Swallowed Spiders and Other Myths from the Great Outdoors

Little did you know that every night when you go to sleep, you get a free, all-you-can-eat trip to the bug smorgasbord! Or do you? Just for fun, here are some common misconceptions and old wives' tales. See how many you already know:

Myth: You swallow about seven spiders every year in your sleep.
Fact: How gross and creepy is that? Well here's our question: If you were swallowing seven spiders every year, you'd probably also be swallowing abut seven other assorted insects too. That's more than one a month. Wouldn't some of these wake you up now and then?

Myth: Leaving sugary snacks around will attract ants.
Fact: Yes it will, but ants in your kitchen could also be attracted to grease, meat or any other food as well as wood or wallpaper glue. Ants eat just about anything.

Myth: Ants don't bite.
Fact: All ants bite and some also sting.

Myth: Mother birds can smell you on their babies, so don't put fallen babies back in nests, lest the baby go unfed.
Fact: While there may be a few species that do this, most baby birds can and should go back into their nest. Besides, their chances of survival on the ground, where they will most definitely go unfed, are smaller than their chances of starvation by a neglectful mama bird who's offended by their scent.

Myth: Jump into a body of water to escape if you're being chased by bees or wasps.
Fact: Many species of bee or wasp will wait for you to come up, then attack again. (If you're attacked, the best thing to do is cover your face and run for shelter.)

Myth: Watering plants during the day is a bad idea because the sun's rays can be focused through the prism-like qualities of the water droplet and burn the leaf.
Fact: If this were true, you could never lay on the beach after a swim. In order to focus the sun's rays into a burning point, the droplet would have to be suspended above the leaf surface (or your skin).

Myth: Organic pesticides are safe.
Fact: A chemical is a chemical whether it occurs naturally or is made in a lab. Natural chemicals can be just as dangerous as man-made ones, take snake venom, for example, or radon gas.

Myth: Birds that eat rice thrown after a wedding will die later when the rice swells and causes their stomachs to explode.
Fact: This speculation began in a 1960's Ann Landers column, but is false. Many species of birds in the wild eat rice, especially in countries where it produced as a crop.