# Would it bother you to see a predator catch and kill its natural prey in the wild? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 16, 2024, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-to-see-a-predator-catch-and-kill-its-natural-prey-in-the-wild/1007351 "2024-09-16T16:08:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-to-see-a-predator-catch-and-kill-its-natural-prey-in-the-wild/1007351/81 "2024-09-18T21:49:04Z")
“Children of the night! What music they make! Ah, but you are a city dweller, and cannot know the joy of the hunt.” Cartoons have given people the mistaken impression that roadrunners eat birdseed. Nope. They are predators. Watching a roadrunner kill a rattlesnake is fascinating to watch. The snake will try to strike the bird. The bird will dodge. The bird will peck at the snake, right where the skull meets the spine. It may take a dozen or more pecks, but eventually the roadrunner will kill the snake. Then the bird will swallow the snake’s head, and spend the next few days with the tail hanging out of its mouth, as its stomach gradually digests the snake. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-to-see-a-predator-catch-and-kill-its-natural-prey-in-the-wild/1007351/82 "2024-09-18T21:52:54Z")
What do they do with coyotes? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-to-see-a-predator-catch-and-kill-its-natural-prey-in-the-wild/1007351/83 "2024-09-18T21:55:53Z")
I always wandered what would happen to Wiley if that tunnel opening let him in. You know RR had a trap set in there. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-to-see-a-predator-catch-and-kill-its-natural-prey-in-the-wild/1007351/84 "2024-09-18T21:56:50Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > What do they do with coyotes? I don’t know about real coyotes, but when my parents’ dog chased one, it would run just fast enough to stay ahead of it, then fly up into a bush just out of the dog’s reach. It would taunt him mercilessly. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-to-see-a-predator-catch-and-kill-its-natural-prey-in-the-wild/1007351/85 "2024-09-19T00:13:06Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > What do they do with coyotes? Cause them to unwittingly run off the edge of a cliff. Then, upon looking down, plummet to their doom. Often followed by an anvil. RRs are _very_ tricky birds. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-to-see-a-predator-catch-and-kill-its-natural-prey-in-the-wild/1007351/86 "2024-09-19T01:20:05Z")
From Acme Anvil. Of course. How did RR get them delivered all the way out there? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-to-see-a-predator-catch-and-kill-its-natural-prey-in-the-wild/1007351/87 "2024-09-19T01:27:59Z")
I had never previously heard of a lechwe. It’s a species of antelope. Someone posted a picture on a local Facebook page of a bald eagle carrying off a squirrel, and got so much flack for it, they had to take the picture down. A squirrel, a fish - to the eagle, it’s dinner. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-to-see-a-predator-catch-and-kill-its-natural-prey-in-the-wild/1007351/88 "2024-09-19T01:30:35Z")
If it gives you any “comfort”, female hyenas have a pseudopenis instead of a vagina, and about 15% of them die giving birth to their first litters. The way a Komodo dragon takes its prey down is pretty freaky, too. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-to-see-a-predator-catch-and-kill-its-natural-prey-in-the-wild/1007351/89 "2024-09-19T11:54:12Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I had never previously heard of a lechwe. It’s a species of antelope. There are a lot of them. On safari, we would often just call them “DLTs” (Deer-Like-Things) as they were everywhere. But it’s interesting how quickly you can learn the names of most of what you see. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-to-see-a-predator-catch-and-kill-its-natural-prey-in-the-wild/1007351/90 "2024-09-19T13:41:10Z")
I mean I don’t think it would but it’s not a logical thing is it ? When I’ve seen a small animal caught by a predator it’s not bugged me at all, but I’ve never seen a large predator take down prey IRL. I can see how it might be disturbing ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-to-see-a-predator-catch-and-kill-its-natural-prey-in-the-wild/1007351/91 "2024-09-19T17:16:26Z")
Yes, it would absolutely bother me. Doesn’t matter a whit to me if it’s natural. Lots of things are natural, doesn’t mean I want to witness them. Knowing this, I don’t think I’d ever go on such an adventure but if I did, I’d definitely turn my head. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2024, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-to-see-a-predator-catch-and-kill-its-natural-prey-in-the-wild/1007351/92 "2024-09-20T06:53:11Z")
