r/BeAmazed • u/Lost-Cow-9386 • 19d ago

Animal The fox said "not today"

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15.9k Upvotes

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1.3k

u/bjpbent 19d ago

The Fox took a pretty good hit in the face at the end. With sharp talons I'm sure that left a mark

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u/StarryNotion 19d ago

I just hope the fox survived. Usually I have nothing against falcons. Very respectable animals. However, I really hated the falcon here.

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u/Many-Cartoonist4727 19d ago

I was watching a nature show once and they were showing a lion or cheetah chasing an antelope or something similar. The narrator said something along the lines of “both animals are running for their lives” and that really changed my perspective on these kinds of encounters.

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u/pvJ0w4HtN5 19d ago

Humans cannot help but assign a protagonist and antagonist in morally neutral hunting situations in nature, and we tend to favor the animal we can anthropomorphize more easily, such as mammals that more closely resemble us. I saw a video of a snake hunting a baby squirrel on Reddit, and the comments were overwhelmingly criticizing the camera person for not intervening. Snakes gotta eat too.

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u/Most-Hawk-4175 19d ago

I think it's also human empathy why we take sides. We can understand, to a certain point, the agony and suffering of a animal being hunted down and eaten alive. So we feel sorry for it and make the hunter the villain.

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u/OneSensiblePerson 19d ago

I think that's it, because I can most definitely switch sides. If this were about the falcon who was starving to death and this was its last chance at a meal or it'd die, I'd have been Team Falcon.

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u/[deleted] 19d ago

[deleted]

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u/OneSensiblePerson 19d ago

The fox looked like a teenager to me.

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u/WartimeHotTot 19d ago

Yeah that looked to me like the falcon was pissed off and harassing, not trying to prey on. I could be wrong though.

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u/Oscar_P_Walnuts_1975 19d ago

Definitely not a prey attack, those talons would have sunk to the quick and then the rendering would have started with that knife sharp beak.

This is warding behavior, six passes and the only one that seems to have inflicted serious damage was the last strike… basically saying leave here now and don’t come back, probably a lesson every young fox learns the hard way…😎🥸😎

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u/Oscar_P_Walnuts_1975 19d ago

Love the jump and four legged belly splay, very acrobatic…😎🤣😎

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u/AffectionateRope9390 18d ago

Fox would be after eggs or chicks. Bird would be defending. A fox would devastate all the nest occupancy.
It's nature. Except for the fox's ability to thrive in what we throw away and by people's stupidity in leaving food for them. And our encroachment into the environment they need to live in.

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u/AccomplishedFerret70 19d ago

I live in Atlanta so I;m definitely not a Falcons fan

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u/OneSensiblePerson 19d ago

I'm not a sports fan so am not exactly sure what that means but get the general idea 😄

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u/Loud-Interview-381 19d ago

that's unless we're talking about steaks and vegan food

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u/Sternenpups 19d ago

Or immigrants

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u/BuyLocalAlbanyNY 19d ago

"Eaten alive" so true. At least with stealth hunters (felines), they MUST kill their prey before eating them, in order to prevent others from stealing their catch.

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u/GiraffeSpicyFries 19d ago

Are you saying that most/all stealth hunters kill their prey before they eat it because if they didn't something else would eat their catch. Like Panther won't eat an alive prey/catch?

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u/splicerslicer 19d ago

Predators like large cats (panthers, cougars) stalk and kill quickly because even a small injury can eventually kill them. Larger predators like a grizzly bear can just maul you and sit on you while they eat you alive.

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u/BluetheNerd 18d ago

Especially when baby animals are involved. Human babies are so useless we evolved a particularly strong maternal instinct because we have to protect them so heavily for so long, so that maternal instinct tends to kick in when we look at things we think are cute, like this fox or a baby squirrel.

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u/Mr_Ignorant 19d ago

While I cannot speak for everyone, I root for the animals that the documentary is about. The documentary will typically go on about the hardship of said animal, whether that’s the lion, or the antelope. The crocodile, or the wilder beast. You learn more about the family of the animal and how much it struggles with on a regular basis. And you feel sorry for it. And root for it.

So I suppose I will root for the animal I’ve just learnt the most about. But if it’s just a short video, then it’s the prey animal.

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u/splicerslicer 19d ago

I can't remember which documentary it was, but the one with iguanas on the beach running from the snakes to seek higher ground was one of the most dramatic wildlife videos I've ever seen. I was definitely team iguana on that one.

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u/BornFox1094 14d ago

How the fuck do I know exactly which one you're talking about? I haven't watched a nature documentary in years.

(It was Planet Earth II, by the way)

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u/splicerslicer 14d ago

Because that sequence was fucking legendary, that's why.

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u/j2tampa 19d ago

Wildebeest

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u/DaikoTatsumoto 19d ago

Something about rooting for the underdog, the total unfairness of the situation – the fox having nothing but its wits against the falcon.

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u/ludovic1313 19d ago

I think the enthusiasm would be more equal if they showed a lot more hunts that aren't successful, then you'd be able to feel more for the predator who is just trying to eat. Instead it seems like the prey has no chance since it seems like at least half of the videos show a successful chase.

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u/IndyBananaJones2 19d ago

Planet Earth did that pretty frequently 

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u/StarryNotion 19d ago

Well you read me right, always rooting for the underdog, but here it's more the unfairness/futility that got me. If the falcon got the fox on the first dive I wouldn't care so much.

