Poorly chicken

[mostin]

Has anybody been watching this new David Attenborough series??

 

Loved the first part, but I found the second part a bit brutal and upsetting. I know it is real life nature, and that's what really happens, but watching that mother bird pick the strongest baby to feed and let the other die was awful , I was very glad I breed chickens, my girls mother all their chicks indiscriminately and non-stop

 

The worst bit was the filming of the baby elephant dying in the drought. I sobbed for an hour after that

 

Does anybody else get that upset over these things or is it just soppy old me , I notice it was shown at 5 o'clock on a Sunday, way before the watershed. I imagine it is classed as family viewing, but to me it's much more upsetting than a scene in casualty and I would have preferred a warning as I may have skipped that episode.

 

I've done a search on Africa but can't find any other threads on it. If there are and I've missed them, please feel free mods, to add this post on to the end of another thread

[angeluk69]

Hi, me and my children watch it on the Sunday showing as it suits our routine better, and must say that although I found it a tearjerker of an 'episode' this week my 8 yr old daughter just said 'ahh the poor baby elephant' and we heard a lot about it earlier in the week on the radio and tv so we were in effect 'prepared' for what was going to happen. My 12 yr old son, just said 'at least humans don't do that', regarding the birds.

 

I think with any nature program you have to expect it isn't always going to be lovely things and there will be sad things and death.

[The Dogmother]

No, it's not just you Moz; I get upset too.

 

I haven't seen this yet but I'll have a look for it on iplayer.

[rachel19]

I have to say it doesn't really upset me, the strongest survive and the weakest die. Natures way of naturally managing populations to ensure that the strongest continue to breed ensuring the survival of the species. I think its good for people of all ages to realise that the 'Disneyfied' version of nature is unrealistic.

[bluekarin]

I have only watched the first episode with the giraffes battle and the rhino night out. Loved it so far. I do want to watch this latest one, but probably will bawl my eyes out as I love eleflumps. I think David Attenborough is excellent at judging what and how to show what happens in the wild, and it doesn't feel sensationalised. I will watch it tomorrow as am about to go out for lunch at a girl friends house and don't want to be a blubbering mess

[patsylabrador]

I'm useless. I worry about the animals. I give them human qualities. I think they do worry, grieve, get pleasure but not to our extent. Anthropomorphise? I think. Real life is harsh I know and I don't watch programmes that make me feel miserable.

[The Dogmother]

There was an interesting (and related) question on another forum recently; 'do we think that animals show empathy?'

[patsylabrador]

Sorry, slightly off beam but on Twitter I've been watching events in Taiji, Japan. Some of you may have seen the documentary, The Cove.

Every year fishermen trap passing pods of dolphins and small whales. Some of them are taken away for our entertainment but most are slaughtered. The sea turns red. They form close bonds as a pod and I find it hard to believe that it isn't traumatic, that they are just animals. One female trainer was seen throwing a baby dolphin back out to sea to fend for itself which of course it couldn't.

That must be shocking for the surviving ones which are then transported to live in tanks.

I read the articles and look at the dreadful pictures and I do cry.

[Groovychook]

That sounds horrific patsylabrador

 

I can't watch anything like this...

I'm an emotional wreck when I see anything suffering, so I try to avoid the upset.

[Lavenders_Blue]

I find it upsetting too, but agree with rachel19 that it is nature's way of ensuring the survival of the fittest and therefore not upsetting in the same way as the programme patsylabrador describes which is suffering at the hands of humans. That I find very difficult to watch and often end up switching off programmes like that.

Do animals show empathy? Tough question because presumably we are expecting them to show empathy in a human-identifiable way (if that makes sense?). To me that's like asking which animals are intelligent and then measuring by human standards, as far as I am concerned all animals are intelligent but their needs (for intelligence) are different so often they come across as a bit dim (like chickens do ). Animals may well show empathy, but we don't identify it, or vice versa. Sorry, that was a very long winded way of saying that I don't know the answer!

