La nature, c'est l'horreur
The mason wasp paralyses spiders and feeds them to its larvae, which eat them alive bit by bit. A whole host of insect larvae, laid inside other insects, eat them from the inside out, until they die. Spiders inject a juice that liquefies the insides of their prey so that they can be emptied, like drinking through a straw. Female praying mantises kill and eat males just after mating. Gentle bees kill the males when they have impregnated their queen (who, incidentally, never sees the light of day again for the rest of her life after her nuptial flight). Some snakes choke their prey before swallowing them whole. Crocodiles drown their prey before tearing it up and eating it. Sea gulls hold the heads of juvenile brown gulls underwater to drown them. Many animals, including amphibians, snakes and fish, are poisonous. Like this small, brightly-coloured frog, whose skin secretes a deadly poison as soon as you touch it. Frigatebirds peck at young sea turtles between the time they hatch and the time they enter the sea. Orcas are bloodthirsty animals that attack whales to eat their tongues. Bats carry viruses that cause fatal pandemics in other animals and humans. The food chain implies that the animals at the bottom of the chain are essentially food reserves for the others. Some microbes will kill a healthy human on the spot or slowly. Animal reports are collections of murders, of species among themselves or of other species. Homo sapiens has eliminated all other hominid species. It cannot be said often enough: nature is a horror.