Horrors of Nature: Satan's Zoo on Earth

[Isopod]

Have you ever discovered any animals which as you read about their activities or life cycle, just seemed so horrific that their very nature almost felt like an argument against Divine Creation?
If Satan had a zoo, what kinds of animals from this Earth do you think he would put in it?

 

[BillTre]

I'm not so grossed out by parasites, but some people are.

If your interested, you might want to check out the Parasite rex book for descriptions of a few of them.

There are also some weird fungus things, but they are not animals.

 

[Isopod]

I'm not so grossed out by parasites, but some people are.

If your interested, you might want to check out the Parasite rex book for descriptions of a few of them.

There are also some weird fungus things, but they are not animals.

Actually, I can handle most things (blood, guts, gore- you name it), but parasites? Eurgh ...
(Having said that though, the book you linked does look pretty interesting! Might read it).

I always thought that parasitic wasps are some real horrors of nature.

I think my vote though might go towards Chigoe Fleas; the fleas actually physically bury themselves under people's skin, reproduce and then die, creating horrible infections afterwards. They can really infest people in some parts of the world and they are excruciatingly painful to remove. You can see lots of people getting the fleas removed on Youtube, but I wouldn't recommend it if you're squeemish at all.

 

[BillTre]

I like the parasitic wasps and basically anything that attacks the plants in my garden.
Pests on plants are easily controlled by having a nice wasp hive around.
They don't often sting people. You can get real close to them and their nests to take pictures.

For nasty, there is always the Guinea worms that Jimmy Carter is trying to kill off.

 

[Isopod]

I like the parasitic wasps and basically anything that attacks the plants in my garden.
Pests on plants are easily controlled by having a nice wasp hive around.
They don't often sting people. You can get real close to them and their nests to take pictures.

For nasty, there is always the Guinea worms that Jimmy Carter is trying to kill off.

I respect that they're a part of nature, but I there's not a whole lot that I like about parasitic wasps

The first time I came across anything to do with them was in my mums vegetable garden when I was a little kid. I was walking amongst some really tall artichoke plants when I saw this weird looking caterpillar on a leaf. I really liked caterpillars (a lot of them look really cute IMHO) but on closer inspection, this particular one was in a horrifying state as you could see through its thin green skin loads of writhing grub things inside of it! And even worse, the caterpillar still looked alive!
Nobody had told me about parasitic wasps so I had no idea what I was looking at, but I do remember coming back a couple of days later only to see silk on the caterpillar and things emerging from it like this: https://www.wur.nl/upload/23080bab-... nana on Cotesia cocoon II - Erik Poelman.png and a couple of days after that all that was left was basically a husk.

 

[BillTre]

Sounds cool to me.
There are a lot of these kinds of wasps that are fairly species specific, different species of wasp for a different host insect.
Some will only put a single egg into a caterpillar. The wasp larvae can grow larger that way.

I saw a wildlife type show where a bunch of seals came upon some Mola (very large slow moving fish), ate a few, but bite the fins off the rest so they could herd them around until they wanted to eat them.

 

[Isopod]

Sounds cool to me.
There are a lot of these kinds of wasps that are fairly species specific, different species of wasp for a different host insect.
Some will only put a single egg into a caterpillar. The wasp larvae can grow larger that way.

I saw a wildlife type show where a bunch of seals came upon some Mola (very large slow moving fish), ate a few, but bite the fins off the rest so they could herd them around until they wanted to eat them.

Yeah I have seen footage of Mola Mola getting eaten alive, I feel really bad for them but apparently they can survive some really extreme damage!



Mola Mola eat some very interesting strange animals though (not really "Devils Aquarium" material, but fascinating in their own right), such as Salps:

https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/fisherman-captures-mystery-creature/

 

[PeroK]

Have you ever discovered any animals which as you read about their activities or life cycle, just seemed so horrific that their very nature almost felt like an argument against Divine Creation?
If Satan had a zoo, what kinds of animals from this Earth do you think he would put in it?

