Why the stupid curiousity?

[primetime]

The title of this post can refer to MANY, MANY things. But I am only going to refer to one particular topic that has baffled me since the dawn of time. WHY? Why do humans have this strange curiousity to "mingle" with wild and dangerous animals?

Do any of you know that I have an EXCELLENT relationship with all dangerous animals? I mean, we get along great! All the great cats, bears, and my personal favorite, sharks, love me and I love them. You know why? I DON'T FREAKIN MESS WITH THEM! My basic philosophy is this: I don't go to their "house", they don't come to mine. And we have lived in harmony ever since!

Now, I see television shows dedicated to studying these type of predators. I can understand if they're at a safe distance and study them. But to interact with them is simply amazing to me. I mean, I am on the edge of my seat, hoping that the animal attacks the person (usually a man) who decides to "cuddle" with the animal. Just the other day, I saw some guy playing with a PRIDE OF LIONS. Granted, the lions were on a wildlife reserve, but dammit, they are still lions. The guy was kissing them, hugging them, even wrestling with them. Now, why anyone would play wrestle with three MALE lions is beyond me. All it takes is this moron to roll over one of their legs by accident and cause pain, and he will be lion snack.

We have seen Steve Irwin. The man had a great personality and such, but damn, why are you messing with crocodiles and other dangerous stuff? There is nothing wrong with studying these animals from a nice safe distance.

Sharks are one of my favorite animals. They are graceful and their whole body design is cool. But when I see people who want to SWIM WITH GREAT WHITE SHARKS, I am at a loss for words. Nothing wrong with studying great white sharks from like 50 feet away or at least in a shark cage, but to swim with them with no cage, no shark suit, just an aqua lung is just a recipe for disaster. I do not pity the morons who get injured by messing with wild predators.

Remember the Siegfried and Roy tiger incident? People were saying that the tiger went "crazy". In the words of the comedian Chris Rock, "the tiger didn't go crazy! The tiger went tiger! The tiger went crazy when it was riding a bicycle and wearing a Hitler helmet!".

Back to sharks, I hope humans stop killing these animals. Leave them be. They have been around for a jillion years and no one in the ocean had a problem with them until humans showed up. Mankind has a bad habit of going into territories that aren't theirs and taking over.

So, can anyone explain to me why humans have this STUPID curiousity to "cuddle" with dangerous animals?

 

[slacker2114]

So, can anyone explain to me why humans have this STUPID curiousity to "cuddle" with dangerous animals?

It's nature's way of helping destroy some of the weak DNA in the human race.

 

[ParanoidChant]

Ah, you forgot the GRIZZLY MAN

Remember Timothy Treadwell? This guy, for years, would go out into the Alaskan wilderness and mingle with freaking bears. He taped it all, too: there are hours of video footage of him wrestling with and, by and large, peacefully co-existing with these animals. Eventually, the law of averages caught up with the guy and he and his girlfriend were mauled*. Werner Herzog did a fascinating documentary on the guy.

As to your question, my only guess is the combination of the adrenaline rush and a fascination certain people have with certain animals. Its just their passion, and if they're willing to risk their asses for it, go ahead.

As for CUDDLING with wild animals ... that's just dumb.



*It should be noted that the bear that killed Mr. Treadwell and his girlfriend was not a bear he had ever interacted with before. Also, Timothy was staying in the region a lot later in the season than he usually did when the incident occurred, around the time winter begins to set in. It's still dangerous what he did, but my guess would be that if he'd left before then, like he did all those other years, he'd still be at it today ...

 

[Mz Chaos]

It's nature's way of helping destroy some of the weak DNA in the human race.

My thoughts exactly.

I have seen this new reality show "I Was Bitten." To me almost every single one of those incidents were brought on by the person (with the exception of one older gentleman who was putting along in his boat and had an Eagle Ray fly eight feet out of the water and hit him in the chest).

I am all for letting sleeping dogs lie... or letting napping lions sleep... however you want to put it.

 

[kis123]

Three words:

People are idiots!

Insert Darwinian cleansing method here__________

BTW prime, check your PM box!

 

[Dussicar]

I remember hearing in the states about a family that kept a mated pair of tigers in their back yard.

The husband, wife, son and daughter would go out and play with them and cuddle them.

One day, the 11 year old daughter went out to feed them when the male pounced on her and tore her to shreds. There was little left of her remains when she was found.

A wild animal is a wild animal. There is a reason why we have phrases like "you can take the tiger out of the jungle, but not the jungle out of the tiger." This, as far as I'm concerned, applies to ALL wild animals.

And of course we have all heard about the rampaging 200 pound chimp story from last month.

 

[kered]

Three words.....Sigfried and Roy.

