In this episode, Vinisha and Shannen delve into the subject of how the media often negatively portrays certain animals and how these misconceptions came to be. One animal explored in this episode are chimpanzees, who appear in different forms in media often for comical purposes. Chimpanzees’ representations as animals who seem human-like arguably harm conservation efforts and aid in convincing people that chimps are suitable as household pets. Furthermore, vultures are portrayed to appear to be villainous and savage creatures that eagerly wait for the death of their prey. However, often people fail to realize that vultures play a crucial role in maintaining environmental health by preventing the accumulation of death animals everywhere. This also helps us as humans as it prevents the spread of disease from deceased animals. The chimpanzee and culture are just two of many animals whose negative portrayals in mainstream media are discussed and investigated in this episode. Give this episode a listen to further understand how when many people hold a negative untrue perception of an animal, there may be environmental consequences. 

Additional resources:

 https://www.thejournal.ie/monkey-actors-misleading-viewers-3801817-Jan2018/ 

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0026048 

https://www.peta.org/features/great-apes-used-tv-movies-ads/ 

https://www.4vultures.org/why-are-vultures-important/ 

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150713-the-truth-about-vultures

 https://www.4vultures.org/how-do-vultures-contribute-to-our-environment/