Turns out many herbivores are really opportunistic carnivores – they don’t usually seek out meat, but hey, if some’s there, it’d be a shame if it went to waste…
You can readily find videos online of cows, horses, and deer eating birds.
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There are hundreds of at risk and endangered species who are not getting this level of resource expenditure.
Pandas are bullshit, man.
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Wow at this thread, and some of the comments…
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You aren’t wrong, and this is a common complaint among some circles of conservationists as well, but you (and they) are missing the point.
People like pandas. Yes, because they are cute, because they got a lot of good PR, and because they have become a powerful international symbol and source of pride for China. Pretending that money being spent on panda preservation “could be better spent” on preserving some other animal is pretty misguided. There are lots of reasons why we prioritize species for preservation: how threatened they are, how important they are to their ecosystem, their direct or indirect economic impact, and yes: how much people like them. But saying that the latter isn’t a good reason is just insulting the very people you want to support conservation efforts.
As a practical matter, while the captive breeding of pandas certainly gets a lot of press, there is also a huge amount of resources put into habitat preservation/restoration. That also helps preserve entire ecosystems, including other endangered species, not just pandas. This is often true with megafauna preservation efforts. For the most lions, bears, whales, and rhinos aren’t critical species that support their entire ecosystem, but they are powerful symbols for ecosystem preservation, and that is important.
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Well. we can throw you in a cage with a panda and see who the real bullshitter is… MAN.
And look at the picture of the lazy dumbass on the couch channel surfing. How apropos… or maybe that’s your point?
It’s Chuck Palahniuk’s point in Fight Club. The guy on the couch has a safe and comfy little life (as confirmed by success at consumerism) that eventually leads him to existential/spiritual laziness. So the panda sex metaphor is appropriate for the character as well, including a bit of forshadowing to the moment where he even puts a gun to his own head!
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You are far from the only one who thinks this:
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Okay, i had to look Chuck Palahniuk up. I didn’t remember a scene in the movie of the guy placing a gun to his head, but maybe I need to watch it again, or read the book.
Fight Club is on my top 5 list, it’s a great movie but I also identify with the lead character quite a bit… I have been given everything in my life because im nice and Im the “right” skin color, but i have sacrificed very little in effort to attain a life that would be more fulfilling. The themes in the story are like me discovering my home.(Unfortunately there is a small set of entitled bros that have misinterpretted the movie’s message as though women want men to be the dominating alpha type. I still watch Fight Club, but now im a bit more careful about discussing it in front of strangers)
Anyway… merging back towards the topic again…
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The dark secret is that GIANT PANDAS ACTUALLY WENT EXTINCT IN 1975 and the Chinese government has been COVERING IT UP by PAINTING POLAR BEARS whose growth have been stunted by forcing them to survive on an ALL-BAMBOO DIET instead of seals.
#PandaTruth
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OMG dem lil’ toes!
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Evolution does not guarantee survival. Quite the opposite: species that aren’t well adapted die out. Humans have the ability to keep ill-adapted species alive.
Of course humans have also dramatically changed the environment that lots of species had adapted to.
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