The shoebill. The younger smaller chick is only an insurance policy and is allowed to starve to death by its mother. No compassionate god could create such a thing, IMHO.

 

[pinball1970]

I am extremely squeamish and also phobic when it comes to insects, anything with more than 4 legs.

I particularly hate fleas (hence not keen on cats or dogs particularly) and I am terrified of wasps and bees (Melisaphobia, / apisophobia and sphekophobia)

I did not know much about ticks, I thought they were a US thing, anyway I found the recently.

All I can say is poor wallabies and just another reason to adore birds (yes they have fleas too but they are birds!)

 

[256bits]

Have you ever discovered any animals which as you read about their activities or life cycle, just seemed so horrific that their very nature almost felt like an argument against Divine Creation?
If Satan had a zoo, what kinds of animals from this Earth do you think he would put in it?

Here's my opinion.
Satan does have a zoo.
With some horrific things going on, and some amusing things going on.

And he calls it Earth.

 

[DennisN]

I get creeped out a bit by spiders, and there's not much I can do about it . Maybe it's instinctive behavior on my part. I don't have anything against spiders in general.

Regarding "unpleasant" behaviors of animals, the brood parasitism of cuckoos and spider cannibalism in some cases are two examples which may be considered "unpleasant".

 

[wrobel]

what an ugly thread is it

 

[Klystron]

what an ugly thread is it

Yep. Several authors treat humans as parasitic, our cities as saprophytic.

JFTR 'creation' and supernatural creatures are holdover superstitions.

 

[pinball1970]

The shoebill. The younger smaller chick is only an insurance policy and is allowed to starve to death by its mother. No compassionate god could create such a thing, IMHO.

Yes animals are ruthless, they have to be, invest in two offspring equally you could lose them both.
Also the fact that all animals on the planet live at the expense of other organisms is indicative of a ruthless, evil garden rather than an Eden.
Where would viruses and other parasites be without a host?
My favourite example of this is river blindness, a fly with a worm parasite that is infected with a bacteria ALL contribute to the disease in the poor soul who is infected.
Who designed that scenario?

 

[BillTre]

Who designed that scenario?

Don't you be messing with mother nature!

 

[jedishrfu]

Your thread reminded me of these two great songs:

The Devil Made Texas sung by Ed Miller, The Edinburgh Rambler



with lyrics here: https://texascooppower.com/the-devil-made-texas/

and this parody of All Creatures Great and Small by Monty Python

 

[morrobay]

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSd2a8sKa/

 

[morrobay]

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSd2cSmCB/

 

[Isopod]

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSd2a8sKa/

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSd2cSmCB/

Hi Morrobay, cool vids, but can you write a tiny bit of context (even just a video title description) in your TikTok posts please as otherwise they just appear as random non-descript links?

 

[pinball1970]

Before you watch this please remember that the kitten DID recover ok.
It's still pretty horrible though.

 

[pinball1970]

@pinball1970 ,,Can you tell me if links in posts 17&18 show hippo chasing buffalo & crocodile biting tiger.?

Yes. I didn't click on them earlier as there was no text with them. A link with no text can mean a phish

 

[morrobay]

A lion jumping on giraffe. https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSdj8bqoL/

 

[morrobay]

Maybe these folks on the beach were observing the trough preceding the peak of the tidal wave very unfortunately.
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSdj8WeBy/

 

[Isopod]

Just saw this! "Zombie Salmon in October Stillaguamish River Wa":



Everyone is familiar with video footage of beautiful majestic salmon jumping up rivers or dodging mighty bears during the spawning season but what they don't tend to show so much, is the living death that many of the fish experience after spawning (fully matured salmon don't eat and after they spawn, they simply waste away).

"Creek of the Living Dead", like a real-life fish zombie horror movie aquarium.

 

[morrobay]

The rumble in the jungle. https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSdMs3BDB/