To gain some insight from an animal expert, we reached out to Ali of the Cool Facts About Animals podcast. First, we wanted to know what inspired her to start a podcast sharing knowledge about animals. "We were inspired to do this podcast because when we started it in 2017, there weren't any in-depth podcasts about animals for kids," Ali told Bored Panda. "We decided to fill that need with our podcast. What we love most about animals is that they're all different. It's really cool to see how different animals have adapted so well to so many different environments."

We also asked Ali why she thinks some animals have been given bad reputations. "Some animals get a bad reputation through stories. Like Teddy Roosevelt spread the story that piranhas eat people alive (even though they don't)," she explained. "Or there's a story that vampire bats will attack humans for their blood (not true). There are some animals that are pretty annoying - like mosquitos. But even mosquitos have good qualities about them. Like, they are excellent pollinators. And really, they're just trying to feed their babies!"

We also asked Ali what her favorite misunderstood animal is. "Our favorite misunderstood animal is the crow. People may just think of crows as pesky, loud birds that eat your food. But they're actually incredibly smart. Some crows have learned to use traffic lights. They will put down a hard nut to crack nut in the road during a red light, fly out of the way on the green, and then come back to get their cracked nut on the red light again. Some species of crows can also use and make their own tools."

"If you dig down deep enough, any animal has something to offer," Ali shared. "They're all part of our food chains and may help our ecosystem in ways we really don't understand yet."

If you or your little ones would like to learn more animal facts from Ali, be sure to check out the Cool Facts About Animals podcast right here.

There might only be a handful of animals that you personally love or see the value in. Dogs and cats because they’re great pets, chickens because you can’t go a morning without making scrambled eggs, bees because you love to put honey in your tea, horses because you enjoy riding them when you’re out in the country and birds because someone needs to eat those crumbs you drop while scarfing down a croissant on the way to work. But even though we don’t encounter most of the animals on earth on a daily basis, or ever for that matter, they still play vital roles in maintaining the ecosystem.

We tend to fear or hate creatures that we don’t understand or only know for their worst moments, like attacking humans and spreading diseases, but imagine what most creatures think about us. We slaughter animals for food, accidentally run them over with our cars frequently, cause noise and light pollution, cause deforestation, and pollute the air through our exploitation of resources. We must be terrifying, so maybe we should keep that in mind before assigning a bad reputation to rattlesnakes or bats. 

And while the average person may not know very much about the unique job of every creature in the animal kingdom, we do know that we need biodiversity. According to Greenpeace, there are three facets of biodiversity: ecosystem diversity, species diversity and genetic diversity. It is necessary that the planet maintains a high level of biodiversity to ensure that it is resilient to natural disasters and disturbances. Greenpeace likens the relationship between all plants and animals on earth to a “safety net” that guarantees our survival and welfare.

“When there’s balance, all these things work together to clean our water, purify our air, maintain our soil, regulate the climate, stop disease outbreaks, recycle nutrients and provide us with food,” Greenpeace explains. “But whenever a species disappears, it’s like a thread in the web is cut, leaving holes in the planet’s safety net and shifting the finely balanced systems.” Basically, when any species disappears, it creates a domino effect that can be detrimental to the whole ecosystem, so it's crucial that we value all creatures, despite how frightening or poisonous they may be. 

Although many of us only consider the need for animals in terms of providing us with leather, wool, food and companionship, there are plenty of other roles animals fill that affect humans without us even noticing. For example, we appreciate bees for their honey, but many people may not be aware that about 30% of the world’s crops and 90% of the planet’s wild plants rely on bees to pollinate them. Beavers are also unsung heroes of fighting climate change, as they work hard to regulate ecosystems through building dams. They reduce flooding and wildfire damage, preserve fish populations, and conserve freshwater reservoirs all to minimize the harmful effects we have caused on the environment.

Even rats, which are notorious for sneaking into our apartments and scaring city-dwellers as they scurry down the street, are extremely valuable for humans. They have an impressive sense of smell and are easily trained, so they have long been used to detect landmines and undergo testing in labs to ensure products are safe for human consumption. I'm not saying that you need to adopt the next rat you come across in a train station or leave a pizza on the street for rats to feast on, but just remember that they aren't all bad. In fact, they might not even be too different from us; some can even drive cars!

To gain a fresh perspective on some of these infamous animals, we consulted Open Space Trust’s list of “Animals That Scare Us (And Why We Need Them)”. Just like broccoli and tomatoes scared me as a child, I eventually learned that they serve a purpose and are actually quite wonderful, once I kept an open mind. The first animal featured on this list that deserves better publicity is the rattlesnake. Being from Texas myself, I have always been taught to avoid these creatures at all costs. But the fact is, they are great for managing populations of small rodents that are notorious for carrying harmful diseases like Lyme and the plague. Their venom can also be quite useful, as it is being studied as a potential treatment for various types of cancer and even cystic fibrosis. I wouldn’t recommend you go searching for rattlesnakes in the wild, but if you do happen to encounter one, just let it be. For all you know, its lunch could be a mouse that was planning on invading your home later that afternoon.   

Bats are another animal featured on this list that Reddit users wanted to seek justice for. But despite how strange looking they are and the fact that they feed on the blood of other animals, bats are really friends to humans. They eat their own body weight in insects every single day, which really helps out farmers who are trying to protect their crops. Some bats even eat a diet of fruit and nectar and are necessary for pollinating and dispersing seeds. Even bat dung, or guano, is useful in creating excellent fertilizer. As bizarre as they may seem, bats do a lot for humans and the planet. Be careful not to get too close though, as you’ll need a rabies shot if you touch a bat!      

Spiders are another creature that many people fear, but maybe we should be looking at them in a different light. There are over 45,000 species of spiders throughout the world, so they can’t all be bad! In fact, the vast majority of them are harmless, or even beneficial to humans. While you might be scared of getting a spider bite, it’s likely that they are not interested in you. Spiders’ diets mainly consist of pests like cockroaches, earwigs, flies, fleas, and mosquitoes. By eating these critters, spiders can greatly reduce the spread of many diseases, and similar to snake venom, spider venom might actually become an invaluable resource in the medical field as well. It is being studied as a potential treatment for heart attack patients, so if you're concerned about your cardiovascular health, you might want to put a little respect on the notorious spider name.   

Vultures are another animal that often are disregarded and underappreciated. As they are the scavengers of the bird world, it’s common for vultures to be portrayed as villains and unlikeable characters in animated films. But without vultures, we would be left with a lot more roadkill laying around. Vultures have an impressive sense of smell and can easily track down a fresh animal carcass. They do an excellent job cleaning up our roads, forests and deserts by eating up the decaying flesh that’s been left outside, which would otherwise become rife with bacteria and disease. Vultures are not likely to spread diseases to other creatures, but they do contribute great nutrients to soil through their droppings. So don’t judge these birds by their ugly exteriors; they’re the reason our highways are not overrun by rotting roadkill.