History Main / MistookTheDominantLifeform

* ''Series/Helping Henry'': was a United Kingdom Channel 4 children's television programme, which ran for one series of thirteen 15-minute episodes in 1988. Designed as an educational show, it featured a young boy named Stephen explaining how things worked to an alien named N-3 (or "Henry"), who was disguised as a dining-room chair because his superiors believed that static four legged things were clearly a superior species to the 'two legs' who bustled about them.

* PlayedWith in ''Comicbook/BillyBatsonAndTheMagicOfShazam'': the Space Ghoul seems to have believed that humans and cows were both intelligent, since he [[AliensStealCattle abducted a bunch of cattle]] in order to communicate. Even when Billy and Mary tell him, he seems to think that they're mute but still sapient, as he begins to apologize for inconveniencing them.

* In Marvel's ''[[Comicbook/TheTransformers Transformers]]'' comics, the Autobots, having never encountered organic life before, initially believe vehicles to be the dominant lifeform on earth, which is why they use vehicles as alt modes. When Buster first meets Bumblebee, he's trying to communicate with the "locals" at a drive-through theatre.
** This also happened in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated''. See below.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

[[folder:Film--Animation]]
* PlayedWith in ''WesternAnimation/EscapeFromPlanetEarth''--the aliens of Baab think that evolution is working backwards on Earth, because we started out with the "serene intelligence" of dinosaurs and then wound up with [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters humans]] instead. (The computer is showing sauropods as it says this; [[FridgeLogic one questions if they realized there were carnivores too]].)

[[folder:Film--Live Action]]
* In the film version of ''Film/BattlefieldEarth'', the Psychlos interpret surveillance photos of humans with dogs in car passenger seats as evidence of the dogs being the superior species, since the humans "chauffeur them around".
** They also mention that the dogs have proven themselves much more willing to cooperate with the alien masters than the man-animals. Unfortunately, dogs have proven ill-adapted for manual labor (which, once again, proves that they are a superior species, as they don't need to work). They can fetch, though.

* This is how Arthur first meets Ford in ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''. The latter, mistakenly believing that cars are the dominant lifeform on Earth, attempts to shake hands with one[[note]]coincidentally, it's a Ford Prefect[[/note]] ''[[TooDumbToLive while it's driving straight towards him]]''. Arthur, believing Ford to be drunk, tackles him out of the way.
** Turns out they're both wrong: [[spoiler:mice]] are the true rulers of the Earth.
* ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture''. V'Ger thinks that humans (including those on Earth) are "units" under the control of its Creator. The movie was based on the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "The Changeling" where the robot Nomad believed the same thing.
* Basically the plot of ''Film/{{Star Trek IV The Voyage Home}}'' - the aliens think whales are/were the intelligent life on the Earth. Whether they even notice the humans swarming around on the dry parts is not clear.
** [[AllThereInTheManual The novelization]] makes clear that the probe ''did'' notice the humans...and considered us so [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters barbaric]] (for killing all the whales) that exterminating us would be for the planet's benefit.
** The novel ''Probe'', written as a sequel to the movie, reveals that the probe was built in the distant past by a species of gigantic telekinetic whales, and failed to recognize humans (and other humanoid aliens for that matter) as being any more significant than insects (both due to their tiny size compared even to smaller Earth whales, let alone its creators, and also it failed to recognize any human attempts at communication as even ''being'' communication). The Enterprise crew eventually find a way to translate the whales' speech and transmit it a way that the probe can recognize, and only then does it realize its mistake.

* There is a joke about two aliens who land on Earth, and try to address a "local" - actually a fuel dispenser on a gas station. Annoyed at him ignoring them, one of the aliens pulls out a blaster, and, despite all the warning from his partner not to mess with the guy, shoots the device. After barely surviving thanks to their personal DeflectorShields, the shooter asks "how did you know he was so powerful?" The answer is "Once you've traveled as much as I have, you learn not to mess with a guy who can [[GagPenis wrap his dick around himself twice]]".

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'': During the WhatIf Megamorphs 4, ''Back To Before'', Ax briefly mentions mistaking ''cows'' for the dominant species, in this case because they're numerous and superficially similar to Andalites (who resemble centaurs).

