Thread:B1bl1kal/@comment-35050701-20181209033722/@comment-2059440-20181209042410

folklore is just that, RedWizard, folk tales - fairy stories.. in these tales animals can have human intelligence or reasoning.. ever heard of things like Billy Goats Gruff etc? in folk-tales Wolves, Foxes and other animals are often given sapience akin to humans.. it is not based on science, quite the opposite.

as long as the article focuses on folkloric depictions of the animals rather than real-world science then it is fine.. for example, the Aye Aye was believed to have a finger that could strike a human dead.. the real animal has no such power but it is part of folklore nonetheless.

it is sad that animals were hunted and abused due to these folk tales (like how medieval people would kill cats) but we've evolved to the point these days that we can tell the difference between what are folk-tales and what is reality.

the idea of animals as trickster spirits etc goes back even further than folklore, it is a central part of some native mythology and religion.. such as the Coyote and Raven in Native American stories.