Centipedes are scary because they have so many legs and they scurry very fast with incredible agility. In general I think we feel a revulsion to small critters with that kind of speed and agility. But if they’re too small (fly sized or smaller) then it’s more annoyance than revulsion.
The many legs thing is a real mystery though! I think it might be some kind of proxy for venomous critters, as spiders and centipedes have more legs than insects and also tend to be more venomous (apart from some Hymenopterans).
tacobellhop@midwest.social 5 months ago
I think this is deep in the dna of all mammals from like 100 million years ago
nomy@lemmy.zip 5 months ago
I have a strong dislike of centipedes as well. One time years ago I had a terrible dream that a large centipede (one of those big jungle ones) was crawling all over my body. As it raced down my arm I slapped at it, with a jolt of pain my arm went instantly numb as it bit me.
I startled myself awake to realize I was laying on my arm and it had gone completely asleep and was numb. Still one of the scariest dreams I’ve ever had haha.
flora_explora@beehaw.org 5 months ago
What? Why would it be? I think humans are scared of anything that surprises them or that they cannot immediately understand what it’ll do. But why centipedes in general? I’ve never had any fear of them, unlike other arthropods that moved more erratically and faster.
tacobellhop@midwest.social 5 months ago
Because humans inherented the fears from all the mammals before primates