History Main / PredatorsAreMean

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* Averted with the harmless whale shark; they're the biggest of all sharks, but they're also the gentlest.

This is a subtrope of [[CarnivoreConfusion Carnivore Confusion]]. In fiction, particularly if the prey can talk, carnivores are often AlwaysChaoticEvil, and all the heroes are herbivores. The predator's desire to eat the prey makes the predator a villain, or at least, a DesignatedVillain. If the heroes are mice, for instance, this often means that CatsAreMean. In works involving talking animals, carnivores almost always fail to catch their prey. A lot of times, their prey actually defeats them.

This is by far the most common way to deal with predators in talking animal fiction. This trope has been around for a very long time. It may be one of the [[OldestOnesInTheBook Oldest Ones in the Book]]. It can be a bit of a DarthWiki/WallBanger, since MostWritersAreHuman, and humans are a predatory, ''omnivore'' species. Other problems with this trope include:

* In ''[[TheLandBeforeTime The Land Before Time]]'', carnivorous dinosaurs, [[SomewhereAPalaeontologistIsCrying called Sharpteeth]], are the main villains. In the first movie, a [[TyrannosaurusRex T. rex]] named Sharptooth is the main villain. He is a nearly invincible killing machine, killing huge Apatosauruses twice his size, surviving a 700-foot drop with just a mild coma, and leaping and running effortlessly. He is ultimately dispatched by being tossed into a lake and being hit on the head with a giant rock.
* In ''{{Disney/Tarzan}}'', a leopard[[ViewerGenderConfusion ess]] named Sabor is the main villain. [[spoiler:She is eventually killed by Tarzan when he kills her by impaling her with a knife after an [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome epic]] battle.]]

* {{Dinosaur}}: It might as well be retitled "Predators Are Mean Subtrope: The Movie!" Not one of the meat-eating animals seen onscreen talks. Furthermore, they are each designed to look as scary as possible. Carnotaurs in particular have leering eyes, exaggerated warts and horns, enormously muscular bodies and are blood red.

* Brilliantly handled in ''[[WatershipDown Watership Down]]'', where the the rabbits refer to their multitude of predators as "''u embleer hrair''" - "The Stinking Thousand." The rabbits live in constant fear and hatred of their predators, casting them as demon-like entities in their mythology. But when confronted with the wanton destruction that humans inflict for no comprehensible reason, they acknowledge that their predators only kill because they have to and that they are struggling for survival not unlike themselves.

* [[Dinosaur Disney's Dinosaur]]: It might as well be retitled "Predators Are Mean Subtrope: The Movie!" Not one of the meat-eating animals seen onscreen talks. Furthermore, they are each designed to look as scary as possible. Carnotaurs in particular have leering eyes, exaggerated warts and horns, enormously muscular bodies and are blood red.

* [[Dinosaur Disney's Dinosaur: It might as well be retitled "Predators Are Mean Subtrope: The Movie!" Not one of the meat-eating animals seen onscreen talks. Furthermore, they are each designed to look as scary as possible. Carnotaurs in particular have leering eyes, exaggerated warts and horns, enormously muscular bodies and are blood red.

* Disney's Dinosaur: It might as well be retitled "Predators Are Mean Subtrope: The Movie!" Not one of the meat-eating animals seen onscreen talks. Furthermore, they are each designed to look as scary as possible. Carnotaurs in particular have leering eyes, exaggerated warts and horns, enormously muscular bodies and are blood red.

** Most sharks are harmless in fact.

* Most spiders are harmless too.

This is a subtrope of [[CarnivoreConfusion Carnivore Confusion]]. In fiction, particularly if the prey can talk, carnivores are often AlwaysChaoticEvil, and all the heroes are herbivores. The predator's desire to eat the prey makes the predator a villain, or at least, a DesignatedVillain. If the heroes are mice, for instance, this often means that CatsAreMean. In works involving talking animals, carnivores almost always fail to catch their prey. A lot of times, their prey actually defeats them.