* Harry Bates' story "Farewell to the Master" (which was later adapted into the movie ''Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill1951'') includes a viewpoint-reversed example that was not included in the film adaptation. The short story ends with [[spoiler:the robot (named "Gnut" in the original) stating, "You misunderstand, ''I'' am the master."]]

* Creator/CarlSagan gives an example in his book ''Pale Blue Dot'', where aliens at first assume that cars are the main inhabitants of cities (the idea being that aliens would be taking closer and closer views of the earth while trying to find life, and cars are the first visible moving things they would see in city areas).
** Sagan also proposed that any alien doing spectrographic analyses of the Earth's atmosphere would see methane - lots more methane than could be expected in the presence of free oxygen. The hypothetical alien would infer that something on the planet was continually creating that methane. Methane is a product of anaerobic respiration. Therefore the something continually creating that excess of gas must be alive. That excess of methane is caused by the digestion of large ruminants like cows and sheep. Therefore the lifeform detectable from space is not humanity, it's burping - and farting - cows.

* ''Series/SesameStreet'' Martians [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTc3PsW5ghQ tried]] to talk with a telephone. On the "bright" side, they repeated attempts with more than one Terran dictionary.
* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'': Ferengis believe Porthos, Archer's dog, captains the ''Enterprise''. They finally realize their mistake when their UniversalTranslator fails to work.
** Part of the reason they think that is because of the Beagle's big ears. The Ferengi consider big ears to be a sign of a keen business mind.

* Ford Prefect of ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' uses his name because he believed that cars were the dominant species. To explain the joke to foreign audiences (because the Ford Prefect was only sold in England), the film adaptation shows that Arthur first met Ford when Ford stepped into the street to shake hands with an oncoming car (an actual Ford Prefect to boot) and Arthur saved his life by tackling him out of the way.

* In the first ''VideoGame/SpaceRangers'' the main enemy - the klisans - are a race of biological starships. To be more precise, each member is a moon-size mothership, and all the smaller ships are its organs. They initially assume that the dominant species is the spaceships we fly in, and the humans in them are just a virus that makes them go insane. Thus, they seek to eliminate us in the same fashion we would try to kill an influenza, to prevent further infection and "cure" the infected vessels.

* ''WebComic/LukeSurl comics'' [[http://www.lukesurl.com/archives/1694 demonstrate]] what can happen if your main information sources for the FirstContact are [[AliensStealCable internet satellites]].
* In ''Webcomic/SequentialArt'' Martian Trashcans arc, "Gary" [[http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=729 tried to talk with two inanimate objects in a row]]. He apparently isn't the brightest bulb in his team, considering he's the one [[http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=698 habitually]] sent to [[AliensStealCattle collect cow lips]] while others tend to their little military business.

* An episode of ''[[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK Dennis the Menace]]'' featured an alien race of shape shifters who thought that televisions ruled the world and thus came to Earth in the form of televisions. Upon realising their mistake they tried to take on human form but found it too difficult so remained as televisions. At the end, they revealed their true forms (each one different from the rest) and concluded they were just like humans in that regard.

* On ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'' an alien crash lands near Garfield's house. He believes that Jon is Garfield's servant and that Garfield is the planet's superior intelligence. Then again, CatsAreSuperior, after all, so he might be onto something there.
* ''WesternAnimation/ShadowRaiders'' features an example. A race of humanoids apparently uses a race of furry, wookiee-like creatures as draft animals. The main characters assume the smaller humanoids are the dominant species, when in fact it is the "draft animals" who are both smarter, and telepathic.
** Though the smaller humanoids also believed themselves the dominant species, the big hairy telepaths were humoring them.
* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' the aliens have fully researched the planet and decided that cows were the most intelligent species. If they were only looking at the adults, they are probably right.
** When asked by the cows about all the cattle mutilations, the aliens apologize and explain that it was all "Carl's fault. He's new."

** Sagan also proposed that any alien doing spectrographic analyses of the Earth's atmosphere would see methane - lots more methane than could be expected in the presence of free oxygen. The hypothetical alien would infer that something on the planet was continually creating that methane. Methane is a product of anaerobic respiration. Therefore the something continually creating that excess of gas must be alive. That excess of methane is caused by the digestion of large ruminants like cows and sheep. Therefore the lifeform detectable from space is not humanity, it's burping cows.

