Clear animal abuse and wrong information

Nicholas Rothstein

Arachnoknight
Joined
Feb 7, 2019
Messages
167
I keep seeing in social media the clear misidentification of centipedes as millipedes and vice versa.

I also see the clear misidentification of species. Scolopendra subspinipes is almost always identified as scolopendra dehaani and vice versa.

I also see animal abuse/cruelty. Take Natgeo for instance, they posted a video of a centipede running, it's 2 hind legs are clearly not working properly. Take another viral video from those Asian accounts, keeping scolopendra subspinipes and dehaani together and posting videos of them eating each other.

I also see posts about centipedes being purely carnivorous.

Rant over, ignorance frustrates me.
 

donniedark0

chiLLLen
Arachnosupporter
Joined
Nov 14, 2011
Messages
188
I keep seeing in social media the clear misidentification of centipedes as millipedes and vice versa.

I also see the clear misidentification of species. Scolopendra subspinipes is almost always identified as scolopendra dehaani and vice versa.

I also see animal abuse/cruelty. Take Natgeo for instance, they posted a video of a centipede running, it's 2 hind legs are clearly not working properly. Take another viral video from those Asian accounts, keeping scolopendra subspinipes and dehaani together and posting videos of them eating each other.

I also see posts about centipedes being purely carnivorous.

Rant over, ignorance frustrates me.
It disturbs me that they allow those bug fight videos to be on youtube, the ones where they throw two insects in an enclosure with no way to escape. It is straight up cruelty. I understand it happens in nature but still, why add more pain to the world.
 

chanda

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 27, 2010
Messages
2,229
I also see animal abuse/cruelty. Take Natgeo for instance, they posted a video of a centipede running, it's 2 hind legs are clearly not working properly.
I can appreciate your disgust for intentional animal cruelty - such as those YouTube "bug fight" videos where they just toss two bugs in a cage and make them fight to the death for entertainment and imaginary internet points - but not every depiction of an animal in distress is cruel or abusive.

I do not know which NatGeo video you are referring to, so - having not seen it myself - I could be wrong here, but if it's just one of those nature videos that shows a centipede running (which I suspect it is, based on what I know of their work) - and the centipede just happens to have a couple of injured legs that don't work properly - how is that animal abuse or cruelty?

Nature can be brutal and animals do get killed or injured in the wild - survival of the fittest and all that. It's National Geographic, not a happy-ever-after Disney movie, and they provide educational videos that depict the natural world as it is - not just the "pretty" animals or the warm, fuzzy feel-good moments. Showing an animal that might have a bad leg (or two), or a few scars from a fight, or whatever, is not cruel. Unless they deliberately or negligently injured the centipede themselves, it doesn't sound like they've done anything wrong.
 

Albireo Wulfbooper

Arachnoprince
Joined
Aug 1, 2019
Messages
1,606
Those bug fight videos make me so mad. It's one thing to place two animals together in an enclosure to scientifically document interactions that are believed to take place in the wild for the purpose of understanding the animals, but these clickbait videos are so gross.

I agree with Nicholas that I wouldn't assume NatGeo purposely injured the centipede, though - they have apparently been known to manipulate things to get the footage they want, but a wild animal with an injury isn't evidence of misconduct.
 

Nicholas Rothstein

Arachnoknight
Joined
Feb 7, 2019
Messages
167
Those bug fight videos make me so mad. It's one thing to place two animals together in an enclosure to scientifically document interactions that are believed to take place in the wild for the purpose of understanding the animals, but these clickbait videos are so gross.

I agree with Nicholas that I wouldn't assume NatGeo purposely injured the centipede, though - they have apparently been known to manipulate things to get the footage they want, but a wild animal with an injury isn't evidence of misconduct.
I can appreciate your disgust for intentional animal cruelty - such as those YouTube "bug fight" videos where they just toss two bugs in a cage and make them fight to the death for entertainment and imaginary internet points - but not every depiction of an animal in distress is cruel or abusive.

I do not know which NatGeo video you are referring to, so - having not seen it myself - I could be wrong here, but if it's just one of those nature videos that shows a centipede running (which I suspect it is, based on what I know of their work) - and the centipede just happens to have a couple of injured legs that don't work properly - how is that animal abuse or cruelty?

Nature can be brutal and animals do get killed or injured in the wild - survival of the fittest and all that. It's National Geographic, not a happy-ever-after Disney movie, and they provide educational videos that depict the natural world as it is - not just the "pretty" animals or the warm, fuzzy feel-good moments. Showing an animal that might have a bad leg (or two), or a few scars from a fight, or whatever, is not cruel. Unless they deliberately or negligently injured the centipede themselves, it doesn't sound like they've done anything wrong.
The Natgeo video was on one of their social media platforms. They got the video footage from an amateur photographer who has mistreated animals before. Oh and the centipede was not in its natural environment. It was in a totally white area for a photoshoot.

I know it is not good to assume but I strongly feel it is.
 

Albireo Wulfbooper

Arachnoprince
Joined
Aug 1, 2019
Messages
1,606
The Natgeo video was on one of their social media platforms. They got the video footage from an amateur photographer who has mistreated animals before. Oh and the centipede was not in its natural environment. It was in a totally white area for a photoshoot.

I know it is not good to assume but I strongly feel it is.
ugh, it always amazes me when known abusers continue to get support from major organizations like this.
 

chanda

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 27, 2010
Messages
2,229
The Natgeo video was on one of their social media platforms. They got the video footage from an amateur photographer who has mistreated animals before. Oh and the centipede was not in its natural environment. It was in a totally white area for a photoshoot.

I know it is not good to assume but I strongly feel it is.
Ok, well I don't know anything about that particular photographer or video, but in general, just because an animal shows signs of injury (or is photographed or filmed in captivity) does not necessarily mean that it has been mistreated. For example, my own video of a tarantula hawk wasp eating out of my hand:

Her wings were badly damaged, rendering her unable to fly, and she was in captivity, rather than in a natural environment - but it would be unfair to assume that I had caused the injuries or was abusing her by keeping her in captivity. She was already injured when I found her, and had I not collected her, it is likely that she would have died shortly. As it was, I enjoyed keeping her as a pet and sharing her with my students - and seeing how calm she was might have helped some of the kids overcome irrational fears of wasps and helped them learn to appreciate them for the beautiful creatures that they are. She was well fed and taken care of until she eventually died - presumably of old age - several months later.
 

brightlight

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jan 25, 2020
Messages
2
Glad I stumbled across this thread. I'm really sick of seeing those "bug fight" videos in my youtube recs. Yes, I look up videos on invert care and animal documentaries, but no I do not want to watch videos where people take two innocent insects/spiders/inverts/whatever and stick them in a small container to "fight to the death". It's just cruel and I get so uneasy every time I see one pop up. I wish there were a way to block youtube channels so that they would stop popping up in my recommendations.
 
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