Suicidal lemmings, stupid ostriches and sharks in chemotherapy: 7 enduring myths from the animal world

1. Lemmings don't actually herd themselves off cliffs in mass ritualistic suicide pacts. This idea was popularized by the Disney film White Wilderness, which did involve aforementioned lemmings falling from great heights, but – Disney fans look away now – they were pushed, albeit into a river off camera. The idea of suicidal animals surviving through natural selection doesn't have a lot of sense when you think about it...

2. Bulls are not programmed to run hell-bent towards the colour red. They are dichromats (they can effectively only see in two colours), so the actual colour isn't relevant – it's the motion of the rag that provokes them to charge those silly men in uniforms who enjoy killing so much. [Chickens, however, go crazy for red; when one cuts itself those around it will often peck it to start, sometimes starting a cannibalistic frenzy.]

3. Ostriches do not really hide their heads in the sand to hide. This is the equivalent of babies hiding behind their hands and assuming we can't see them; once again, it's hard to imagine evolution favouring this sort of thing as a defence mechanism. Incidentally, the ostrich lays the smallest egg of any bird by body mass at only 1 and a half %.

4. Sharks can get cancer. The idea that they are somehow immune – and thus might be a possible source of a cure – has been around for some time, and was included in the film Deep Blue Sea.

5. Chameleons don't change colour to camouflage themselves – or at least most don't. The majority will change their colour as a method of regulating body temperature, for communication or out of fear. Interestingly, the Bible forbids eating Chameleons.

6. Polar Bears don't hide themselves by covering their noses with their paws. Despite many hours of observation in the wild this behaviour has never been witnessed, though they have been observed to be very fond of toothpaste.

7. Dogs don't actually sweat through their mouths. Despite the popular myth, those lolling tongues don't actually help; it's their paws that provide most of the sweat glands and thus help regulate temperature.

8. Elephants don't have a special graveyard, nor do they sense when they are going to die and take themselves away from the herd. I know: Disney movies really shouldn't lie to us so often.

9. Goldfish do not have a 3 second memory. Research at Plymouth University showed that they not only have at least a 3 month memory but can be trained to respond to visual and audible stimuli.

10. St Bernard dogs do not carry, and have never carried miniature whisky barrels to those they rescue. Though they are trained as rescue dogs, the whisky was an invention of the painter Sir Edwin Landseer who added it to a composition as a 'point of interest'.

11. Of the 4 360 species of frogs in the world, only one says 'ribbit'. This is the Pacific Tree Frog, which happens to live in Hollywood and so has been endlessly recorded and played back throughout the world and thus associated with frogs everywhere.