* As with their film, TV, and radio counterparts, Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent from ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' first met when the latter saved the former from being run over by a car, which he thought was a dominant lifeform.

** Sagan also proposed thant any alien doing spectrographic analysies of the Earth's atmosphere would see methane - lots more methane than could be expected in the presence of free oxygen. The hypothetical alien would deduce that something on the planet was continually creating that methane. methane is aby-product of biochemistry. Therefore the something continually creating that excess of gas must be alive. That excess of methane is caused by the digestion of large ruminants like cows and sheep. Therefore the lifeform detectable from space is not humanity, it's farting cows.

This is a common subversion of the typical FirstContact scenario. The aliens, in their studies of Earth, conclude that someone other than humanity are the real masters of Earth. Maybe they assume that we're the servants of our pets rather than mere caretakers. Maybe they're mechanical beings who aren't used to dealing with carbon-based life and assume that any intelligent beings will be machines like themselves. Maybe they assume that the bigger animals have bigger brains, and therefore more intelligence. Maybe they do possess all the facts, but simply have a different definition of "dominant". Either way, the results are usually [[HilarityEnsues quite amusing]].

* In one ''MickeyMouse'' comic some aliens attempt to find if there is intelligent life on Earth and abduct Mickey and Pluto to perform tests on them. Pluto ends up scoring higher than Mickey, mostly because the tests are actually very simple and Mickey keeps overcompensating; for example, when the aliens attempt to translate their speech he speaks really slowly, causing the aliens to think he's stupid (while Pluto's barking confounds their TranslatorMicrobes, making the aliens think Dog language is simply too complex for them to understand). The aliens end up concluding that dogs are the dominant species on Earth.
* PlayedWith in ''Comicbook/BillyBatsonAndTheMagicOfShazam:'' the Space Ghoul seems to have believed that humans and cows were both intelligent, since he [[AliensStealCattle abducted a bunch of cattle]] in order to communicate. Even when Billy and Mary tell him, he seems to think that they're mute but still sapient, as he begins apologize for inconveniencing them.
* In ''ComicBook/RelativeHeroes'' Cameron's potted plant he named Chloe turns out to be one of the Es who chose a plant form upon arriving on earth due to mistaking plants as the dominant life form. They eventually build up enough reserves to change form again and choose a human shape.

* ''[[Animation/TheMysteryOfTheThirdPlanet The Mystery of the Third Planet]]'' has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Q1i78gCS9Q8#t=235s this dialog]] in an interstellar animal-trading hub (neither species is native to that world):
-->'''Professor Seleznyov''': Excuse me, how much is this bird?
-->'''The bird''' ''(pecks him)'': Br-r-razen! That's me selling him.

* This is how Arthur first meets Ford in ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''. The latter, mistakenly believing that cars are the dominant lifeform on Earth, attempts to shake hands with one[[note]]coincidentally, it's a Ford Prefect[[/note]] ''[[TooDumbToLive while it's driving straight towards him]]''. Arthur, believing Ford to be drunk, tackles him out of the way.
** Turns out they're both wrong: [[spoiler:mice]] are the true rulers of the Earth.

* There is a joke about two aliens who land on Earth, and try to address a "local" - actually a fuel dispenser on a gas station. Annoyed at him ignoring them, one of the aliens pulls out a blaster, and, despite all the warning from his partner not to mess with the guy, shoots the device. After barely surviving thanks to their personal DeflectorShields, the shooter asks "how did you know he was so powerful"? The answer is "Once you've traveled as much as I have, you learn not to mess with a guy who can [[GagPenis wrap his dick around himself twice]]".

* Creator/CarlSagan gives an example in his book ''Pale Blue Dot'', where aliens at first assume that cars are the main inhabitants of cities (the idea being that aliens would be taking closer and closer views of the earth while trying to find life, and cars are the first visible moving things they would see in city areas).
** Sagan also proposed thant any alien doing spectrographic analysies of the Earth's atmosphere would see methane - lots more methane than could be expected in the presence of free oxygen. The hypothetical alien would deduce that something on the planet was continually creating that methane. methane is aby-product of biochemistry. Therefore the something continually creating that excess of gas must be alive. That excess of methane is caused by the digestion of large ruminants like cows and sheep. Therefore the lifeform detectable from space is not humanity, it's farting cows.
* Two human survivors in George Zebrowski's ''Literature/TheKillingStar'' wind up getting captured by the alien invaders and have an audience with them. One wall of the room faces a water-filled chamber which contains an octopus-like creature being preened and taken care of by dozens of little robots. The captives assume that the creature is the brains behind the invasion when it begins speaking to them. It soon reveals, though, that [[spoiler:the robots are in charge. They had been built by the octopi long ago and eventually surpassed them in intelligence. The octopi are considered by the masters to be more like a zoo exhibit of a curious precursor animal than anything else. And our two humans will ultimately share the same fate.]]

