Another misconception....

Male animals are always bigger and stronger than female animals.  This was a quiz question that I thought mine have a lot of misconceptions associated with it.  As a true or false question, I answered "false" only because it said "ALWAYS" and I knew that couldn't possibly be true.  From the website http://science-at-home.org/men-bigger-than-women/  I found out that:


"Ironically, mammals and birds are backwards to most other organisms.  We’re just biased because they are the ones we see the most, but in insects and sea creatures (and even some plants) females are almost always bigger than males.  This has a very practical reason – females produce the eggs for the next generation.  Eggs are much bigger and more energy intensive than sperm, so females need to be able to get more energy to put into producing and protecting them."

Again...it just goes to show that we have to be careful what we say to children even in general statements like "the male is the bigger and stronger animal".  It's not a false statement to say that about animals and birds, but it's incorrect to suggest that ALL male animals are bigger than females.