Baby Blues by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott for January 23, 2025

“Nature red in tooth and claw” – Tennyson

Kids when watching a show about Africa: ( ͡ᵔ ͜ʖ ͡ᵔ )

Kids after the first cute animal gets eaten: ( Ŏ艸Ŏ) (๑˃̥̩̥̥̥̥̆ಐ˂̩̩̥̥̩̥̆৭) (✖﹏✖)

Herbivores can be dangerous, too. Especially large ones.

Could have been worse, could have been an animal mating show.

only a lioness caring for her cubs — just like you, Wanda

One would think Hammie would be excited.

Welcome to the real world. I mean really how far are we now removed from nature.

Wild Kingdom1

That’s real life right there, no fake crap like the lion king.

One week later:

“Oh this ‘Watership Down’ movie looks cute. It’s about bunnies!”

Disney has National Geographic. Talk about some brutal film. When the slightly slower animals are caught from behind by the faster ones, well, let’s just say it ain’t pretty.

I can still see a crane’s lifeless eye looking at me from the inside of an alligator’s jaw….

Have to admit I like shows about crocodilians and snakes. Definitely not gentler members of nature. I can live without seeing crocs and gators ambushing meals at water’s edge, though.

Hey! That’s how nature works! Deal with it! Pfft! What a bunch of babies…

Yeah, but when a predator comes for the herbivore, it ends the same way.

Our daughter and her friend both had hamsters. They got a biology lesson when they put them together.

It’s the circle of liiiiifffeee!

What is that behind the couch?

The name of the show was “Cycle of Life – with Blood”!

Was the name of the movie ‘Safari Adventures’?

What snowflakes! We loved Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom when we were children back in the day.

Show ’em one about the Jane Goodall notes on monkey wars and monkey cannibalism. Well, chimps, but we tend to call them all monkeys. Especially the elected ones. Why do we keep electing idiots? But I digress.

Nature is not kind nor is it cruel it is survival. Learn that lesson well.

That which does not kill you is only delaying the inevitable

I’ve got some bad news for you if you think the herbivores are, well, strict in their diets…..and that can include the offspring.

Yes, I have seen some disquieting scenes on Nature Shows. A pack of lions feeding on a water buffalo while it’s still struggling. A bear “playing” with a baby moose. A massive croc taking a wildebeest, trying to get across a river. A lion with its lower jaw torn off. And a real-life scene that will haunt me for the rest of my days, a kitten that had just been run over, but wasn’t dead yet.

On a lighter note, there are also marvelous scenes, like a monkey in a tree peeing on a lion… ☺

I think it prudent that we humans accept that we are NOT always at the top of the food chain.

Remember the arc with the baby meerkats?

We were watching a Disney show with our 3 y.o. and it seemed a little edgy. Then it ended with the evil wizard getting knocked off the top of a castle and being impaled on a spire.

Ever since that scene with the Preying Mantis, Darryl has been afraid of Wanda…..

Of course, the lion king was killed by his own envious brother, and so was Abel…..The more things change, etc.

Watership Down, the movie that will leave kids bothered for life.

Everyone needs to learn about the real world of nature and how it works. It makes one appreciate what you have and how easy we got it.

They’ve learned this lesson so many times that I think the kids are just numb at this point

I grew up watching Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom….no glossing over predatorial behavior back then….

I seem to recall Wren laughing at a nature show where lions caught and were eating an antelope. [Which freaked Darryl out.]

Donkeys are herbivores, but a donkey show is supposed to be pretty disturbing.

to be fair, the predator’s babies gotta eat too!

If you have cats you know that they love to play with whatever it is they catch. I don’t think the MacPhersons have a pet come to think of it…

Yep, let us not forget that while Bambi’s mom was shot by a hunter and died almost instantly, Bambi’s dad was brought down by a pack of wolves who started eating him while he was still alive.

But only one of these is “cruel.”

Sharks apparently don’t qualify.

You know it’s bad when even Hammie is frightened.

For those who haven’t followed “Baby Blues” from the beginning, today’s strip looks like a shout-out to the infamous “Meerkat Massacre Video” arc that began on July 7, 1997. It’s in the archive and well worth another look.

The only difference between a tiger and the cat on your sofa is a few hundred pounds. And tigers don’t purr, they chuff.

What’s with Wren? She used to sit giggling at all the carnage while the rest of the family were fleeing the room. (Never seemed to occur to anyone to just turn it off.)

Roar

Apparently they just learned that Tigers will eat their young.

I recall a time when every nature show included mating season scenes. Do they still do that?

Hammie is aghast? I thought he reveled in gross things.

Well, better they learn it now than when they think they can pet one…just look at the stupid people who try to get close to bison! Or get out of their cars at a lion park! BTW…LOVED Watership Down…Awesome movie!

Reality ain’t always pretty.

Hope they have a bed built for 5, they’re going to need it tonight.

When Manatees Attack