History Main / ArtisticLicenseBiology

** In the Marvel Universe, humans apparently evolved around [[ComicBook/AvengersOneMillionBC 1,000,000 BC]]. Needless to say, Homo Sapiens didn't emerge for at least another 650,000 years - though this is eventually nodded to by one of the ''ComicBook/JudgmentDayMarvelComics'' tie-ins, which states that a bunch of modern humans fell through a chronal rift at some point.

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'': identical groups of humans from the same egg and sperm, no matter the amount, are referred to as 'twins'. Granted, when there can be literally ''hundreds'' of them, the nomenclature can be difficult to parse (imagine calling a group of 10,000 "decimilliuplets" and you see the problem).
[[/folder]]

* ''Film/IslandCity'' a 1994 made-for-TV movie, had the few remaining regular humans living in a small enclave surrounded by animalistic mutants. The mutants were called 'recessives' because the trait was inherited that way. One of the characters was -- get this -- HALF RECESSIVE, with all the increased strength and toughness but without the bestial aggression and reduced intelligence. Also, the inhabitants of the city wore colored crystals making their genetic status clear, to prevent the wrong kind of couple forming and producing the wrong kind of offspring. That would be fine, except there were THREE colors (should only be 2, carrier or not) and people were forbidden from mating with anyone whose crystal was a DIFFERENT color (should be, 2 carriers may not mate).
* Film/JamesBond:

** One character who is supposed to be a [[ArtisticLicensePaleontology paleontologist]] saying "Dinosaurs and man. Two species separated by sixty-five million years." The problem being that dinosaur is not a species designation, but a much higher taxonomic rank. There are currently known to have been more than 1,000 species of dinosaur. Furthermore, most of these species have been extinct far longer than 65 million years (and most paleontologists would argue that some dinosaurs live to this day -- these dinosaurs are technically known as "birds"). It's almost like Dr. Grant knew he had to say something [[NoFourthWall for the movie trailer]].

* Apples in ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' are harvested from ''oak'' trees. This is, admittedly, because they started as plain oak trees that didn't have any fruit, and the apple drop was added later, but you'd think Mojang could have at least renamed them -- it's easy enough to do it yourself with a [[GameMod resource pack]], after all.
%%* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' features a ridiculous number of monsters; some of which, admittedly, could have existed on this or some other planet. Many of them, however, cause Capcom to adhere to this trope -- the world on which the game takes place presumably has similar atmospheric conditions and gravity, and yet... the Deviljho...%%Zero-context example. How is the Deviljho an example of this trope?

* Despite some scientists trying to handwave things in ''Film/{{Arachnophobia}}'', no species of giant spider could possibly exist in the real world.

** Arachnids breathe through their skin, and there simply isn't enough oxygen in the modern world's atmosphere for them to get any bigger.

* In ''VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves'', one of Bentley's plans works on the assumption that tigers dislike water. In real life, tigers are one of the few known types of cat who ''like'' to get wet. Also in the ''VideoGame/SlyCooper'' games, Bentley (a turtle) and Murray (a hippopotamus), both aquatic creatures, [[SuperDrowningSkills instantly drown]] upon contact with a body of water.

** Jean Jacket[[spoiler:'s ability to recognize faces, specifically eyes, shouldn't be possible, even though it's an alien. Natural facial recognition comes from centuries of evolution and is dependent on the fact that most mammals and many other animals have the three main elements of a traditional face: eyes, nose, and mouth. Jean Jacket's only visible facial feature is a mouth, making it highly unlikely that it would have evolved to recognize a traditional face.]]