This is by far the most common way to deal with predators in talking animal fiction. This trope has been around for a very long time. It may be one of the [[OldestOnesInTheBook Oldest Ones in the Book]]. It can be a bit of a DarthWiki/WallBanger, since MostWritersAreHuman, and humans are a [[strike:predator]] ''omnivore'' species. Other problems with this trope include:

* The fact that predatory species serve a vital function in nature by keep other animals in check, thus preventing them from over populating and throwing the ecological balance out of whack.
* Such creatures are often carnivorous as a fact of their digestive physiology, and thus you cannot simply expect them to "swear off meat-eating" without them becoming dreadfully ill and eventually dying a horrible, painful death.

Related to this, particularly in {{Xenofiction}}, this can overlap with HumansAreBastards, and maybe even HumansAreCthulhu.

!!!Examples:
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[[folder:Film]]
* In ''[[TheLandBeforeTime The Land Before Time]]'', carnivorous dinosaurs, [[SomewhereAPalaeontologistIsCrying called Sharpteeth]], are the main villains. In the first movie, a [[TyrannosaurusRex T. rex]] named Sharptooth is the main villain. He is a nearly invincible killing machine, killing huge Apatosauruses twice his size, surviving a 700-foot drop with just a mild coma, and leaping and running effortlessly. He is ultimately dispatched by being tossed into a lake and being hit on the head with a giant rock.
* In ''{{Disney/Tarzan}}'', a leopard[[ViewerGenderConfusion ess]] named Sabor is the main villain. [[spoiler:She is eventually killed by Tarzan when he kills her by impaling her with a knife after an [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome epic]] battle.]]
** It helps that the bug-eyed, feral Sabor is [[WhatMeasureIsANonCute not in any way adorable]] and is, quite frankly, a mindless brute.
* Glut the Shark in Disney's ''[[TheLittleMermaid The Little Mermaid]].
* Disney's Dinosaur: It might as well be retitled "Predators Are Mean Subtrope: The Movie!" Not one of the meat-eating animals seen onscreen talks. Furthermore, they are each designed to look as scary as possible. Carnotaurs in particular have leering eyes, exaggerated warts and horns, enormously muscular bodies and are blood red.
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[[folder:Literature]]
* Brilliantly handled in ''[[WatershipDown Watership Down]]'', where the the rabbits refer to their multitude of predators as "''u embleer hrair''" - "The Stinking Thousand." The rabbits live in constant fear and hatred of their predators, casting them as demon-like entities in their mythology. But when confronted with the wanton destruction that humans inflict for no comprehensible reason, they acknowledge that their predators only kill because they have to and that they are struggling for survival not unlike themselves.
* Perhaps one of the most famous examples is ''ThreeLittlePigs''. The villain is a [[BigBadassWolf Big, Bad Wolf]] who huffs, and puffs, and- well, you know the story. Anyways, the three little pigs defeat him at the end of the story. In reality, however, [[DidNotDoTheResearch pigs and wolves are both omnivores, like humans, eating both animal and plant material]].
** This is very well understood in the older version of the story, where the only surviving pig cooks the wolf for dinner.
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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In ''TheLandBeforeTime'' [[{{Sequelitis}} TV Series]], the main villains are, again, carnivorous dinosaurs. Well, at least they get ''names''. The main villain is a T. rex named Red Claw who has two Troodon henchmen named Screech and Thud. Anonymous "[[CallARabbitASmeerp Sharpteeth]]'' also appear in the TV series, including two Acrocanthosauruses and several anonymous Troodons.
* ''DinkTheLittleDinosaur'' is a complete rip-off of ''The Land Before Time'', so it's no wonder that it also has meat-eating dinosaurs as villains. The main villain is, guess what, a T. rex named Tyrannor.
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* In ''[[TheTaleOfDragonfly The Tale of Dragonfly]]'', this trope is refreshingly averted, since the main character, Dragonfly, is a Troodon, which is a carnivorous dinosaur. In fact, Dragonfly and his family kill and eat a herbivorous dinosaur in the book. The primary antagonist of the story, a Daspletosaurus named Blackclaw, is evil because he kills, not for food, but for joy.

* JurassicPark.

