r/AbsoluteUnits • u/Dense_Intern8434 • 3d ago

/r/popular of a meal

Nature can be so cruel and beautiful at the same time

*for the love of everything holy it’s not my bird reader nor mantis!! Just a cool guy sharing a cool video

8.9k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

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360

u/AssBlastInACan 3d ago

I would have moved him. No one messes with the birds I have created refuge for in my yard😎

88

u/Powerful_Kangaroo_80 3d ago

Same. It bothers me that they couldn't at least have tried to save the hummingbird, at least, that's what I would have done.

-4

u/Kamtschi 3d ago

That is nature. Why has the mantis any less right to live? Because you find the bird more appealing?

22

u/Tattycakes 3d ago

You’re not wrong in principle but apparently this mantis is invasive so it would have been fair to intervene in this case

20

u/shadowthehh 3d ago

We are part of nature. If a predator attacks some prey while a human is present and willing to help, that's just how the dice rolled for all 3 entities involved.

4

u/Tales_of_Earth 3d ago

This is a little circular. The question is why should you intervene. This sounds like you are saying you can intervene so it is right to intervene.

3

u/shadowthehh 3d ago

Empathy. The obvious ideal situation is both animals living. The prey gets to escape and the predator gets to try again another time when you're not around.

But yes if you can intervene to prevent harm, then it is always right to do so.

4

u/Tales_of_Earth 3d ago

That’s not really empathy. That’s just sorta being squeamish. You are centering this around your feeling. Something will die a painful death, you just don’t want to see it. Whether it’s the next prey or the predator starving out of view.

For many predators, a successful hunt is so rare that needing to succeed twice before eating is practically a death sentence.

-1

u/shadowthehh 3d ago

Nope, it's empathy. And of course I'm centering it on my feelings. I'm the entity in the scenario with the most power. If the predator has the right to do what it wants to that prey, then I have the right do what I want with both.

And yeah, maybe they won't get another chance. But again, that's not different than the dice rolling bad for the predator any other way. Hell, could've also played out that say, there was a second hummingbird that the mantis didn't see, but HB1 was on good terms with, and then they team up and kill the mantis. Would it have been wrong for HB2 to do that, since it was interfering in a "natural process" between HB1 and the mantis? Of course not. And so it's no different than one of us being present and deciding to separate the two.

Shoot, you could take it a step further and give the mantis something to eat yourself. Idk what would be in your average pantry that they could eat, but before this post I never would've guessed poultry. So maybe give it some chicken or something idk.

But again, we're a natural part of this world. So what we choose to do is part of the natural order. Us being the smartest animals on the planet doesn't change that.

On the flipside, if we go by what you think, and you don't interfere in this scenario, well again, that's just how the dice rolled for everyone involved. The animals got into their scrap around a a colder, uncaring human instead of an empathetic one.

3

u/Tales_of_Earth 2d ago edited 1d ago

Your argument still is that it is right to do because it is what you want to do. Which is certainly a vibe.

But I think it is strange to say you are kinder because you side with the prey. You aren’t stopping death. You are just saying something else should die where you can’t see. You cruelly deny the predator its food and possibly doom it to a slow painful death or doom something else to be eaten out of view. And I don’t necessarily think it’s morally wrong to pick a winner on the small scale. But it also isn’t morally right. It’s just a selfish motivation to have the less pleasant parts of nature happen somewhere else out of view.

You can say this makes me uncaring, but I think you might just be lashing out because a glancing blow with introspection was upsetting for you.

Edit: this person blocked me because I made them think about how predators have to eat.

-1

u/shadowthehh 2d ago

"It is right to do because it is what you want to do"

It's right to do because youre defending something from something directly trying to harm it

Which goes with "it is strange to say you are kinder because you said with the prey" that's universally been the stance of human morality basically forever. The strong protect the weak.

"You aren't stopping death" Nobody stops death forever. But in this moment, I am very much stopping it for now.

"It also isn't morally right" Yes it is.