* ''Manga/CaseClosed'': Conan repeatedly knocks out people with a needle coated with some sort of general anesthesic. Not only would this require some sort of dissolving agent to get rid of the needle, possibly causing minor acid burns from repeated exposure (especially Ran's dad), but the side effects of [[https://healthfully.com/the-long-term-effects-of-general-anesthesia-4423356.html long term anesthesia]] are nothing to sneeze at.
* ''Manga/CellsAtWorkBaby'': In the real world (and other ''Manga/CellsAtWork'' spinoffs), the "child" equivalent of a red blood cell would be an erythroblast, which the [=RBC=]s in ''Baby!'' clearly aren't. However, they are portrayed as children to show that, like the cells of real-life newborns, they haven't entirely grown into their roles and are somewhat inefficient in their jobs.
* ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'': A major plot point involves Sewashi changing the past by sending Doraemon back to the 20th century to improve Nobita's future, resulting in his great-great-grandmother being changed from Jaiko to Shizuka. He demonstrates that no matter who Nobita will marry, he will always be born which is not possible due to 1/16th of his genes being different, thus, he will cease to exist. The fact that this doesn't occur in any of the mangas or adaptations so far suggests that there is something that Sewashi didn't tell or either the authors just didn't think about this.
* ''Manga/DungeonToilet'': While the manga does offer some real information about toilets and toileting, at times it [[RuleOfFunny doesn't let said facts get in the way of a joke]]. For example, in one chapter Yotaro is shown pooping out something that was all the way up in his stomach only moments before, which would be impossible under almost anything resembling normal circumstances.
* ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'': An in-universe example. The most prominent female character, Hungary, used to think that she was a boy and that penises grow as you age, which would "explain" her... lack of one. ''And'' she laughed at Prussia for "not knowing."

* In ''Manga/TokyoShinobiSquad'', one of En's first displays of the Technique of Remembrance is memorizing an entire petabyte of information. Computational neuroscientists estimate that the brain can only hold anywhere between 1 terabyte to 2.5 petabytes, meaning that En would already be halfway to maximum capacity at best without taking any of his other life experiences into account. {{Hand Wave}}d by the supernatural nature of ninpo techniques.
* It's alright that biology isn't Paru Itagaki's forte, but as illustrated in ''Manga/{{Beastars}}'', it seems to be her pianississimo:
** There is a plot point that Legosi seems to dislike his grandfather due to the fact he isn't a wolf, and Legosi and his mother are half breed wolves (quarter in Legosi's case rather.) [[spoiler:It turns out his grandfather is a ''komodo dragon''. Ignoring the impossibility of a mammal and a reptile having children, Legosi looks like he has only inherited a few reptilian traits from his grandfather: small pupils and immunity to komodo dragon toxins.]]
*** And it eventually comes out that [[spoiler:Legosi's mother developed scales similar to her father later in life that was the contributing factor to her suicide]].
** As revealed in Chapter 124, Legosi isn't the only halfbreed in the series with the introduction of another hybrid character [[spoiler:called Melon. A serial killing Leopard-Gazelle hybrid, who is forced to hide his heritage]].
*** This was even hammered home further with the introduction of the hybrid Daycare in Chapter 142.
** This series also gets several other things wrong about biology although some of them may be intentional. For example, it greatly exaggerates the deadliness of Komodo dragon venom. In real life they are not a very venomous species, but the series depicts Gosha has having to be extremely careful not to accidentally poison people and dripping large amounts of venom from his mouth when excited, and when he is especially upset his venom acts like HollywoodAcid. It also gets where they secrete the venom from wrong. In real life Komodo dragons secrete venom from a pair of sacks in their lower jaw, not from the upper jaw like Gosha does.
** In Chapter 154, some of the history of this civilization is revealed. [[spoiler:Apparently when the carnivores or "life animals" first encountered the herbivores or "nature animals", some form of magical "survival instinct" triggered causing the carnivores to view the herbivores as objects of protection, rather than potential meals even though the historical account just established that the carnivores would eat each other to survive.]] It remains to be seen how much of this account is factual versus mythical versus revisionist history but, needless to say, the current story flies in the face of established predator/prey behavior observed in nature.
** Towards the climax of the Melon arc, some traits ascribed to some species cross the line from exaggerated to purely fantastic. Apparently, a few drops of venom from a strong komodo dragon is enough to melt a huge hole through a building wall in a matter of seconds; they can also bristle their scales like a mammal would bristle their fur. Leopard spots move on their bodies based on their thoughts or emotions. And more.
* In ''Toys/{{Jewelpet}}'', Sango is a cat who [[SweetTooth absolutely loves to eat sweets]]. In real life, cats are incapable of sensing sweet tastes.
* In ''Manga/NectarOfDharani'', black keels are clams that produce spiky pearls. The reason why clams (and other shellfish) produce pearls in the first place is to deal with irritating particles, so it's illogical for any clam to produce spiky pearls.

