Life on Earth II

Who saw Life on Earth a couple of nights back? It showed chimps going to war with another tribe of their own kind, then killing a baby (enemy) chimp and eating it. These particular scenes reminded me of that other shocker a few years back when we were shown chimps hunting down one of another species of monkey and tearing it apart in a tree top – eating it while it was still screaming. What a slap in the face for those twats who talk about war and cruelty being the territory of humans only. And oh how the plonkers who believe in a kind and cuddly Mother Nature must be cringing! Nature, my friends, is not all fluffy bunnies, perfectly integrated ecologies and balance overseen by a benevolent Gaia. It’s a wilderbeast shrieking while a lion eats its guts, it’s parasites boring into living flesh, a starving elephant losing its last teeth and having its trunk torn off by hyenas, it is ebola, ameobic dysentry, flu, leprosy… And we humans are just one other product of nature.

This program also showed a tree falling in the rain forest, and the subsequent growth around that fallen giant. This was very interesting, and rather reminded me of the grass fires witnessed in the previous program. Did the eco-friendly environmentally aware BBC film makers stand around waiting for that tree to fall naturally? Did they buggery: “Hey guys, turn those cameras on – I’m just going for a stroll with my chainsaw.”