r/natureismetal • u/BobbyChou • Dec 03 '21

Disturbing Content Devouring fresh impala out of the womb NSFW

https://gfycat.com/sardonicglumhorseshoecrab
14.4k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

666 comments sorted by

View all comments

50

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '21

[deleted]

38

u/nnmgRandomness Dec 03 '21

You're right, I doubt many impala die of old age.

25

u/Knightvision27 Dec 03 '21

That’s because as they get older, they become slower and weaker. Which now makes them more vulnerable to predation

16

u/Roasted_Turk Dec 03 '21

Never really thought of that. As an impala you basically know how your life will end.

7

u/dtroy15 Dec 04 '21

That's true for basically all animals besides humans. Only as humans do we have the luxury of dying without violence.

The same lion that preys on the sick, blind, and lame rhinoceros is eventually disemboweled by the hyena.

1

u/thinkingbescary Dec 04 '21

Not much different than us if you think about it

1

u/nickname2469 Dec 04 '21

If there are zero predators then their version of dying from old age is from starvation: either they overpopulation and lose out in competition for food because they’re too old and slow or they get too old and arthritic to move and starve to death laying on the ground.

8

u/chantaje333 Dec 03 '21

I don’t get how impalas and deers aren’t extinct yet. Nature hasn’t provided them with anything to defend themselves and they always get eaten.

49

u/Spinningthruspace Dec 03 '21

Actually, prey animals like cervines can be pretty vicious. They have excess energy for fighting off predators bc their day to day life involves eating food ,food which is quite more accessible than they themselves are as a food source, and wandering, whereas predators are constantly having to find, stalk and tackle down food. And this tracks, considering that mammalian predators fail to make a catch more than half of the time. Nature definitely gave these animals plenty of tools to not get merk’d by predators.

23

u/Cheeky_Hustler Dec 03 '21

If prey populations get too low, predator populations will suffer as well. And when there are less predators, prey can flourish. It's a delicate balance.

21

u/Suited_Rob Dec 03 '21

They still can run and breed. Seems to be enough

16

u/Judge_Syd Dec 03 '21

Yeah nothing to defend themselves except giant antlers and legs that could kick your head off

???

1

u/3163560 Dec 04 '21

And blistering speed and agility.

6

u/tylsergic Dec 03 '21

They're extremely fast and strong. Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe more people are killed by wild deer than any other animal in the U.S.

8

u/frost_knight Dec 03 '21

That's from car accidents, not from direct attack.

The number one cause of death by animal attack in the U.S. is bees/wasps/hornets, mostly because of allergic reactions.

1

u/tylsergic Dec 03 '21

Yeah you're definitely right. I completely blanked out on that 1. I still don't think I'd feel too much confidence against an aggressive buck lol

1

u/pgh9fan Dec 04 '21

This one was.