Scary, Not Scary: These Halloween Animals Are Actually Pretty Incredible
Looking for Halloween trivia? How about some fun facts about the frightening creatures that fill your favorite spooky books and movies from childhood—like bats, wolves, snakes, spiders, and (ooh!) ravens. Spoiler: These animals are not too scary at all it turns out, but they are pretty incredible.
To set the record straight, Country Living sat down with none other than Peter Gros, a wildlife expert who’s been teaching us about wildlife in our living rooms since the ’80s as one of the co-hosts on the beloved TV series Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. These days, Peter co-hosts a new series in the Wild Kingdom franchise, Protecting the Wild, alongside co-star and wildlife ecologist Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant. Catch it on Saturday mornings on NBC’s “The More You Know” programming block (check out the new companion podcast too!), and read on for amazing facts about the (not too) scary Halloween animals that Peter has seen (and handled!) firsthand on the show.
Bats, Winged Creatures of Nighttime Pest Control
How many Halloween movies have you seen where all of a sudden thousands upon thousands of bats come flying out of the dark? Terrifying! But in reality, Peter tells us, these flying mammals are an essential part of our ecosystem. They range in size from a fruit bat, which is “about the size of a flying chihuahua” (um, Peter, I’m still a little scared), down to a smallest bat, which is the size of a bumblebee (okay, that sounds adorable). Bats help out by eating insects, keeping pest populations in check, and fruit bats are tremendous pollinators too.
Recently, Peter and Rae filmed in Texas at Bracken Cave, which is home to millions of bats during the day. “We tell the story of how they fly out and go out over the fields eating insects and other harmful critters that affect farmers’ crops, and just how important they are as nature’s way of managing insects versus the chemical way to manage insects,” he says.
Okay, but real talk, do bats bite? Bats are not aggressive toward humans, but a bite is possible. “That is a fear of people, since there are bats that do carry rabies. So the best rule of thumb is that if you’ve been in any physical contact with a bat, you should have that bat tested for rabies,” Peter says. For instance, if you wake up in a room to find a bat, or if a bat is found in a room with an unattended child, you should test it.
But there’s no need to harm the bat. Here’s what to do: Find a container with a lid, and it’s best to wear leather gloves. Wait for the bat to land. then carefully put the container over the bat and slide a piece of cardboard under it. Secure the lid with tape, and make a couple breathing holes in the top. Take it to be tested at veterinary diagnostic laboratory. They will usually tell you the results within a few days, Peter says.
Big Bad Wolf? More Like Big GOOD Wolf
You’ve heard it all before—the big bad wolf, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, there’s a wolf at the door, hungry like a wolf. The idea that wolves are bad runs deep in our psyches. But Peter would like you to try out a new phrase: big good wolves. “They are in very important part of the food chain. They’re a predator that helps maintain the balance of nature,” Peter says, but due to misconceptions, we almost completely eliminated wolves in the ’40s and ’50s in North America.
The real scary part of this story is what the eradication of wolves led to next in Yellowstone National Park. Without predators, large grazing animals like elk and moose overpopulated and overgrazed the trees that beavers needed for food. No beavers meant no beaver dams to create waterways, and that affected all the wildlife that need waterways to survive. “All things are connected in nature, and the wolves are sort of at the top of that food chain, helping to keep the balance,” Peter says.
Today wolf populations are coming back, and we should not fear. Wolves prefer to eat wild animals that they catch versus livestock, Peter says. “They don't like to be around people. They’re fearful of people. So I think we need to respect the fact that they need territory. I’m sure on occasion there has been and probably will be conflict with ranchers, but the fact that we’re having wolves back in the ecosystem in which they belong is a real plus.”
Snakes Are *Not* Slimy and Keep Rodent Nightmares Away
Many people fear snakes, Peter says, and he fields a lot of questions about them. “They think of them as being slimy and cold, they think of them wanting to bite people, and they’ve had really bad press historically. But first of all, they’re not slimy. They’re dry. Snakes want to get away from people. Snakes do a tremendous amount of good for us as well,” he says.
Peter recalls a recent conversation with a snake researcher in Portland who said that if a snake were to eat one rat or mouse a week, that one meal prevents as many as 100,000 disease carrying rodents from the potential offspring of that animal. “So killing a snake really creates a problem. They’re out there doing what they’re supposed to be doing in nature.”
Yes, some snakes are venomous, Peter says. “They’re identifiable by their bright colors sometimes. Sometimes they aren’t. So what I recommend to people when you’re in an area where there are snakes, simply watch where you walk and be careful where you step. And don’t try and pick snakes up. If you see them, give them a little room and they’re going to go on their way and do what they’re supposed to be doing in nature.”
Spiders? The Insects Should Be Scared
Ah, arachnophobia—a fear so prevalent it was the title of a 1990 horror movie. The eight-legged creatures are odd looking, but Hollywood has exaggerated their aggressiveness.
Peter explains: “All spiders are a tiny bit venomous. The large spiders have the least amount. I have been bitten by them before. It’s like a bee sting. So obviously, if you don’t care for them, don’t pick them up, don’t try to handle them, and be aware that they’re eating many, many insects. Some of the larger ones are eating even small rodents, the largest of which is a bird-eating spider in Australia, which is the size of a dinner plate.” (Editor’s note:!!!) “So if you have them in your house, you can put them on a piece of cardboard or a box and simply take them outside and let them crawl away.”
Now, in the category of smaller, more venomous spiders, there are some, like the brown recluse or the black widow, marked with an hourglass on the bottom, whose bites are dangerous. “You’ll find them in wood piles or in the corner furniture or outbuildings. You just want to look really carefully before you reach in anywhere. Wear leather gloves if you’re working in a place that might have those kinds of spiders.”
Ravens Are Indeed Super Crafty Creatures
Like crows and magpies, ravens are in the Corvidae family. With their jet black feathers, croaky vocalizations, and an intelligence that can seem, well, a little otherworldly, ravens are a staple in ghostly tales and movies about haunted houses.
“They are one of the most intelligent birds,” Peter says. “They’re actually smart enough to use tools and can learn behaviors.” While there’s no need to be spooked by these whip-smart birds, they do raise fears among conservationists for another reason: “Unfortunately, their numbers in many places have grown because they’ll eat trash, they’re such opportunistic hunters. They’ll eat garbage and trash and any sort of leftovers, insects, small mammals, and eggs. They’re just not particular. So their numbers are really booming in many places.”
That includes the Mojave Desert, the driest region of North America, where booming raven populations are causing trouble for desert-dwelling tortoises. “Ravens have learned that when the tortoises are hatching, they’re very small and very vulnerable before their shell hardens. They would then attack these highly endangered young tortoises,” Peter explains.
But researchers found a solution, using ravens’ intelligence to their advantage: They make mock-up tortoises with a built-in spray that researchers can trigger from a distance. “When a raven flies down and tries to grab a small (fake) tortoise, it emits an odorous spray, like a pungent sort of a fruit juice smell, and that trains the ravens to stop their behavior,” Peter says.
“Another way you can alter ravens’ behavior is by using laser beams. So if they’re flying to an area where young, very endangered tortoises are hatching out, and you point a laser beam out and shoot it towards them and wiggle it around a little bit, we found that the ravens then move on to another location to hunt, which is their natural behavior, to move on and find other food.” Fascinating!
Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild on NBC is TV’s no. 1 weekend wildlife series, reaching an average of more than 1.1 million weekly viewers. Now in its third season, it airs Saturday mornings on NBC’s “The More You Know” programming block and is available on NBC.com. Find to Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom The Podcast on the Audacy app, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and everywhere podcasts are available.
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