This has led some animals to be portrayed as monsters, such as spiders, snakes, crocodiles, wolves, bats, rhinoceroses, gorillas, lions, tigers, bears, eagles, hawks, vultures, piranhas, sharks, whales, scorpions, ...
Some are popularised or solidified by a single particularly notable appearance in media.
For example, Disney's 1942 film Bambi portrays the titular deer as an innocent, fragile animal.
When anthropomorphising an animal there are stereotypical traits which commonly tend to be associated with particular species.
Often these are simply exaggerations of real aspects or behaviours of the creature in question, while other times the stereotype is taken from mythology and replaces any observation-based judgment of that animal's behavior.
Many Pastors I have known seem to feel they have all the answers, so the questions Don’t matter. That turns the heat up a little and, quite frankly, it stings! Nowadays if you are a “pastor” the only spiritual gifting your church wants is “administration.” Churches are corporations in search of a CEO/CFO type. These responses probably aren’t the way most people feel.
Pastors “seem to feel they have all the answers, so the questions don’t matter”? A pastor that helps you define anything other than who would lead a committee! And there’s something in me that wants to rise up and defend my fellow pastors. What if these responses represent more people than we realize? In response to these three replies, which probably came from deep hurt, cloaked in protective sarcasm, my friend wisely responded this way: My late father, a pastor for 30 years & minister for 46 years, demonstrated all the attributes I described in my original post. Maybe the role in the last 20-30 years has changed so radically that a pastor doesn’t coach anyone anymore. Quick 2 point sermon w/ motivational quotes, then shove them out the door for the 2nd service crowd.
In most cases animals are far more scared of people than the other way around and will likely run away.
In the opposite direction several animals who have a non-threatening appearance and actually look cute, cuddly, graceful and playful are often portrayed as adorable: rabbits, dogs, mice, kittens, sheep, seals, dolphins, chipmunks, monkeys, ladybugs, butterflies.
(The people who responded to his Facebook status had no expectation they’d end up on someone’s blog and I want to respect that, so I won’t tell you who my friend is, except to say that he’s not a pastor.
The responses he received were so surprising that he alerted me to it.
Some stereotypes are based on mistaken or grossly oversimplified impressions; spotted hyenas, for example, commonly portrayed as cowardly scavengers, are efficient pack hunters with complex social structures.