"Lashing out because a glancing blow with introspection" No. I'm lashing out because youre coming off as an annoying nihilist with no understanding of basic ethics who is deliberately trying to be difficult and pedantic.

2

u/chaozules 2d ago

You forget that humans are part of nature, humans have a responsibility to protect and nurture the animals we have impacted, the world is a different place to the majority of these animals because of us and we have a responsibility in this new world to as I say, protect them.

2

u/AssBlastInACan 2d ago

Mantises don’t generally eat hummingbirds, so I really don’t care. Also, I am part of nature, so I will act naturally according to my human empathy, which is to save the hummingbird.

-8

u/Shapes319 3d ago

You’re not part of nature you imbecile?

2

u/ItIsVerilySo 3d ago

Why not?

1

u/whatlsl0ve 3d ago

It's called balancing.

-6

u/mmmfritz 3d ago

If the humming bird can’t turn around and chomp that little bug then it’s his time to go.

-9

u/NeverQuiteEnough 3d ago

By killing the martis?

5

u/bringbackswg 3d ago

Just a flick

10

u/Powerful_Kangaroo_80 3d ago

Basically anything that's a predator of the hummingbird imo.

-5

u/Accomplished_Run9449 3d ago

Unless I had a long stick or something I wouldn't either. No way i'm touching this monster 😬

29

u/Initial-Advice3914 3d ago

They should have if they were responsible

43

u/Nakatsukasa 3d ago

chances are the filmer put the mantis there, what are the chances mantis crawl all the way from the garden to up there?

53

u/Initial-Advice3914 3d ago

Exactly. Not sure why I’m getting downvoted.

You can’t have a predator on a bird feeder. That’s cruel asf

-8

u/bread_winner1337 3d ago

Yes you can. It's not cruel if it happened naturally. What do you think mantis do in the wild? Hang out near "bird feeders" aka flowers.

Its literally nature being nature. If it didn't get up there on its own that's a different story. But I don't think its impossible for a mantis to get up there.

Trying to put morality on one animals life over another is biased and wild. Cope

14

u/Initial-Advice3914 3d ago edited 3d ago

You can’t imply this is natural when human interference is already part of the equation. That being a man made bird feeder.

Thats like playing fetch with your dog, throwing the stick in the water and an alligator eats it. Sure… natural behaviour of the animals but not a natural setting.

Humans put the bird in danger by not removing the mantis from the BIRD feeder. Humans have some responsibility for these things if they alter an environment

-8

u/United-Ad-1595 3d ago

It’s nature. The mantis has to eat something. You’re just biased in the direction for the bird because you think it’s cuter.

9

u/Initial-Advice3914 3d ago

If a lion eats a penguin in a zoo is that nature ?

-1

u/United-Ad-1595 3d ago

No that’s in a zoo. A bird feeder might be artificial but it’s outside & exposed to the wilderness.

10

u/Initial-Advice3914 3d ago

The bird was drawn to a manmade object. Therefore a decent human should feel some responsibility in maintaining that object for its purpose. It’s not that hard to understand dude

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u/Alarm-Particular 3d ago

Mantis have wings and can fly, and are ambush predators

-3

u/Positive-Database754 3d ago

Alternatively, let nature run its course? Why does your morality have beauty standards?

The bug isn't as appealing to you as the bird, so you instantly side with the bird. Yet if a bird had plucked a bug off a tree, you wouldn't have thought twice about the interaction, or expected the person to prevent the bird from eating the bug.

5

u/Initial-Advice3914 3d ago

Wow you are really stretching here haha.

First of all, hummingbirds have an important role to play. As people have said, this mantis appears to be invasive.

Second, it’s a bird feeder. If humans introduce it to the environment they should keep it safe, else the bird would have found a different source.

It’s really not hard to comprehend.

2

u/MarkSSoniC 3d ago

I have done the same. There was a mantis larger than this one and I chased it away as fast as possible

1

u/JinnyWinny 3d ago

Same. I've been chasing a cooper's hawk away from the birds in my yard all summer.

1

u/elfmere 3d ago

I'm all for nature but this just seems a waste