STLPR0%

Merah, the second-oldest Sumatran orangutan in North America, dies at St. Louis Zoo 19%

By Rebecca Thiele0% Rob Edwards0%

6/9/2026, 12:45:12 PM

Topics: Animals, Zoos

BS Summary: This article contains 10 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Framing Effect, and Begging the Question, with Unattributed Quote as the most egregious example at 44.3% saturation with 66 hits. Analysis detected 260 faulty-reasoning hits from 149 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 34.1% and a BS Rank of 19% (17,719 of 21,886 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 81.00% of the article peer group.

Merah, the second-oldest Sumatran orangutan in North America and a longtime resident of the St. 
Louis Zoo, has died. 
The zoo announced on social media that it made the decision to humanely euthanize Merah, 57, last week, saying she was suffering from health issues and her quality of life was declining. 
"Merah was a curious, gentle and attentive mother and role model within her family group," the statement said. 
"She will be greatly missed by her orangutan family, care team and all who knew her." 
Merah was born at a zoo in the Netherlands in 1969. 
She came to St. 
Louis from the Miami Metro Zoo in 1992. 
During her life, Merah gave birth to five offspring, including three born at the St. 
Louis Zoo: Sugriwa, Ginger and Rubih. 
Merah celebrated her 57th birthday last month. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 3.8%Belleville News-Democrat: 2.4%Confirmation Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 1.2%Belleville News-Democrat: 1.2%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 2.2%Belleville News-Democrat: 2.7%Availability Heuristic0.0%This article: 20.1%Rebecca Thiele: 0.8%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.8%Representativeness Heuristic20.1%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 1.1%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.5%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.7%Belleville News-Democrat: 1.4%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 21.5%Rebecca Thiele: 8.7%Belleville News-Democrat: 7.3%Framing Effect21.5%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 1.4%Belleville News-Democrat: 1.1%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.9%Belleville News-Democrat: 1.0%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 1.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.3%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 5.9%Belleville News-Democrat: 4.8%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 2.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 1.9%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 10.7%Rebecca Thiele: 3.3%Belleville News-Democrat: 7.1%Negativity Bias10.7%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 2.4%Belleville News-Democrat: 3.1%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.1%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.9%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.5%Belleville News-Democrat: 2.2%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.2%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.5%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 12.1%Rebecca Thiele: 4.2%Belleville News-Democrat: 2.4%Halo Effect12.1%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.1%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 4.7%Rebecca Thiele: 0.5%Belleville News-Democrat: 1.0%Recency Bias4.7%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.2%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.3%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.5%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.4%Straw Man0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 7.2%Belleville News-Democrat: 3.6%Appeal to Authority0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.9%Belleville News-Democrat: 1.3%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.8%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.9%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.2%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 3.2%Belleville News-Democrat: 3.7%Hasty Generalization0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.3%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.6%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.7%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 22.8%Rebecca Thiele: 4.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 6.6%Appeal to Emotion22.8%This article: 21.5%Rebecca Thiele: 0.7%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.8%Begging the Question21.5%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 1.6%Belleville News-Democrat: 2.1%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.1%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.3%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.4%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.2%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.2%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 4.7%Rebecca Thiele: 1.4%Belleville News-Democrat: 2.6%Anecdotal4.7%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 1.7%Belleville News-Democrat: 1.3%Ambiguity (Equivocation)0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.0%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.2%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.2%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.2%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 44.3%Rebecca Thiele: 3.2%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.8%Unattributed Quote44.3%This article: 12.1%Rebecca Thiele: 1.1%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.9%Quote-first Misdirection12.1%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 3.6%Belleville News-Democrat: 1.8%Biased Writer Voice0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 1.2%Belleville News-Democrat: 1.1%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.3%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.8%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 0.3%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.2%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Rebecca Thiele: 1.6%Belleville News-Democrat: 0.7%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

149 words analyzed.

Speakers

1speaker21%attributed speech117writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 11 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 2 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 15 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 4 words • 0.0% coverageSt. Louis Zoo • 32 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 18 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 11 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 4 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 8 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 15 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 6 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 7 words • 0.0% coverage
Selected voice

St. Louis Zoo

100%flagged-word coverage
32 attributed words100% of attributed speech61% writer coverage
0%50.0%100.0%Unattributed Quote+70.9 ptsWriter: 29.1%St. Louis Zoo: 100.0%100.0%Quote-first Misdirection-15.4 ptsWriter: 15.4%St. Louis Zoo: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.