The Happiest Place On Earth (warning: Nature red of claw and tooth and whatnot.)

[Mr Hero]

This topic is fowl....

Here come the puns! Duck and cover everyone!

[EricKei]

Now this is just getting daffy...

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Howard we going to explain this to the children?

[XCashier]

Not quite the same, but something similar happened on a zoo trip I took (I think it was the San Diego Zoo). Anyway, we were on the tram, the driver was doing his usual jolly spiel about the animals we passed. Then we went by the polar bear exhibit.

A particularly stupid duck had flown into the polar bear exhibit. Needless to say, the bears were enjoying their fresh meal and playing with the leftover bits. Yeah, it was more than a little graphic.

Cue many grossed-out guests, a driver stumbling over what to say, and more than a few uncomfortable chuckles. Not to mention many nervous parents having to explain the scene to their children. I don't recall if anyone complained to the zoo staff about it.

So yeah, nature is indeed red in tooth and claw. Real life is no Disney documentary!

[AnaKhouri]

My son wouldn't have turned a hair at that. He's not a particular animal lover, and at first I was sad about that. But it's turned out to be good, such as when we saw Tarzan and I explained the leopard ate the baby gorilla. He was just like, "Oh, okay." I've never pretended to him that nature is anything but brutal or that meat comes from anything but dead animals.

[Monterey Jack]

Howard we going to explain this to the children?

"I...AM NOT HOWARD...ANYMORE..."

[sms001]

Go talk to Donald Duck, he's around here somewhere I"m sure.

With no pants.

[Argabarga]

In all seriousness though, so many people are so sheltered in their safe, comfortable little suburb, they have NO idea how nature works

These are the people that can be found commenting on YouTube videos of Bald Eagles catching fish, or owls catching mice, asking, with genuine scorn, why the camera person just STOOD THERE AND DID NOTHING while the mean ol' bird carried off that poor little innocent other creature.... as if the Bald Eagle just hits up a vending machine whenever it's hungry......

Even better, the one who stumbled onto the video a tourist shot of a pair of wild stallions fighting on Assateague Island who was vigorously wringing their hands and getting offended that someone out there would be so cruel as to TEACH those poor innocent horses to be so mean to each other! Why, that's ANIMAL ABUSE! Who on EARTH would do such a thing?!

And they too asked why the cameraman didn't try to step in and break it up.

And they were serious!

Yeah, I'm stepping into a fight between two things with a combined curb weight about equal to a Volkswagen Golf? Not if I wanna keep breathing, like nature intended.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I have cats . . . and as you know, cats are predatory creatures. They think nothing of catching a bird, mouse, mole or whatever and leaving it as an offering on the front porch or back deck.

One memorable instance stands out . . . this was around 2000 and my cousin's wife had drove up from SC to bring over some carpet samples (we were in the process of remodeling a room for my aunt to come and live out her final days with us, end b/g.)

Anyway, I was outside on the deck with my Mom, cousin's wife was on the ground by the steps trying to avoid one of our cats (she's allergic to animals) when one of our other cats came up with a bird he had just caught.

What does this kitty do? He simply sat down on the ground maybe a foot away from our guest and proceeded to eat the bird.

I looked down and saw what the cat was doing, looked back at my cousin's wife and just went about the conversation like normal. What else can you do?

So don't be surprised what you may see at my house . . . all I can tell you is Welcome to Wild Kingdom. And no, I'm not Marlon Perkins.

[AccountingDrone]

Back when I had just gotten a 6 foot long albino boa from a guy on Rob's last shore command [he was being rotated over to Rota Spain and reptiles are almost impossible to take along on a PCS] we were getting ready to feed him for the first time. Poor thing had feeding issues because an idiot in a pet store had dropped a full sized rat in with a baby snake and expected it to be able to eat it. It mauled the poor thing, so getting it to eat even at 6 feet meant to give it very tiny mice.

So here we are, Rob, myself, Ian and Breice our roomies upstairs in the barn where we had a flat sitting around this 250 gallon tank that was the snakes home. Ian at one end of the tank with the poor mouse in feeding tongs, and our poor snake sort of huddled on his basking rock looking back at the mouse, with Breice and I sort of cheering the snake on with Rob sort of occasionally using one of my snake crooks to try and urge the snake off the rock towards the mouse....

We figured it was very romanesque, with the snake being the gladiator and the mouse a really scary christian ... It finally did eat the mouse, and a second mouse shortly after. I really wish that he would have been able to eat dead mice, it would have been so much easier.

[fireheart]

The last time my family (as a whole) went to the Adelaide Zoo, we happened past the reptile house as one of our last destinations. Everyone who came out of it was laughing, so we were curious as to what was going on.

We get into the giant tortoise area and it turns out that the male tortoise had been TRYING to get onto the female tortoise...and not being entirely successful. By the time we get there though, the male tortoise finally suceeded. And the female tortoise kept carrying him around the exhibit. It was clear that those two were actually .

The absolute gem came from one of the kids in front who asked what the tortoises were doing, only to be told they were "hugging".

Cue laughter from all of us

[sms001]

I have cats . . . and as you know, cats are predatory creatures. And no, I'm not Marlon Perkins.

"I'll watch from the helicopter as Jim tags the fouteen foot alligator..."

Speaking of cat predation, The U of Georgia did a fascinating study with video cameras a couple of years ago, google it if you get a chance.

reptiles are almost impossible to take along on a PCS

THAT little bit of hedging has got my curiosity up....

I've had to coax a boa myself. Makes ya kind of frustrated, really. And not my snake, to top it off.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

With no pants.

Right? RIGHT? Bare assed in a sailor suit. I told you they were a bunch of frigging perverts.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

The last time my family (as a whole) went to the Adelaide Zoo, we happened past the reptile house as one of our last destinations. Everyone who came out of it was laughing, so we were curious as to what was going on.

We get into the giant tortoise area and it turns out that the male tortoise had been TRYING to get onto the female tortoise...and not being entirely successful. By the time we get there though, the male tortoise finally suceeded. And the female tortoise kept carrying him around the exhibit. It was clear that those two were actually .

The absolute gem came from one of the kids in front who asked what the tortoises were doing, only to be told they were "hugging".

It looks like he's trying to jump over her, but he can't quite make it. Come on boy, you can do it!

[fireheart]

It looks like he's trying to jump over her, but he can't quite make it. Come on boy, you can do it!

That was EXACTLY what was going through my head at the time!

#giantsimpsonsfan