When I was *very* young (though it continued to a worrying age) I was convinced that a zebra was a kind of flightless bird.

Thom

I know my dog, Palmer, spoke English, he was just really quiet.

Klayne P.

When I was around 4 my sister told me the "truth" that my real parents were rabbits, and that my dad found me in the backyard whilst mowing the lawn. She said mom and dad only took me in because they felt bad about almost mowing me over. For years after I'd see a rabbit and wonder if it was a relative. Damn sister.

Bing

I used to believe that penguins could fly, they just didn't want to.

Mariah\

i used to believe that sausages were to pigs as eggs are to hens

stuart swanston

When I was younger, I would sleep at my grandmother's house, in the guest bedroom. She told me not to sleep under the window, because of the "terrible draft". For the following few years, I avoided that bed fearing that the "terrible giraffe" would stick his head in and hurt me somehow.

Mike

"Lions, and Tigers, and Bears, Oh My!"
My little cousin Melissa used to love the Wizard of Oz. Well, when we took her to the zoo one time, she kept asking to see the "Oh My's". It took us such a long time to figure out that she thought Oh My's were a real animal from the song in the movie!

Lisa Lynette

my older sister once told me that pandas created the universe, legend had it that they were bored of being alone so they drew us on paper and gave us life, angered by their mean ways, the humans revolted and took over, sending pandas to zoos as punishment.

Diego G.

I used to believe that we had invisible giraffes in our house. Whenever my mother said, "There's a draft in here," I used to think that she was saying "giraffe." I'd look and look and couldn't see a giraffe. The idea of something that large wandering around the house without me being able to see it was quite frightening.

Penny

I use to think sheep shrank when it rained.

Anon

For some reason I had got it my mind that humans were the creators of all life. My mother was, to say the least, surprised when asked her to give birth to a cat, since I just gotten a sister.

Anon

As a small child my mother told me that baby penquins lived in the fridge and that if i kept opening the door (trying to catch the light off) penquins would become extinct and it would be all my fault. I believd this for many many years!

Hellen

Until I met my husband in my mid-twenties I didn't know that reindeer were real animals. I thought they were part of the "magic" of Christmas. My husband delights in telling this to everyone we know, including total strangers.

Elly

For some reason, cows all seem to face the same way when standing in a field (honest - you look!). I used to believe that this was because they all pointed to magnetic north. Odd child...

Amanda

I used to think animals led the same kind of lives as us humans. Dad going to work, babies going to school etc, going to the pub at weekends, that kind of thing. Imagine my disappointment when I looked inside a birdhouse and seeing nothing but straw instead of little chairs and a daddy bird reading his newspaper.

Helen Yates (UK)

While making bread, I asked what a yeast was. My mother replied that it was a small gerbil-like creature found in the woods.
For 11 fruitless years I searched nature books for a picture of one...

rachael

My dad tricked me, my brothers and my sister into thinking that cows were all carnivorous and that they weren't really eating grass, they were searching for small animals under the ground.

becky

When I was about 7 we lived close to a fast flowing creek, which a couple of kids had drowned in over the years. So in order to stop me and my two brothers from going down there our parents told us that there were beavers down there, and they are really aggressive animals that attack kids and chew their legs off.............Needless to say we were freaked out and never went down to the creek.

But, after we moved away they never told us the true story about beavers (very scared, non aggressive animals). So when I was about 18 (!) I made a complete fool of myself by loudly exclaiming to by boyfriend and his father "Don't go near the beavers nest- They'll attack you!!!"
Hmm............

Helena

i used to believe that bunny's could fly with their ears.

Anon

a friend of mine and I had an argument when we were in the sixth grade because she refused to believe that sharks really existed. she thought they were fistional, like mermaids.

elisa