Survival of the Fittest

Animals in general are on my 10 least interesting list. I can occasionally go "Awww" at a cute pup or a kitten (as long as they are a mile away from me), but generally tend to stick to landscapes, plants and fellow humans when it comes to appreciating nature. However, this week was different in that there were 2 instances about animals which geared up my thought process.

Battle at Kruger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM

This is one of Youtube's most popular videos, with 5 millionish views as of June that soared to 7.5 million views in July. It was featured in the ABC's "I Caught" videos and is soon to be made into a National Geographic documentary. Its a heroic rescue of a calf (buffalo) caught between the lion and the crocodile by a huuuge herd of buffaloes. Set in the African Savannah, it truly brings alive Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest. Its mind blowing to see the lion look like a kitty kat when its near these giant buffaloes, especially when this buffalo throws a lion with its horns. Pumps up as much adrenaline as a Hollywood nail biter, making us wish for the calf to be saved any minute now.

The Greatest Migration
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1635827,00.html

In an aerial survey of Sudanese natural reserves, Mike Fay and Paul Elken stumbled into a mammoth population of 1.2 million white-eared kob, tiang antelope and Mongalla gazelles in a procession upto 50 miles long. This is considered to be a migration larger than Serengeti's. This area was hidden from the eyes of geographists for about 25 years, coz it was assumed that no species would have survived the civil war in Sudan. Darwinian, my friends!

A colleague got his point across in a hallway debate and on the way out, he made a nonchalant remark lifting his collar - "Survival of the fittest, eh!" Makes me think what a skewed notion we have about the whole survival game. On one hand, we humans are increasing the carbon emissions, worrying about greenhouse gases, melting ice caps and eco friendly transports and still gloating over a great deal we pulled out of a sales rep. There is a silent revolution going on in the unexplored territories where the simpler creations are carving a safe niche for themselves. They survived in a place where the super smart humans spent all their decades killing their kin over a power struggle - 1.2 million wildlife species were parading along the same territory where there were 1.9 million civilian causalties. Do the super complicated gray cells make us miss the big picture?