In Hwange (Zimbabwe) I saw a wildebeest give birth. The calf plopped out, shook itself up on its legs, and was promptly killed by three lionesses. Then they took down the mother. Nature is tough. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2024, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-to-see-a-predator-catch-and-kill-its-natural-prey-in-the-wild/1007351/93 "2024-09-20T11:24:46Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > The same guy had been on a drive the previous day, in which we say lions lifting their gore-laden faces from 2 separate kills. That didn’t seem to bother him… I get that. I once saw a photo montage of a pair of guys slaughtering a hog. And the pictures where the hog realized it was about to die and was terrified were upsetting. The photos of butchering the dead hog didn’t bother me. But the ones that captured the pain and suffering of the live hog did. So i don’t know how ugly the death you observed was, but maybe it would have bothered me, maybe it wouldn’t. I would have gone the next day. But I can understand why this guy didn’t want to. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2024, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-to-see-a-predator-catch-and-kill-its-natural-prey-in-the-wild/1007351/94 "2024-09-20T11:26:59Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > I know a lot of people who foster kittens. Do it long enough and eventually one of them **will die** in your house. It’s inevitable, it’s natural, and it’s upsetting every single time. Oh hell yes. 😢 ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2024, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-to-see-a-predator-catch-and-kill-its-natural-prey-in-the-wild/1007351/95 "2024-09-20T11:34:04Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I mean, sure it’s ‘only nature’, bears shit in the woods too; that’s ‘only nature’, but I don’t particularly want to watch a turd being extruded out of a bear in exquisite HD closeup detail. Lol, we have foxes in my back yard this summer, and the first time one was close enough to the house to take a good photo, it squatted just as i clicked the button. I took a great photo of a fox with a turd being extruded. I did not share that photo. I’ve shared other photos of the foxes since then. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2024, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-to-see-a-predator-catch-and-kill-its-natural-prey-in-the-wild/1007351/96 "2024-09-20T19:01:56Z")
I guess I’ll be the weirdo. I admit that I enjoy watching predators in action on nature programs. Birds catching fish, crocodiles attacking wildebeest, killer whales attacking seals, etc., etc. If I got to see a lion take down a gazelle in real life I’d be tickled pink. Or splattered red depending on how close I was to the action. I think I’d still feel some sympathy for the poor gazelle though. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2024, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-to-see-a-predator-catch-and-kill-its-natural-prey-in-the-wild/1007351/97 "2024-09-22T04:31:44Z")
Several years ago, one fine morning, the local eagle-cams “turned on” with the light of day, and an eaglet was missing from the nest. Experts said that most likely, an owl or a hawk carried it off when a parent eagle was not there, and some people were saying, “We need to find that bird, and kill it!” I mean, why? Owls and hawks have to eat, too. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2024, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-to-see-a-predator-catch-and-kill-its-natural-prey-in-the-wild/1007351/98 "2024-09-22T05:51:34Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I took a great photo of a fox with a turd being extruded. Oh, puh-_leeeeze_ share that over in the “Today in nature I saw…” thread. I’m begging you. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2024, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-to-see-a-predator-catch-and-kill-its-natural-prey-in-the-wild/1007351/99 "2024-09-22T12:03:35Z")
I wanted to see it too. 😊 ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2024, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-to-see-a-predator-catch-and-kill-its-natural-prey-in-the-wild/1007351/100 "2024-09-22T12:17:11Z")
I have some photos from Kenya of lions and cheetahs killing and eating prey that I hadn’t looked at in years, but this thread reminded me of them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-to-see-a-predator-catch-and-kill-its-natural-prey-in-the-wild/1007351.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-bother-you-to-see-a-predator-catch-and-kill-its-natural-prey-in-the-wild/1007351.md?page=6)