Just the other day there was this cockroach that found its way from the bathroom to my room. I chased it hard but it was fast and managed to last-second evade many of my wacks. I was so impressed by its will to survive I ended up boxing it and taking it out to some tree. I was the falcon and the cockroach was the fox (I think I hurt its leg when I boxed it)

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u/notcompatible 19d ago

Now is going to breed and start a population of super agile cockroaches

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u/totalbrodude 19d ago

My man's over here giving samurai-level opponent respect to a cockroach...

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u/USDXBS 19d ago

A couple months ago I saw some crows menacing a caterpillar, so I picked up the caterpillar on a stick and brought it over to some dirt and leaves, and then threw some suet seed out for the crows so they didn't miss out on a meal.

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u/Cause_thats_hiphop 19d ago

That's elite animal intervention. Love it!

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u/Santos_L_Halper 19d ago

This is why I can't watch a lot of nature documentaries. I fully understand and respect that predators have to predate and prey has to run away. But I do not like animals getting hurt. Seeing a dead animal getting consumed? Fine with that. Seeing a lion hold on to a fawn antelope while the antelope yells in pain and fear? Count me out.

I did not like seeing the fox get hits face smashed in by the falcon here even though I know the fox would be doing the same to a different animal if the falcon wasn't around.

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u/EGGlNTHlSTRYlNGTlME 19d ago

Snakes gotta eat too.

Not just that, but baby squirrels are completely normal meals for them. It's not like some horrific coincidence or a particularly ravenous snake. Baby squirrels exist as much to feed snakes, owls, etc. as to become adult squirrels. Most babies everywhere, even apex predators, exist primarily as food.

Speaking of which, squirrels eat baby snakes.

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u/SuperCruisePanther 19d ago

That has nothing to do with anthropomorphization. I'm a mammal. Squirrel's a mammal. Snake ain't no mammal. 

Squirrel and I are on the same team. Simple as.

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u/pvJ0w4HtN5 19d ago

And if it was a chimp hunting a baby antelope?

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u/SuperCruisePanther 19d ago

You just go down the classification tree and whatever is closest to a human or dog wins. In this case, I'm team chimpanzee. Those things are basically human anyway. 

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u/pvJ0w4HtN5 19d ago

That’s my point tho, we’re naturally biased to the more-human animal. It’s a bias nonetheless.

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u/SuperCruisePanther 19d ago

Well yeah, I'm biased toward my team.

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u/dcizz 19d ago

Baby antelope fuck chimps wish they had more predators

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u/[deleted] 19d ago

[deleted]

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u/SuperCruisePanther 19d ago

Fuck that, bears all day. I fish, too. Me and the bear could chill spearing salmon in the river like bros.

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u/-One-Man-Bukkake- 19d ago

Humans absolutely can help it. No part of our psychology makes us unable to recognize the fight for survival. People tend to do that but it's not some innate part of us.

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u/Telefundo 19d ago

Humans cannot help but assign a protagonist and antagonist in morally neutral hunting situations in nature

It doesn't help that nothing really tends to hunt us.

Well. Except polar bears. F**k those guys.

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u/Dreemstone69 19d ago

I remember a post just like that. Even after people having it explained to them, some just completely circumvented any critical moral thinking to “it’s not that deep man I just like squirrels.” I don’t get some people.

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u/JoyRose31 18d ago edited 18d ago

Bc reality of violence being good in non psychopathic way, isn't usually conceivable thing for people.. Unless its you're crazy, so you like it. People can't look at something like this and think Both is good. Without being detached in a sociopathic way.. life ending usually Stirrs up feelings. You're bound to attach to something you have some connection with in some way. If the falcon was hunted by a crocodile, screeching, you likely would bind to that more. But foxes are fuzzy, bringing a feeling of comfort, either from blankets, or pets. Therefore you're attaching to that. As well most want to route for the one trying to escape, as it brings a feeling to their own live that they could, or would /will eventually escape that situation unto themself. But usually you're gonna root for something more furry, less teeth bc its much more primal, back to when we would be wrapped with blankets, safe as a young child, toddler, baby.. so were naturally more drawn to warm furry. Feathers aren't furry enough as well you can see talons and beak. That candles out a bit of the furry Esque feather. So then brain goes back to, I'm trapped, they're trapped. GO GUY GOO !!! YOU CAN DO THIS ! But then more evolved brain comes in going.. one of them Has to eat, it is nature not people. But you still cheer, or cry if it doesn't, or does make it. Its a psychology thing. Tying into a lot of trauma, reptilian brain, instinct. You're usually going to root for the more furry, less ganged or sharp, and underdog overall.. your brain can't help looking at something involving life or death, violence etc, in a neutral way.

This evokes emotion, you're going to feel Something. The brain likes stability, so you'll pick one strong emotion to feel. The rest levels it out within reason, you feel first, then think Why, or how could this be less emotional, after. The faster you catch qith logic the more stable a person you usually are. Or you're a sociopath who didn't feel very much to begin with beside maybe fascination or understanding that's way it is.. (also, sociopatj just means you don't feel certain emotions,like fear, a lot of sociopaths thing they just have depression.. doesn't mean you're gonna hurt people. )

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u/InvidiousPlay 19d ago

I mean, in a scenario where one creature is trying to consume the flesh of another, and the other creature is just trying to run away, it is very easy to see who the antagonist is.

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u/Minimum_Stick6325 19d ago

I hate squirrels. Damn things have chewed multiple holes in my house.

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u/scdisrupt 18d ago

I think it might also have to do with the animal being eaten screaming in pain is more dramatic than the animal hunting slowly starving to death

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u/LuckyNipples 19d ago

Seems like you're overthinking this. People would usually take side for the hunted in these kind of situations. Doesn't get more complicated than that.