Animal documentaries

[Mememena]

I was watching some david attenborough shows today and I always have mixed feelings.
I never want the animal to be eaten but I never want the other animal to starve either!
A clip that stuck in my head was these killer whales throwing a penguin up in the air and then one of them ate the penguin,
But it showed the penguin in the mouth before the whale swallowed and I can't get the penguin's face out of my mind :(

What is your question? You are not being unreasonable not to like what you watched but are also being unreasonable because that's how nature works.

I avoid things like that for this exact reason. It's the food chain, the circle of life, it has to be that way but I don't have to think about it.

AIBU that i'm still thinking about the penguin now?

And of course I know that"s how nature works but it doesnt make it any less sad

At least it's natural. Unlike millions of animals locked up until slaughter day I suppose. I'd rather have the grass under my feet until I'm eaten by a lion,than never feeling the sun on my back in a dark smelly barn stood in my own faeces.

To stop thinking about the penguin being eaten, think about the face of the fish the penguin had probably just eaten.

I'd watch something else to get it out of your mind. Some cute kitten or puppy videos on YouTube? Or something funny. Either that or do something that requires concentration.

No you're not BU to still think of the penguin now. I also didn't mean that it isn't sad, merely that as the PP said that it's the circle of life. If it affects you as much, then it's probably best not to watch at all.

I don't watch them because of this reason. It just upsets me! I know it's the circle of life but I don't want to see anything suffer

I'm not the biggest fan of bugs and ants, but it showed an ant turning into fungus after going near a weird plant and I was like "noooo!!!"
Probably best I stay away from these documentaries

I struggle with this too, you are not alone!

I really want to watch more DA documentaries because they are interesting and often beautiful, but the reality of nature is just too harsh sometimes!

I know what you mean op. It’s like when you see a deer getting chased by a lion. I’m always on the deers side because I don’t want to see a cute little animal being ripped apart but at the same time I don’t want to see the lion and the little cubs starve so I’m always torn and it breaks my heart when the predator finally does get it’s kill. One of the reasons I stopped watching nature documentaries actually, I’m such a wuss!

Does anyone else think that there has been an increased focus on predation and predators in nature documentaries lately? Knowing it happens and is necessary is different from relishing it.

I don't mind animals killing animals, that's the glory of every species having a place in the Earth's diverse ecology . It's habitats being wiped out by man, or animals driven to extinction that I find really upsetting.

I don't watch wildlife programmes for this reason. I know I'm part of the problem, yet also powerless to do a great deal; recycling bits and walking more really isn't going to hack it.

Toughen up or have the remote to hand. It’s not difficult.

I don’t watch documentaries like this either, or anything depressing or scary really!
And I’m like you, I’d be constantly running it over in my mind for days!

I don’t watch nature documentaries “live” for this reason. I like to fast forward through the gory bits. It is hypocritical as I eat meat and own a cat who is a successful hunter despite having a very large bell on her collar.

Yes it’s sad but just think, that whale could have been a pregnant female who needed the food to nourish her young.

It’s never nice to see but it has to happen.

I went to Kenya once and watched a cheetah bring down a deer. My Nan was sat there with her eyes closed and I watched every second and I’m glad I did because as soon as that deer was down, 5 cheetah babies suddenly appeared out of the bush.

That one deer fed 6 cheetahs

I can't get too worked up when animals don't follow our morals.

What DOES make me furious is those awful animal channels on youtube, where they "rescue" kittens that have been placed in dangerous situations, or left to go blind through neglect and then "saved". There's worse out there, Luke Magnotta killed several kittens and shared it online and also a person live-streaming killing and skinning cats on Omegle. An awful lot of animal cruelty seems to have sprung up online, (remember those slow lorises being tortured?)

There's a nasty fetish called "vore" (fantasy of eating/being eaten alive) and there are many channels on youtube of large reptiles being force fed live animals. These are presented as "educational", but they're really not, they're wank material.

@CockCarousel I’m not familiar with the channels or videos you mentioned but what is wrong with rescuing kittens that are blind from neglect and/or in dangerous situations?

I remember a documentary I saw once, it was a baby elephant or hippo, something like that, stuck in mud. The ettiquite of the filming is 'don't interfere' but the cameraman couldn't take it, and they helped save the baby. I'm glad they did. But there was a chance they would have gotten injured by the adults.

OP

The reason that you cannot get the image of the penguin out of your mind is because at one level you identify with it's plight. Same with the image of the ant with fungus growing out of it's head (prior to which the fungus brainwashed it into climbing up into the sunlight here it would not venture if the fungus had not compelled it to do so).

We all identify with people an animals in real life and in videos. This is why a video of chance real life encounter with an animal can sometimes leave us feeling weepy or, alternatively, very happy.

Probably best to avoid nature documentaries for a while and spend some time talking to a close friend about why exactly these videos caused you so much distress, making sure you sleep well and taking good care of yourself.

Some people feel more resilient from watching nature documentaries, zombie films and disturbing documentaries.

Some people need to stay away from all of that and instead watch cute videos of kittens being silly.

Some people find strength in both.

We are all different but please don't expose yourself to more videos until you have been supported in working out why these particular videos upset you

@CitizenFame because the kittens in the videos are owned by the person "rescuing" them - ie. they'll stuff a tiny 5 week kitten into a pipe then pretend to save it, or allow their kitten to become blind. All the situations are staged, causing great distress to the animals.

I feel the same. Obviously that's nature and how it works but I find it incredibly upsetting.

[quote CockCarousel]@CitizenFame because the kittens in the videos are owned by the person "rescuing" them - ie. they'll stuff a tiny 5 week kitten into a pipe then pretend to save it, or allow their kitten to become blind. All the situations are staged, causing great distress to the animals.[/quote]

Not that I don’t believe you because you’ve seen the videos and I haven’t but how do you know they do it to their own kittens and the videos are staged?

I cannot watch animal documentaries for similar reasons OP
I 100% understand the circle of life etc, but I always say nature is cruel and I do not need to watch it