Anthropomorphism - The good and bad

Anthropomorphism (pronounced: ann-throw-poe-MORF-ism) is the term used to define when we give animals (or inanimate objects such as rocks & trees) human characteristics. Here are a few examples:

"Gus" is the world's largest Western Larch Tree and a full-time resident of Seeley Lake Montana. He is over 1,000 years old, 160 feet tall, 34 feet around. He has seen countless changes in human activity and loves his local celebrity status.

Just south of Helena Montana is the "Sleeping Giant", a geological mountain formation that takes on the unmistakable appearance of a giant human sleeping on his back.

Our propensity to anthropomorphize can also have a negative impact on our natural world. I take the words with a grain of salt when I hear a gardener say "the deer are always watching and waiting for me to let my guard down, and the first moment I leave a garden gate open or a fence down they will come right in and destroy all my hard work". In reality, the deer are always around us and they are always moving and browsing for food, water & shelter. They just happened to be in the right spot at the right time when a gate was left open and they found a tasty treat that's loaded with calories which help them to survive in their environment.

The gravest of natural world impacts frequently come when we anthropomorphize wild animals. Textbook examples of this continually occur in the wake of hit Hollywood films. The illegal sale of baby lion cubs grew out of control immediately following the mega-hit "The Lion King". After the movie "Finding Nemo" the sale of Clownfish skyrocketed so much that captive breeding couldn't keep up with the overwhelming demand and research indicated that as much as 90% of the sold clownfish was met through the illegal capture of that fish species.

Just last week, I was asked to collect a bat that died at a private residence. The bat did not bite anyone, but there was enough concern that the bat specimen was sent away and tested for rabies. The end result in this case is that the bat tested negative for rabies. It was fascinating for me to observe peoples reactions to my collecting this (already dead) bat, most expressed unwarranted fears and folklore that prey upon our lack of understanding. As a person who has always been interested in our natural world, I know the incredible benefits that we get from our native bat populations. They do us all an incredible service. Every night in the summer, they are out using their fascinating ability of echolocation to catch and eat millions of insects from around our community. The thought of bats flying around our community every night scares some, but through researching credible information we should know that bats are a blessing to our everyday lives because they are not out drinking blood but rather they are out eating insects.