* Perhaps one of the most famous examples is ''ThreeLittlePigs''. The villain is a [[BigBadassWolf Big, Bad Wolf]] who huffs, and puffs, and- well, you know the story. Anyways, the three little pigs defeat him at the end of the story. In reality, however, [[DidNotDoTheResearch pigs and wolves are both omnivores, like humans, eating both animal and plant material]].

* Such creatures are often carnivorous as a fact of their gastrointestinal anatomy, and thus cannot simply "swear off meat-eating" without becoming painfully ill and eventually dying a horrible death.

This is by far the most common way to deal with predators in talking animal fiction. This trope has been around for a very long time. It may be one of the [[OldestOnesInTheBook Oldest Ones in the Book]]. It can be a bit of a DarthWiki/WallBanger, since MostWritersAreHuman, and humans are a [[strike:predator]] ''omnivore'' species. Related to this, particularly in {{Xenofiction}}, this can overlap with HumansAreBastards, and maybe even HumansAreCthulhu.

This is by far the most common way to deal with predators in talking animal fiction. This trope has been around for a very long time. It may be one of the [[OldestOnesInTheBook Oldest Ones in the Book]]. It can be a bit of a DarthWiki/WallBanger, since MostWritersAreHuman, and humans are a [[strike:predator]] ''omnivore'' species.

This is by far the most common way to deal with predators in talking animal fiction. This trope has been around for a very long time. It may be one of the [[OldestOnesInTheBook Oldest Ones in the Book]]. It can be a bit of a DarthWiki/WallBanger, since MostWritersAreHuman, and humans are a predator species.

This is by far the most common way to deal with predators in talking animal fiction. This trope has been around for a very long time. It may be one of the [[OldestOnesInTheBook Oldest Ones in the Book]]. It can be a bit of a DarthWiki{{Wallbanger}}, since MostWritersAreHuman, and humans are a predator species.

This is by far the most common way to deal with predators in talking animal fiction. This trope has been around for a very long time. It may be one of the [[OldestOnesInTheBook Oldest Ones in the Book]]. It can be a bit of a {{Wallbanger}}, since MostWritersAreHuman, and humans are a predator species.

* In ''[[TheLandBeforeTime The Land Before Time]]'', carnivorous dinosaurs, [[SomewhereAPalaeontologistIsCrying called Sharpteeth]], are the main villains. In the first movie, a [[TyrannosaurusRex T. rex]] named Sharptooth is the main villain. He is a nearly invincible killing machine, killing huge Apatosauruses twice his size, surviving a 700-foot drop with just a mild coma, and leaping and running effortlessly. he is ultimately dispatched by being tossed into a lake and being hit on the head with a giant rock.

* In ''[[TheLandBeforeTime The Land Before Time]]'', carnivorous dinosaurs, [[SomewhereAPalaeontologistIsCrying called Sharpteeth]], are the main villains. In the first movie, a [[TyrannosaurusRex T. rex]] named Sharptooth is the main villain. He is a nearly invincible killing machine, killing huge Apatosauruses twice his size, surviving a 700-foot drop with just a mild coma, and leaping and running effortlessly.

This is a subtrope of [[CarnivoreConfusion Carnivore Confusion]]. In fiction, carnivores are often AlwaysChaoticEvil, and all the heroes are herbivores. In works involving talking animals, carnivores almost always fail to catch their prey. A lot of times, their prey actually defeats them. This is by far the most common way to deal with predators in talking animal fiction. This trope has been around for a very long time. It may be one of the [[OldestOnesInTheBook Oldest Ones in the Book]].

This can be a bit of a {{Wallbanger}}, since MostWritersAreHuman, and humans are a predator species.

This is a subtrope of [[CarnivoreConfusion Carnivore Confusion]]. In fiction, carnivores are often villains, and all the heroes are herbivores. In works involving talking animals, carnivores almost always fail to catch their prey. A lot of times, their prey actually defeats them. This is by far the most common way to deal with predators in talking animal fiction. This trope has been around for a very long time. It may be one of the [[OldestOnesInTheBook Oldest Ones in the Book]].