It’s just like National Geographic, but at the zoo.
The food chain is part of life. Bigger animals eat smaller animals; carnivores must get their meat supply from somewhere; and at the end of the day, it’s eat or be eaten. Heck, even we humans contribute to the food chain by eating cows, chickens, pigs, and other animals. It might look different than a lion mauling a smaller animal in the wild, but the principle is still the same.
In school, we all learn about where certain animals reside on the food chain and how they contribute to the circle of life. Of course, learning about this and seeing it through a Discovery or National Geographic film is very different than witnessing how the food chain among wild animals works in real life.
Last year, at the Seattle Zoo, kiddos from the viewing tank of the grizzly bear exhibit got a real-life taste of how the food chain works–and boy, were they in shock.
A mother posted a video showing a cute family of ducks landing in the water feature of the bears’ enclosure. The children around the tank are filled with amazement as one of the grizzly bears shows interest in the family. But not a “Hey, look at those cute duckies” interest; it was an “Oh, that looks like a tasty snack” interest.
The bear circles the edge of the water a few times before making the plunge toward the mother duck and her ducklings. Poor things didn’t stand a chance…
The bear easily snags one, plopping it into its mouth for a snack. The ducklings swim away, hoping to escape, but they keep getting plucked one by one by the bear. You hear the kids screaming in shock, and one little girl yells:
“It’s just a baby! They are dying, Mama!”
Yep, that’s life, kid…
At one point, I felt like the bear was saying, “Hey, kids, watch this,” as she kept catching the babies in front of the children. The woman filming seemed to have an outlook that might not be similarly shared with the other parents, noting that her children were not traumatized because they watched David Attenborough documentaries—at least her kids know how the food chain works.
I honestly feel worse for the mother duck, watching her children being eaten in front of her. Life can be brutal…
You already know the comments section on this was a gold mine.
“Bear was like, sweet Uber Eats is here with my nuggets.”
“That bear just changed the trajectory of those children’s lives.”
“I’m picking the bear.”
“Baby ducks are like popcorn shrimp for bears.”
“That poor mama duck.”
“The way it kept getting worse.”
“And then they all had burgers or tuna sammies for lunch.”
“Nature’s peeps.”
“Alexa: Play ‘Circle Of Life.’”
In the zoo’s and bear’s defense, these are educational exhibits, and this bear was putting on quite the demonstration for this group of young kids. They were going to learn eventually…
