Saturday, November 30, 2013

The Hungry Lion Throws Itself on the Antelope

~ Henri Rousseau, 1905

This is they way the jungle habitat of the lion looked a hundred years ago - or at least, it is the way the artist imagined it to be, based on descriptions of those who had been there, and illustrated books.


This is a delightful short movie about lions, who are as playful as domesticated kittens.  But it is bizarre bordering on freakish that the filmmakers can sit around the campfire chortling at the images their robotic camera has recorded without, apparently, noticing that just about everything other than the lions is dead.  I couldn't watch it without being shocked at how oblivious they are to the bare and fallen trees - even the one that retains some leaves has bark peeling off the trunk.  But then, pollution is killing trees everywhere, and hardly anybody sees it, which is equally unsettling.

 

4 comments:

  1. Hey Gail:

    Yep, people see what they want to see and disregard the rest (paraphrasing Paul Simon). Everyone is so focused on their own little bubble world that they don't even see what's right before their eyes: the environment is disappearing. Ah, the playful humans with their big brains having some fun with the wildlife - "swell."

    Thanks.
    Tom

    ReplyDelete
  2. in fact those fallen branches that bother you, sustain their own part of the ecosystem. The problem lies far more with harvesting that wood for braai (barbeque) wood. The thorn trees are protected. It's summer heat, not pollution that is making the trees pause for thought. As northern trees (in a healthy environment) rest thru the winter.

    ReplyDelete
  3. sorry logged in to the wrong profile.
    https://plus.google.com/u/0/+DianaStuder/posts

    ReplyDelete
  4. I went on safaris in africa in 1999-2000 and the bush was way greener and the lions in much better condition then.

    ReplyDelete

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