Everything wants to kill us

[jollystomper]

Actually, as I've looked at material from biology, astrophysics, physics, and chemistry, I've been astonished to learn how well-prepared the Earth is to support life. Any minor deviation in any one of hundreds of different variables, and we wouldn't be here at all. So "everything wants to kills us" seems too pessimistic and negative to me. This world has been arranged in thousands of ways to be "just right," i.e., precisely the kind of place we need. If any of these variables were off by a small fraction, we wouldn't be here to even have this conversation.

Of course, it can also be a tough place, with some things that do "want to kill us." It's not all roses. But it's not all gloom and doom either.

+1

I am more amazed how relatively few of us are actually done in by all the potential dangers. I would bet that many of us have been infected with things that our body fought off so well we had no clue we ever had it.

 

[folivier]

You guys need to get out in the wilderness and spend some time away from civilization. Then you'll see that nature doesn't care about an individual. And if you've ever seen a pack of wild feral dogs you'll quickly realize they don't care about you either!

 

[NW-Bound]

Dogs do not want to kill us. They’re true friends. Not sure about cats

.. if you've ever seen a pack of wild feral dogs you'll quickly realize they don't care about you either!

I read news of dogs killing people all the time. And they are not even feral. I cannot recall one instance of a cat killing anyone or even a baby.

Of course size matters.

 

[street]

Dogs kill people all the time. A couple of weeks ago I was hiking in some rough country and a single coyote started to intimidate me. I must have been very close to their home den.
This coyote wasn't afraid of me and came up on a small high point and barked and growled at me and wouldn't stop. I walked towards and throw some rocks but it didn't make a difference.
It held it's ground and I finally moved on and it followed me and barked and raised holy hell. I finally got out of that immediate area and it wondered back to the area I first encountered it.

I have witnessed this same thing once before and is a scary thing that they can be so aggressive and protective.

I'm a thinking it wanted to kill me. Lol

 

[Amethyst]

Of course it's happened - practically anything has happened - but not through the deliberate intention of the cat:
https://www.ranker.com/list/killer-cats/jacobybancroft

And I could not even find a wacko Internet report of cats devouring their owner, as sometimes makes the news with pet dogs (fortunately, very rare - which is why it makes the news).

I read news of dogs killing people all the time. And they are not even feral. I cannot recall one instance of a cat killing anyone or even a baby.

 

[Nemo2]

Killer penguins - turn up the sound and hear them [-]snarl[/-], [-]roar[/-], discuss weight loss programs:

 

[NW-Bound]

Nature is brutal. The following is from Smithsonian Magazine.

... In 2015, after researchers in North Dakota set up nest cams to monitor songbirds, they discovered that deer would simply slurp baby birds out of their nests like candy, Dvorsky reports. Deer actually hit more nests than weasels and foxes.

Up in Canada, a group of ornithologists were studying adult birds. In order to examine them closely, the researchers used “mist-nets.” These nets, usually draped between trees, are designed to trap birds or bats gently so they can be collected, studied, and released. When a herd of deer came by, the deer walked up to the struggling birds and ate them alive, right out of the nets.

Elsewhere:

In India, a farmer caught his cow on video eating a baby chicken, and a biologist in Scotland watched red deer devour seabird chicks, according to National Geographic.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

I recall a documentary on the symbiotic relationship between alligators and great blue herons in the Everglades. The herons build rookeries in mangrove swamps where alligators lurk. Each nest produces two chicks a season. Over time, the stronger of the two chicks pushes the weaker chick out of the nest, making it an easy meal for the alligators below.

The alligators' young, conversely, is a favorite food of the adult herons.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

I read news of dogs killing people all the time. And they are not even feral. I cannot recall one instance of a cat killing anyone or even a baby.

Of course size matters.

Doesn't stop them from trying:

My cat (now deceased) would sleep every night with his head between my neck and face.

 

[ER Eddie]

Cats enjoy stalking and killing other animals just for fun. They're notorious for wrecking local bird populations, for instance. They'd eat you, too, if they could; don't kid yourself. You can just look in their eyes and tell, sometimes. They'd like to eat you, but you're too big.

