Owls vs Daleks

Here's a funny article about how awful it is that more children recognize a Dalek than a barn owl. I think part of the problem is that barn owls aren't exactly running around in the open where a kid would see it. Not that Daleks are either but you can find them pretty easily on TV and they're awfully fun to imitate. Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!

The col also says kids can't tell the difference between a bee and a wasp. I think that's kind of hard. The reptile brain only needs to know that it's a stingy thing that can kill you. Does it really need to know the details? News flash - I can't tell a jaguar from a leopard either. They're both big spotty cats to me.

I would be curious to how kids did identifying animals they might encounter in the closest wild areas to them. For me I see quite a lot of raccoons, bats, foxes, a skunk, a couple of porcupines, stuff like that. In the bird area we've got loads of turkey buzzards or vultures, I can never remember which (but I can identify a Dalek!), falcons, sparrows, starlings, mourning doves, woodpeckers, robins, cardinals, cranes, egrets, a blue heron occasionally. Of course sea gulls, opposums, rats, squirrels. I've seen very few owls in the wild in my time and I've spent loads of time outdoors. I was once hiking in Yosemite with my sister Megan when she thought she saw a bear. Anyway, I'm not going to fret about the kids of England not knowing an owl when they see it. I do think it's kind of funny given the popularity of the Harry Potter world. I would have thought all those Rowlings fans could identify an owl and a Dalek.