[Christian]

I rarely watch tv but downloaded the Africa series and loved it. On series download via Iplayer, so won't miss any! The baby elephant was sad and very, I was welling up with the baby bird

 

 

Watched 'The Polar Bear Family and me' last night.......! Another great documentary!

[Egluntyne]

I watched the episode on Sunday, and found myself marvelling that there were glaciers and snow in the high peaks on the equator. It was sad about the baby elephant, I agree, but survival of the fittest and all that, and the camera teams can't safely intervene.

[mostin]

I know, I know, it's real wild life *sigh*. I'm just a soppy old mare I think. I do always humanise animals too. But the documentary was also humanising the elephants, that's what made it worse. They were showing shots of the mother looking as if she was choosing between following the heard or staying with her baby. I don't know if that part really happened or not, or if they were just adding a bit for the film, but it made it seem more likely that she would then be grieving for her baby.

 

Patsylabrador, those fishing scenes are awful. You are right, we humans can always make things far worse for animals than anything Mother Nature does.

[Luvachicken]

I love watching all wildlife programs, especially David Attenborough ones.

The programs remind of sunday tea time with family watching them in the old days - that was mostly when then were on then.

I have learnt a lot from all the wildlife programs and sadly they do show real life as it really is.

Some programs do upset me but not often. The two things that stand out for me most although not a wildlife documentary, was Warhorse, and another program I saw where they took away a young goat from it's mum and it cried soooo much. That baby goat really upset me - I don't know why.

 

Elephants do show feelings. They are very caring and I think the mum elephant in question would have been torn between choosing it's baby or family. Elephants do have a very strong family unit.

When an elephant dies within the group they are known to all stand and sniff the body, sometimes they do this for a long time and they can produce tears.

 

Survival of the fittest is what nature is all about, and sadly death happens in nature too.

[soapdragon]

Slightly off thread - apologies - as I havn't seen this but did see Polar Bear Family and Me (also mentioned herein!) and both boys of nearly 5 and just over 8 were curious as to why the second cub had disapeared/not survied. Not upset but I think it was good for them to understand just how things work in the wild and that its not,sadly, all a fairy tale ending.

 

Life can be tough for all species (inc. us!) and I agree with the comment about the Disneyfication of some wildlife programmes. That said I do feel sad watching the harder side of animal life but I suppose that,going back several hundred years, things were not too disimilar for humans!

[Lavenders_Blue]

I'm afraid I got a bit fed up with The Polar Bear Family and Me - especially Gordon Buchanan driving around in that stupid filming cage which attracted the bears over. I see no good reason for encouraging an already hungry bear to come over and investigate what it thinks is a good meal, and then to spend FORTY MINUTES puzzling out how to get through the cage to get at said meal, before having to give up. What a total waste of that poor bear's energy at a time when food is scarce and it needs to conserve as much energy as it can. It made me

[Spinning Top]

I'm loving the Africa series and think it's really well made. Yes, it shows the harsh realitities of life and this can be hard to watch (the baby elephant dying and it's poor Mum's face being a case in point) but for me it emphasises how much crueler humans are....

For wild animals it's survival of the fittest but when I see pictures of elephants being tortured to 'teach' them to paint with their trunks, dolphins being rounded up with the 'best' taken away to live in captivity and the rest slaughtered ..... or even caged chickens, then 'natural selection' seems far less cruel.

[The Dogmother]

I'm loving the Africa series and think it's really well made. Yes, it shows the harsh realitities of life and this can be hard to watch (the baby elephant dying and it's poor Mum's face being a case in point) but for me it emphasises how much crueler humans are....

For wild animals it's survival of the fittest but when I see pictures of elephants being tortured to 'teach' them to paint with their trunks, dolphins being rounded up with the 'best' taken away to live in captivity and the rest slaughtered ..... or even caged chickens, then 'natural selection' seems far less cruel.

 

well said.

[Spinning Top]

Thank you !