 

[ER Eddie]

Dogs kill people all the time. A couple of weeks ago I was hiking in some rough country and a single coyote started to intimidate me. I must have been very close to their home den.
This coyote wasn't afraid of me and came up on a small high point and barked and growled at me and wouldn't stop. I walked towards and throw some rocks but it didn't make a difference.
It held it's ground and I finally moved on and it followed me and barked and raised holy hell. I finally got out of that immediate area and it wondered back to the area I first encountered it.

I have witnessed this same thing once before and is a scary thing that they can be so aggressive and protective.

I'm a thinking it wanted to kill me. Lol

Well, look at it from his point of view. You were threatening his den, i.e., his home and family and place of security. He tried to warn you away, but you didn't listen and instead started f*cking with him -- walking towards him, throwing rocks. I would've barked at you, too. You were a threat, and you were challenging him.

He didn't want to kill you. He just wanted to scare you, so you'd go away. Mission accomplished.

Nature is brutal. The following is from Smithsonian Magazine.
[....]

I don't find any of that brutal, personally. They're just eating. It's not like they're being intentionally cruel. They either eat, or they die.

It's a bit cliche to point this out, but it's not wild animals who are the brutal ones. It is human beings. We are capable of cruelty and sadism on a huge scale. A deer eating a bird is almost a Norman Rockwell painting, compared to what human beings have dished out. Anyway, not a rant...

Anyway, I'm just saying I don't find nature particularly cruel; in fact, the opposite. I remember reading something from some Native American elder, who said nature was not "wild" to them, it was tame. That idea really resonated with me. That was how I felt, after days in the woods. (I used to hike and backpack a lot in CA and UT.) Nature is a beautiful, occasionally dangerous, but mostly welcoming place.

 

[like2]

I have always been fascinated by the story of Timothy Treadwell.

Here is his Wiki-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Treadwell

If you have not seen the movie/documentary Grizzly Man, I highly recommend it!!

 

[Lawrencewendall]

Cats enjoy stalking and killing other animals just for fun. They're notorious for wrecking local bird populations, for instance. They'd eat you, too, if they could; don't kid yourself. You can just look in their eyes and tell, sometimes. They'd like to eat you, but you're too big.

At one time I managed apartments and one of the tenants passed away. It was several days before her friends reported no contact. By the time we got into the apartment, her cats were already munching on her.

 

[ls99]

Well, look at it from his point of view. You were threatening his den, i.e., his home and family and place of security. He tried to warn you away, but you didn't listen and instead started f*cking with him -- walking towards him, throwing rocks. I would've barked at you, too. You were a threat, and you were challenging him.

He didn't want to kill you. He just wanted to scare you, so you'd go away. Mission accomplished.



I don't find any of that brutal, personally. They're just eating. It's not like they're being intentionally cruel. They either eat, or they die.

It's a bit cliche to point this out, but it's not wild animals who are the brutal ones. It is human beings. We are capable of cruelty, sadism, and malevolence on a massive scale. A deer eating a bird is a Norman Rockwell painting, compared to the violence and cruelty we have dished out.

Agree. AFAIK only cats like to, ahem, play with, toture their breakfast on the hoof, before killing and eating it.

 

[ER Eddie]

Dogs save people's lives, too -- all the time, and sometimes at a cost to their own. There are many such stories. Mostly they feature dogs rescuing humans, but cats are featured as well as many other animals, including monkeys, cows, hippos, and birds.

 

[NW-Bound]

I don't find any of that brutal, personally. They're just eating. It's not like they're being intentionally cruel. They either eat, or they die.

It's a bit cliche to point this out, but it's not wild animals who are the brutal ones. It is human beings. We are capable of cruelty and sadism on a huge scale. A deer eating a bird is almost a Norman Rockwell painting, compared to what human beings have dished out. Anyway, not a rant...

The point was that even what we thought were herbivores like deer and cow also chomp on other animals. Most people never knew Bambi loves to eat birds. I did not.