* In ''Film/TheFifthElement'', the head scientist, while referring to the still-a-sample Leeloo, says "I can't wait to meet him.", even though he has complete access to her DNA, so he ''really'' should be able to notice the lack of a Y chromosome. So he either a) misled the general for no good reason, b) gave Leeloo a GenderBender for no good reason or c) he's incredibly incompetent and has this job.

* ''Film/BedknobsandBroomsticks": The soccer team composed of "evil" animals has [[KillerGorilla a gorilla]] as one of its members, while the team composed of "friendly" animals has [[HuggyHuggyHippos a hippo]] as one of its members.

* ''Film/PoorThings'': A film featuring MixandMatchCritters created by surgery, Victorian-period brain transplants, and Frankensteinian reanimation of the dead by electricity, has obviously left scientific plausibility as a distant dot in its rear-view mirror.

* ''Franchise/JurassicPark'' contains a few:

* ''Film/{{Nope}}''

* BloodstainedDefloration

* ConsummationCounterfeit: A woman pretends she's just lost her virginity by faking a bloodstain on the bed sheets, even though in real life, most women don't bleed upon losing their virginity, and women bleed down there once a month regardless of sexual status. May not be ArtisticLicense on the ''author's'' part, depending on where and when the work is set. It was once common to use bloodstained sheets as a sign a woman had lost her virginity, so this was a thing that real women actually did: despite how silly it is.

** Inverted given that Bolt is aware of and avoids foods he shouldn’t consume (alcohol, onions, garlic, chocolate), and when he purposely drinks a lot of coffee in "The Coffee Shop," he does so knowing it will make him sick. In this story, he also starts eating table scraps from the garbage and begging for coffee shop treats, but gains weight doing so. Penny scolds him and puts him on a diet, returning the dog’s weight to normal.

** Bolt is aware of and avoids foods he shouldn’t consume (alcohol, onions, garlic, chocolate), and when he purposely drinks a lot of coffee in "The Coffee Shop", he does so knowing it will make him sick. In this story, he also starts eating table scraps from the garbage and begging for coffee shop treats, but gains weight doing so. Penny scolds him and puts him on a diet, returning the dog’s weight to normal.

* ''Film/{{Doom}}'' has the mutant monsters come from the genetic experimentation of long-dead human Martian {{Precursors}}. Fair enough. But it turns out that the mutations are caused by there being a "[[VillainousLinage gene for evil]]" in the "poorly understood 10% of the human genome" which the [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke genetically engineered]] chromosome reacts to. Now, when one of these mutants bites a healthy human, it infects them like a ''virus''. When the scientist draws blood from an infected subject, the syringe fills with a mixture of dark red fluid and unidentifiable black granules that are clearly ''far'' too large not to cause fatal embolisms all over the body of anyone whose blood carried them.

** Bolt is aware of and avoids foods he shouldn’t consume (alcohol, onions, garlic, chocolate), and when he purposely drinks a lot of coffee in In "The Coffee Shop," he does so knowing it will make him sick. In this story, he also starts eating table scraps from the garbage and begging for coffee shop treats, but gains weight doing so. Penny scolds him and puts him on a diet, returning the dog’s weight to normal.

* PeculiarPenguin: Penguins that are potrayed at doing things that they are normally not supposed to do.

* NaturallyHusklessCoconuts: Coconut seeds are shown growing on trees, without the smooth husks covering them.

* ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent'': When Daniel has to (quoting Website/TVTropes here), "drill a hole in the head of ''a corpse,''[sic] insert a copper tube into the hole, and stick yourself on the needle to give yourself an injection of a vaccine." God only knows if they're the same blood type or how long the body's been dead, if he had any infectious diseases, or if the antibodies have degraded and are no longer viable. Somewhat {{justified|Trope}} since the game takes place in 1839. Blood groups weren't starting to be identified until 1901. How blood-borne pathogens work and the intricacies of vaccinations was also not as well understood at the time.