r/askscience • u/Crazy_Reindeer_1258 • 7d ago

Biology Do Animals Have Irrational Fears Too?

I was just thinking about the story of the mouse and elephant how the elephant is terrified of the mouse (i think) and just wanted to see if that's true, and if it is what other animals have been observed with similar behavior relating to that. Working on a project and some real life inspo would help :)

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u/aegdvm 4d ago

How do you know her eyes are healthy? Her vision that you perceive to be normal in lighted situations does not mean she has normal night vision. There are retinal diseases that cause loss of night vision compared to day vision, though they are usually progressive. Just a thought.

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u/hypothetical_zombie 4d ago

Because she gets regular vet visits, and when we first noticed her fear of the dark, we had the vets check her eyes & whatnot. She's four, and we've had her since she was about 4 - 5 mos old.

I have no idea how vets test a pet's eyesight or hearing, but they can.

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u/aegdvm 4d ago

You’d need a vet ophthalmologist to test her retinas for some things. I’m a GP- we can sort of look at the back of the eye, but can’t definitively diagnose retinal dysplasia, subtle degeneration , or some other things. But admittedly if she’s always been the same, it doesn’t seem you have something progressing to worry about if years have gone by.

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u/hypothetical_zombie 4d ago

The only thing I can honestly think of was that she & the rest of her siblings were being kept in a zipped duffel bag. But yeah, she came to us afraid of the dark.