 

[John Galt III]

I been thinking that everything wants to kill us or make life an unhealthy one for all of us.
Mice, ticks, mesquites, snakes and many other wildlife critters effect our lives each day. Then not to mention all the different cancers, viruses, diseases and accidents, that every step we make could be our last breath.

It seems no matter how fit and what we do to increase our personal health we are always the underdog trying to survive.

You are right. The Goldbergs is still on, lol!

 

[ER Eddie]

The point was that even what we thought were herbivores like deer and cow also chomp on other animals. Most people never knew Bambi loves to eat birds. I did not.

You're right that it's a little weird, to think of a deer or a cow eating a bird. But I guess it happens.

I thought you were saying those were examples of nature's "brutality." To me, it just seemed like nature doing its thing, nothing terrible about it.

 

[MRG]

The point was that even what we thought were herbivores like deer and cow also chomp on other animals. Most people never knew Bambi loves to eat birds. I did not.

We had pigs at one sawmill. I had been around pigs for a while thought I knew them. One day a guy threw a dead snake in the pigpen.[emoji85] Those cute pigs acted like they knew the saying "he went to the outhouse and the hogs ate him".

 

[Nemo2]

We had pigs at one sawmill. I had been around pigs for a while thought I knew them.

"I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals."

Winston Churchill

 

[MRG]

"I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals."

Winston Churchill

Pigs are very smart. About 35 years ago DW brought home a baby pot bellied piglet. She(DW) was drunk when she bought the pig. Her girlfriend dropped her off her she comes through the door with a baby piglet that was squealing full blast. I thought something was dying from all the noises. Ever heard a baby piglet squealing?

Drunk as a skunk(DW) and laughing at anything. Eventually I got her to bed as long as the pig could come with her. She and piggy were had a great time till the next morning. I saw piglet starting to stir and just watched the show. The little pig was rooting right up towards DW'S head and her little pig noises were getting louder as she looked DW in the eyes about 6 inches from her nose. When she opened her eyes DW's expression is still laughing material today.

Daisy Mae the house pig. Took all of 20 minutes to housebreak. She walked up and down a plank to go outside. Loved to be a lap pig. You haven't lived till an 80 pound pig wants on your lap.

When DW got home in the evening Daisy would root around the house in a consistent manner every day. Daisy could get DW totally POed in 5 minutes; it normally takes me a good 25. Pigs are smart.

 

[NW-Bound]

We had pigs at one sawmill. I had been around pigs for a while thought I knew them. One day a guy threw a dead snake in the pigpen.[emoji85] Those cute pigs acted like they knew the saying "he went to the outhouse and the hogs ate him".

I have not been around pigs but somehow the above does not surprise me. As a child, I saw a flock of chicken fighting to get a piece of a lizard, and in the end, two chicken each got half of that lizard.

There's a lot of videos of nature on Youtube. Recently, I was mesmerized by videos made by scuba divers. There are a lot of videos of moray eels hunting for octopus. The octopus always gets eaten.

And more surprisingly, sea snakes love to eat moray eels. I watched a great many videos of fights between sea snakes and moray eels, and have yet to see one where the moray eel does not get eaten. Perhaps that's because sea snakes are venomous, and the moray eel eventually succumbs to the venom. Life can be very unfair.

 

[Lawrencewendall]

We had pigs at one sawmill. I had been around pigs for a while thought I knew them. One day a guy threw a dead snake in the pigpen.[emoji85] Those cute pigs acted like they knew the saying "he went to the outhouse and the hogs ate him".

If you want to get rid of a body, throw it it the pigpen. Not even the bones will be left. Or so I've been told.

 

[jollystomper]

If you want to get rid of a body, throw it it the pigpen. Not even the bones will be left. Or so I've been told.

Everything I learned about pigs eating bodies I learned from Deadwood.

 

[Lawrencewendall]

Everything I learned about pigs eating bodies I learned from Deadwood.

Never watched it. Am I wrong? Worked on a pigfarm so only can draw on experience. Maybe our pigs were weird.