why are most people natively scared of tiny rodents and insects like cockroaches, rats, mice etc, even though they are order of magnitudes smaller than ourselves?

Question

Is this phenomenon prevalent in any other species?

In: Earth Science

Answer 1

We are afraid of these creatures because they can kill us. It’s really as simple as that.

Rats eat human babies. They also eat human adults if you’re too insensate to wake up when they bite you. If you look through hospital records, “rat bite” is one of the most common cause of lost fingers and toes among the homeless and alcoholic population in areas that also have huge rat populations – like New York. We are programmed to fear these creatures so that we get up and chase them away from our infants, our elderly, our defenceless, and ourselves.

Rats are a lovely example because they’re so extreme, but all small creatures that invoke that fear response are similarly dangerous. Cockroaches spread disease. Spiders are venomous. Mice decimate food supplies and spread disease, and also don’t mind chewing on you if you stay still long enough.