Beastly Countdown

Mendi

Arachnowolf
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Did anyone else get the chance to see Animal Planets "Beastly Countdown" show tonight called "Horrors"? Our beloved arachnidfriends didn't fare well at all... At #4 on their list of horrors was the scorpions.




#1... Tarantulas



More bad press for our pets...:( :? :( :mad: Here we try and try to help more people understand they are just benign, fuzzy 8-leggers shows like this can turn someone around in an instant. I hate any animal getting bad press though some likely do deserve some, but for a creature that hasn't had any known human deaths credited to it, being put on top the list is just outrageous and sad... :( :mad: :( :mad:
 

bodc21

Arachnojason
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i know it is totally rediculous no deaths and #1 how does this happen?
 

MrT

Arachnoking
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I just finished watching it.
It gets a big thumbs down. For most of the beastly animals/bugs they showed an upside. But the T's got the shaft. All bad, nothing good about them at all.

But they did show a lot of species. :) That was cool.
Showed a blondi killing a snake. C.cyaneopubescens. G.rosea, N. colloratvillosum, P.regalis, B smithi, B. emilia, Avic. sp.killing a frog, B.albopilosum.

They even said that the fear of tarantula's is born in us. We're pre-wired to fear T's..LOL


E
 
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goatpiper

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Too bad that someone like Jeff Corwin works for Animal Planet, and he knows shitloads about so many animals, but then they contribute to one of the biggest disinformation campaigns in animal history! Oh well...consistency doesn't matter when you're trying to get ratings and make money. Most of the stuff they air is pretty awesome, so I guess we could forgive and continue the good press on our own. I've just gotten into the T game, and I've already turned some people around on them.

gp
 

the new guy

Arachnoknight
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i just caught the end of the show. they made it sound like tarantulas are the most deadly insects in the world. i understand that a lot of people fear them, but a lot of that fear is due to ignorance. its sad that animal planet made them look worse than they are instead of informing the world on what good they do. they did, however, have a nice group of t's that they used. most of them were really beautiful specimens.

the show afterwards about snakes, constrictors in general, was just about as bad with the scare factor.
 

deifiler

Arachnoprince
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Originally posted by the new guy
i just caught the end of the show. they made it sound like tarantulas are the most deadly insects in the world
=D

Did they manage to convince the masses spiders were insects? :p

But yeah... Way too much media uses 'arachnids' and other bugs people like ourselves truly do cherish only to the detriment of the bugs in question; it seems to use them in a 'scare factor' way boosts the ratings. Give the 'uncultured' what they expect and they'll thrive.

Anyone seen that "I'm a celebrity" effort? The amount of times my family told me to leave the room for complaining of the mindless abuse of how they incorpate beloved spiders into the show, merely in a fashion to scare people: "Do you DARE go in this plastic chamber with this spider!?" and the audience has to ring in to vote etc...

It's pretty feeble...

Plus, since when did tarantulas obtain this terrifying status? I don't know anyone that finds theraphosids more 'scary' than a large spindly 'house spider'.
 

luther

Arachnodemon
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Originally posted by deifiler

Did they manage to convince the masses spiders were insects? :p

But yeah... Way too much media uses 'arachnids' and other bugs people like ourselves truly do cherish only to the detriment of the bugs in question;
Or did they settle for convincing the masses that arachnids are bugs? :p
 

xanderTluv

Arachnoknight
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Originally posted by MrT
They even said that the fear of tarantula's is born in us. We're pre-wired to fear T's..LOL E

lol They trying to say we are wired wrong?
 
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xanadu1015

Arachnobaron
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There are some people who are wired wrong in this world.


I watched that program too, and it was really irritating how they talked about how bad rats are and spiders are so frightening. The whole point was probably for ratings and "fear factor". You'd assume they'd have more sense than that, big money bites another one...