* In the short story "Dog Star" by Creator/MackReynolds, the dog-like inhabitants of Sirius II mistake the ship's dog Gimmick for the captain and the human crew for draft animals. The crew decides not to correct them in order to negotiate a trade agreement and has to arrange for all the ships carrying humans through the area to also have dogs.
* In ''Animation/TheMysteryOfTheThirdPlanet'', as well as [[Literature/AliceGirlFromTheFuture the book it is based upon]], it happens to Professor Selesnyov on an interstellar market. He approaches a humanoid alien to ask him how much the bird he is asking costs... only for the bird to state that '''she''' is the one selling '''him'''.

* The ''Star Wars Field Guide to Wildlife'' mentions that at Coruscant's annual livestock exposition it can be hard to tell the difference between livestock and traders, Ewoks in particular.
* InvertedTrope in ''[[Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy Out of the Silent Planet]]''; the men Devine and Weston believe the ''sorns'' are the masters of Mars, because they're the first species they meet and they seem to be the intellectuals of the planet. It turns out they and the two other Martian species all willingly serve the Oyarsa, an invisible being assigned to watch over the planet by [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} Maleldil of Jupiter]]. The humans refuse to revise their opinion and insist the Oyarsa is only a trick of ventriloquism by one of the more visible Martians. The Oyarsa isn't pleased.
* As with their film, TV, and radio counterparts, Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent from ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' first met when the latter saved the former from being run over by a car, which he thought was a dominant lifeform.

[[folder: Live Action Television ]]
* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'': Ferengis believe Porthos, Archer's dog, captains the ''Enterprise''. They finally realize their mistake when their UniversalTranslator fails to work.
** Part of the reason they think that is because of the Beagle's big ears. The Ferengi consider big ears to be a sign of a keen business mind.
* ''Series/SesameStreet'' martians [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTc3PsW5ghQ tried]] to talk with a telephone. On the "bright" side, they repeated attempts with more than one Terran dictionary.
* Control[[note]]a small floating robot supervising the exiled alien[[/note]] from ''Series/HardTimeOnPlanetEarth'' keeps mistaking inanimate devices (like a traffic light) for sentient, tries to talk to them and gets offended when ignored. Usually [[RunningGag several times per episode]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* In the first ''VideoGame/SpaceRangers'' the main enemy - the klisans - are a race of biological starships. To be more precise, each member is a moon-size mothership, and all the smaller ships are its organs. They initially assume that the dominant species is the spaceships we fly in, and the humans in them are just a virus that makes them go insane. Thus, they seek to eliminate us in the same fashion we would try to kill an influenza, to prevent further infection and "cure" the infected vessels.

[[folder: Web Comics ]]

** The author also explicitly parodied ''Series/SesameStreet'' martians in [[http://jollyjack.deviantart.com/art/yipyipyipyip-cow-298353355 this]] Website/DeviantArt piece (they ''did'' try to talk Cow, after all).

