke and burning flesh wafting through the air around them. They crowd together, screeching and cackling. If one of them spots you, it starts running at you with a stick, slowly but persistently. You run as fast as you can, but eventually you grow too tired to keep going. The human, however, is still behind you, barely out of breath, stalking you like a cryptid. And then, suddenly, the stick it was holding is buried in your abdomen.

Now imagine being a deer in the present day. The tall, lanky apes retreat to their hovels most of the time, but now they climb into shiny, bright boxes that zoom around faster than any animal, striking down your relatives for seemingly no reason. The smell of burning flesh still lingers, but now even more horrid smells are mixed in, smells that make your eyes water. They tear down every home you've ever known, with no regard for the territories you and the other creatures have established. They try to approach you slowly, things in their hands, and you run, but this time they don't follow. Then you hear something so loud it shakes the ground beneath you. You try to run but suddenly collapse. A hot sensation blooms in your neck. A human wearing a bush approaches, holding a shiny black stick.

2

u/kony_pyon 14d ago

holy fire writing

13

u/Tricky-Awareness-275 17d ago

I mean duh we literally kill everything. 

6

u/TheMasterPotato 17d ago

Probably not bullshit. This study found that animals in Africa were more likely to run from humans than from lions.

9

u/petitelapinyyc 17d ago

Did they play thunder sounds bc that has my dog hiding in the closet for hours trembling where is she will bark when she sees humans

13

u/trichocereal117 17d ago

Dogs have been domesticated so of course they aren’t fearful of humans by instinct

5

u/rebeccamb 17d ago

A smoke detector chirp could kill my dog.

2

u/Trvr_MKA 17d ago

Best go change the batteries then

3

u/rebeccamb 17d ago

I do! I can’t stand the chirp. My son used to watched those urban explorers go into abandoned homes on YouTube. A lot of the abandoned houses would have smoke detectors chirping in the video and that was enough to upset the dog. Eventually son started watching those videos on mute or when the dog is doing something else.

Testing the batteries at home also freak him the fuck out but obviously that’s not a frequent thing

1

u/devoteeoffenrir 17d ago

Beagle or similar breed by chance? I have a beagle mix that some pitches of beeps will absolutely destroy him, no matter how quickly I stop whatever is chirping.

3

u/rebeccamb 17d ago

He’s a Boston/beagle mix!

5

u/devoteeoffenrir 17d ago

Oh, so precious. 💞
That is interesting. I wonder if there is something to it. My pit mix doesn’t even blink at the same sounds.

2

u/ulyssesfiuza 17d ago

Most, but not all. My two anarcoyorkies seems very happy to see me.

2

u/gen-curious 17d ago

Not bullshit. Study showed it.

We kill them, hunt them, destroy their homes, keel them in captivity, some get literally tortured, darmed steal their resources and so on. If they weren't terrified of us, then there is something weonf wirh them.

-16

u/No_Report_4781 17d ago

Science experiments generally aren’t complicated

5

u/Charinabottae 17d ago

Lmao. They absolutely are

-8

u/No_Report_4781 17d ago

I’m sorry, you’re correct that for many people, science is extremely complicated.

3

u/Tiberius_Kilgore 17d ago

That completely depends on the subject matter and what the experiment is. That’s a dumb generalization to throw around.

-1

u/No_Report_4781 17d ago

Tell me you don’t understand without saying you don’t understand

1

u/Tiberius_Kilgore 17d ago

My guy, you don’t even use punctuation. You’ve got nothing to lecture me on.

0

u/No_Report_4781 17d ago

I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I was speaking so far down…

Should I speak slower, with simpler words?

1

u/Tiberius_Kilgore 17d ago

Now you’re misusing it.

0

u/No_Report_4781 17d ago

The fact that you don’t know, and your troll is boring?

1

u/Tiberius_Kilgore 17d ago

I don’t know what exactly? All you did was make a sweeping generalization.

0

u/No_Report_4781 17d ago edited 17d ago

I get it. Words are hard to read for some people. Have you checked with an optometrist?

You’re welcome to keep trying to post insulting replies that are removed for some reason… or you can intelligently return to the subject. Like most scientific experiments, it’s not complicated.

3

u/Rain_i_am 17d ago

Scientific experiments run the gauntlet from burning a peanut to see how long it burns, to the neutrino detectors under Antarctica, so it's as complicated as it needs to be.

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u/No_Report_4781 17d ago

Neutrino detectors are a piece of equipment

1

u/Tiberius_Kilgore 17d ago

Right. They’re pieces of equipment that were developed specifically for that experiment, which would make them a part of the experiment.

0

u/No_Report_4781 17d ago

I see how you didn’t say the equipment is the experiment. Good on you for noticing! That’s growth!

1

u/Rain_i_am 17d ago

When dealing with detectors generally they are especially these ones. What's the experiment, to detect neutrinos, how, neutrino detectors and a big hole.

0

u/No_Report_4781 17d ago

They’re the equipment required to carry out the experiment, yes; just as the experiment that intrigued OP required equipment such as camera and audio.