Laura
 

cricket54

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I watched the show from the beginning and I was surprised they had tarantulas as #1. I thought the purpose of the show was to show us in ranking order, what "they" think were the creatures people were most afraid of. I would have put certain poisonous snakes as #1 or even sharks, but not tarantulas. I did enjoy it
though having a chance to see the tarantulas walking around and stuff. Glad they didn't show one stealing a baby bird from a nest. That really gets people going. Yes, I agree, the show about large constrictors, and pet constrictors grabbing people would be terribly scarey to those afraid of snakes. They did have a few people that were attacked by their own pet snakes and had close calls, and told us about some people who were even killed by them. That gives the herp. soc. more bad press. I just thought making T.s the #1 fearfull "beasty" was wrong. They should have been farther down the list. Then earwigs being on their list was really funny. Lots of people don't even know a earwig when they see it!
Sharon
 

metzgerzoo

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Well, you know what they say..."money talks..." and in this case I guess the bulls do too! But...that's why there are people like us in this world..to try and un-do what the idots do. So we will just have to keep plugging along and telling the truth and trashing the lies about our eight leged babies! IMO, you'd think that Animal Planet would be a little smarter than that but....it's all about ratings and $.
 

MrT

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Quote:
Too bad that someone like Jeff Corwin works for Animal Planet, and he knows shiploads about so many animals, but then they contribute to one of the biggest disinformation campaigns in animal history!

This is true. You'd think they would choose not to make, or run a show that is only going to play on peoples fears. Now T's, bats, snakes, are going to be more persecuted than ever. Animal Planet should know better.

Then to follow it up with the Big Squeeze. Every person that got in trouble with their pets made mistakes. Even the Zoo reptile keeper admitted he hadn't been cautious enough.
I liked the guy that bit the 17' rock python to get it off him. That was a tough little guy. I did feel bad for the snake though. He bit the snakes spine in half. Wow!!

I'm sure thay'll show it again...

E
 

DnKslr

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I saw the show several times and I liked it. It was the show that actually got me consider buying more tarantulas because of all the different ones they showed on there. But then I've always had an interest in Ts. I guess it's all about the way you perceive it. Some people are gonna be afraid of spiders and snakes no matter what is said.
The part where they said the fear was "born in us" I somewhat agree with. To me they're saying that we fear those creatures because of a potential danger they pose to us. It's not saying that we're not able to overcome the fear, just that the fear is a natural reaction to something that could be harmful.
The show did say that although not all snakes are venomous, many people don't know which ones are and which one's are not so they fear all snakes. To someone who's had snakes all thier lives and have raised them, this may seem irrational. I believe this may be the same for tarantulas. Many people seem to think that the bigger the spider, the more poisonous it is. This I've found from conversations with many others myself. I don't know why they associate the size with toxicity but they do and since they don't know much about tarantulas or spiders for that matter, they are afraid of all spiders. This is gonna seem irrational to us because we've had exposure to tarantulas and we have experience but in reality, most people are not going to go out and learn more about them just because of something they see on a show. They are just going to watch the show, think "oh, they're dangerous. A lot of people think they're creepy. I don't like them anyway" and then change the channel when it's over.
 

MrBaronIsBack

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Heh, that "bigger the spider, stronger the venom" outlook brings a more outlandish story into mind, told to me by my great uncle before he died. He told me of "hoop snakes", which possessed a horn on their tail that could envenomate a target. They would roll into a spring-like coil and allow themselves to roll, stopping only when they'd reached their prey and stabbed it with the tail. He claimed to have seen one of these snakes kill a bush with the venom. The story, and others like it, go to show just how much incorrect information is out there, and the "urban legendary" animals often do more damage than the source of the legend itself. There's always the deadly daddy longlegs story to remember. Hehehehehe, harvestmen are so cool.
 

charlotte

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Jan 19, 2004
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I watched that show with my 3yr old son. When t's were picked #1, I started clapping, and my son said, "No mommy, spiders are good, fluffy is good!" (We have a g. rosea named "fluffy")

If you love T's, you will no matter what they say about them. And if you don't like T's and they come out with a program that shows spiders spinning webs made of pure candy, people will still be scared of them. Most people don't realize that to know them is to love them!
 
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