[[folder: Western Animation ]]
* ''WesternAnimation/WhatOnEarth'', an old Canadian cartoon by Kaj Pindal which purports to be an educational film by Martians, who looked down on the earth and naturally assumed that cars were the dominant life-form, and humans some kind of parasite they hadn't gotten around to ridding themselves of.
* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' the aliens have fully researched the planet and decided that cows were the most intelligent species. If they were only looking at the adults, they are probably right.
** When asked by the cows about all the cattle mutilations, the aliens apologize and explain that it was all "Carl's fault. He's new."
* ''WesternAnimation/ShadowRaiders'' features an example. A race of humanoids apparently uses a race of furry, wookiee-like creatures as draft animals. The main characters assume the smaller humanoids are the dominant species, when in fact it is the "draft animals" who are both smarter, and telepathic.
** Though the smaller humanoids also believed themselves the dominant species, the big hairy telepaths were humoring them.
* On ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'' an alien crash lands near Garfield's house. He believes that Jon is Garfield's servant and that Garfield is the planet's superior intelligence. Then again, CatsAreSuperior, after all, so he might be onto something there.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' contains a variation when Steven introduces himself to Peridot: she'd heard humans were the dominant lifeform in the past, but apparently didn't know what they look like. When Steven introduces himself by name she assumes "Stevens" are a ''species'' that's replaced humans as the dominant lifeform (after all, [[ADogNamedDog Gems name themselves after their variety]]). [[SustainedMisunderstanding Peridot maintains this misconception]] [[ContinuityNod in future appearances]], calling him such things as "the Steven" and "you Steven", but eventually the misunderstanding is cleared up.
* One classic Disney short speculated on how aliens might view the relationship between automobiles and their human infestations.

* As with their film, TV, and radio counterparts, Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent from ''Literature/TheHichhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' first met when the latter saved the former from being run over by a car, which he thought was a dominant lifeform.

* On ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'' an alien crash lands near Garfield's house. He believes that Jon is Garfield's servant and that Garfield is the planet's superior intelligence.

[[folder: Comics ]]

[[folder: Film--Animation]]

[[folder: Film--Live Action]]

[[folder: Jokes ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Poetry ]]

[[folder: Radio ]]

See also MistakenForServant, which is a more mundane trope which sometimes overlaps.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' contains a variation when Steven introduces himself to Peridot: she'd heard humans were the dominant lifeform in the past, but apparently didn't know what they look like. When Steven introduces himself by name she assumes "Stevens" are a ''species'' that's replaced humans as the dominant lifeform. [[SustainedMisunderstanding Peridot maintains this misconception]] [[ContinuityNod in future appearances]], calling him such things as "the Steven" and "you Steven", but eventually the misunderstanding is cleared up.

-->--'''Jerry Seinfeld''', ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}''

* In the short story "Dog Star" by Mack Reynolds, the dog-like inhabitants of Sirius II mistake the ship's dog Gimmick for the captain and the human crew for draft animals. The crew decides not to correct them in order to negotiate a trade agreement and has to arrange for all the ships carrying humans through the area to also have dogs.

* ''WeeternAnimation/ShadowRaiders'' features an example. A race of humanoids apparently uses a race of furry, wookiee-like creatures as draft animals. The main characters assume the smaller humanoids are the dominant species, when in fact it is the "draft animals" who are both smarter, and telepathic.

What happened here? The aliens MistookTheDominantLifeform of Earth, that's what.

** This also happened in ''TransformersAnimated''. See below.

* An episode of ''[[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK Dennis the Menace]]'' featured an alien race of shape shifters who thought that telvisions ruled the world and thus came to Earth in the form of televisions. Upon realising their mistake they tried to take on human form but found it too difficult so remained as televisions. At the end, they revealed their true forms (each one different from the rest) and concluded they were just like humans in that regard.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', when the Autobots first arrive they disguise themselves as "the dominant life forms." Bulkhead attempts to chat up a robot dog while the Autobots help fight a monster, only to find out that the organic creatures running around aren't "pets"; robots and vehicles aren't sentient, and humans are the dominant life.

* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2r7YoyKDiM What on Earth]]'', an old Canadian cartoon by Kaj Pindal which purports to be an educational film by Martians, who looked down on the earth and naturally assumed that cars were the dominant life-form, and humans some kind of parasite they hadn't gotten around to ridding themselves of.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' contains a variation when Steven introduces himself to Peridot: she'd heard humans were the dominant lifeform in the past, but apparently didn't know what they look like. When Steven introduces himself by name she assumes "Stevens" are a ''species'' that's replaced humans as the dominant lifeform. [[SustainedMisunderstanding Peridot maintains this misconception]] [[ContinuityNod in future appearances]], calling him such things as "the Steven" and "you Steven".

* ''WarPlanets'' features an example. A race of humanoids apparently uses a race of furry, wookiee-like creatures as draft animals. The main characters assume the smaller humanoids are the dominant species, when in fact it is the "draft animals" who are both smarter, and telepathic.