 

[Snail Shell]

Poisonous snakes are cute, dammit! 🙂

Snail Shell

 

[Doomed Tickler]

Wild animals are not random killer beasts. If a human can understand and perhaps even speak their bodylanguage and respects their "law and order" than the humans and animals will get along fine.
In most cases where some animal attacks a human, it is always the humans fault.
Most humans forget that in "animal world" the hierarchy(sp?) of a pack is not fix, but can and will fluctuate. If the human is (or wants to be) the "Alpha Male/Female" but gets less "alert" around the pack, some animals will (try) to "get a promotion".Just like humans do in human "packs". If you think your superior is stupid (in animal world "not alert at all times") you try to get rid of him and get a promotion to do better.

I hope I got the correct words for what I wanted to say...

 

[badreligion]

Its human nature to wanna understand things we can't grasp. My guess is some people do it to try to understand how these animals survived for billions of years

 

[ticklishmikey]

To put it simple:
1. The thrill
2. Passion for knowledge. (All humans have it. Some are just stronger than others)

 

[milagros317]

I agree with your philosophy, Primetime. Leave wild animals alone in their habitat and don't invite to live with you. 😀

 

[Sammy Scales]

Yes, Primetime... Its much like our passion... watching NFL players smash into each other. Watching a safety hit a WR coming over the middle on a slant route can be quite fun... especially since you're not the one who just got dinged. That's why you don't see us fans out there playing with the big boys... I'll let Julius Peppers sack another man at full speed, thank you very much! And I'll celebrate the fact that I'm not the dumbass who got in his way...

In much the same way, if some dumbass decides he wants to play with the big boys and wrestle a pride of lions... so be it!!! As a spectator, I'll enjoy the show... relishing in the fact that Darwin is upstairs enjoying the show too... and thinking to himself "This guy didn't read my book, did he?"

 

[Tiger.Lily]

Lolololol Grizzly Man lolololol

 

[Tiger.Lily]

Uh. But. I like cuddly, dangerous things...same as I like cuddly "safe" things. I swam with a dolphin once. That was...amazing. Potentially dangerous but cool nonetheless.

People do stupid, dangerous things all of the time. Why should playing with dangerous animals be any worse than sky diving, playing sports, or driving over the speed limit?

 

[MasterPaladin]

Primetime where what you said was funny as hell it is also very true but there are I think a variety of reasons why, one is Money, the other is Fame, in some cases it's just for the love of animals and a low intelligence level. People need to be aware of darwins theory of evolution survival of the fitest. If a bear is hungry and your not a bear then your dinner same goes with most wild animals. I happen to think Black Panthers are very beautiful animals but I will certainly not go and play with them if thats your pleasure then buy a black cat ahhh thats the domestic kind in case we have any members who like tempting predators. Remember this they didn't earn the name predator by being cute and cuddly.

 

[kis123]

People do stupid, dangerous things all of the time. Why should playing with dangerous animals be any worse than sky diving, playing sports, or driving over the speed limit?

It isn't

 

[lemoncake]

I love sharks, but I don't want to go and find one. that grizzly man documentary was crazy. I think some people always feel more of a connection with animals then with people.

Pretty soon, we won't have to go out and find the animals, they will come to us! did anyone hear about the bobcat that walked into a bar and bit people?
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[primetime]

Thanks for the responses folks! I'm glad I am not the only one who thinks this way too. I guess we will never know the LOGICAL reason as to why people decide to mess with wild predator animals. The only thing I can think of is that people must be completely insane or have a death wish if they want to "interact" with these animals that close. That is why I literally cheer for the animals when they attack stupid humans.

It is different if an animal came to visit a human and attacked an innocent person, but if your dumbass goes TO the animal in it's habitat and YOU decide to interact with it, whatever happens to you, you deserve it.

Euphoricy, there is a major difference between playing sports and cuddling with a great white shark. I really can't understand skydiving either, but that is safer than wrestling a lion. Swimming with dolphins is cool, potentially dangerous, but there is a difference between dolphins and let's say, swimming with alligators. The question is, WHY do people do stupid, dangerous things?

That is why I enjoy the television specials of "When animals attack!". When I see a moron getting attacked because HE decided to mess with the animal, I am really cheering for the animal. Humans.....real funny creatures aren't we?

 

[Laffy Daffy]

Now I'm not exactly the type of person you (primetime in particular, but the rest of the thread seems to have the same general vision in mind) are referring to, but I've definitely always been drawn to wild animals, especially ones that would kill me if I ever came across them in the wild. And while I've never wrestled with a lion or swam with a shark, I think I can relate a little bit to those who are crazy enough to do things like that.


I think a big part of it is the power and the perfection of them. Look at a human being. Great mind, decently strong appendages, can be somewhat fast. Now look at a shark. Is there any animal better suited to rule its environment? Every millimeter of a shark's body is meant to give it advantage over its prey. Comparing a shark's ability to move through the water with a human's ability to move on land is like paper airplanes and f-14s. Or how about a peregrine falcon? In a full dive, a falcon can reach speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour and still have the control to pick off another bird in flight. Take a trip to your local petting zoo and try catching a chicken on foot. Then imagine it was a bird in flight, and you were traveling twice as fast as you ever have in your car.


For me, I guess it's just wanting to get up close to that piece of perfection. I won't disagree that many people are stupid about it, but I definitely understand why they want to do it.