History Main / PredatorsAreMean

This is a common way to deal with predators in talking animal fiction like WorldOfMammals or WorldOfFunnyAnimals. This trope may be one of TheOldestOnesInTheBook, despite predators serving a vital ecological role (no apex predators=too many herbivores=ecosystem completely collapses), or needing to eat meat to live. On the other hand, to the mouse, what the owl is like inside isn't as relevant as that it's trying to eat you. When the story focuses on a prey animal, there's not a lot of ways to keep predators from being monstrous. SapientEatSapient is a justified case of this, since there are sapient predators that know what they are doing and sapient prey that has a right to live. The more anthropomorphic they are shown to be the more likely they are to overhunt. There are still a few ways to avoid this though, the most famous being with the fish-eating characters who are often spared sympathy thanks to their targets being non-sapient (see NoCartoonFish for more about that trope).

* ''[[https://m.fanfiction.net/s/10639175/ Phineas and Ferb's Dinosaur Adventure]]'' plays with this. In contrast to the herbivorous dinosaurs which are usually peaceful and majestic, but potentially dangerous when threatened, the ''Ceratosaurus'', ''Ornitholestes'', and ''Allosaurus'' are presented as vicious and hostile towards the time-travelling main cast. However, the fic does make it clear that the predatory dinosaurs are only attacking because they are hungry, territorial, or defending their young.

This trope is practically never TruthInTelevision, obviously enough. Very few predators have ever been observed to engage in apparently deliberate cruelty, and herbivores are usually much, ''much'' [[JustForFun/TelevisionIsTryingToKillUs more violent and dangerous than the existence of this trope would suggest]]. After all, if a carnivore loses a fight, it can always run off and catch something easier for dinner, but if a herbivore loses a fight, ''it'' becomes dinner. Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease

Subtrope of GoodAnimalsEvilAnimals and AlwaysChaoticEvil. Often seen in conjunction with CarnivoreConfusion. Can overlap with HumansAreTheRealMonsters, and maybe even HumansAreCthulhu (particularly in {{Xenofiction}}). Goes hand-in-hand with SuperPersistentPredator, HerbivoresAreFriendly, ScavengersAreScum. Contrast PredationIsNatural. In-universe might explain the XenophobicHerbivore. May be one of the reasons why ReptilesAreAbhorrent--note that [[LovableLizard lizards]] and [[WiseOldTurtle turtles]], two groups that include herbivores, get to be protagonists more often than [[SnakesAreSinister snakes]] and [[NeverSmileAtACrocodile crocodilians]], which are all predators. At times some predators appear as a non-anthropomorphic third party in a conflict either because they are the only true animals or because they have no interaction with the established individuals in which case they may be neutral characters just as likely to eat the bad guys- if not more so. Certain predators have their own pages, such as [[FoulFox foxes]], [[SavageWolves wolves]], [[BrutalBirdOfPrey birds of prey]], and [[MaliciousMonitorLizard monitor lizards]].

* ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'', ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeTheMeltdown'', ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeDawnOfTheDinosaurs'' and ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeCollisionCourse'' have carnivores trying to harm or plot against the main cast of mammals.

* ''WebOriginal/HamstersParadise'': While this trope is averted for most of the carnivores on HP-02017, it's played completely straight by the maniacal ripperoo, a highly intelligent theropod-like predatory rodent that [[HadToBeSharp evolved in the harsh Mesoterran Badlands]] and adapted to tear its prey apart and eat it alive due to the lack of features allowing to quickly kill its victims. These factors have caused them to become naturally sadistic and enjoy the act of killing rather than only doing so to stay alive. They aren't any better towards their own kind either, with adult males killing adolescent ones to remove competitors, females eating the young of other females to remove competition for their own and the pups using their weaker siblings for hunting practice, which their mothers encourage. One lineage of theirs [[spoiler: evolves into a sapient species known as the harmster, which are [[AlwaysChaoticEvil just as vicious as their primitive forebears]]]].

* ''WebOriginal/{{Serina}}'':

** A version of this is a central part of the fisher daydreamers' belief system. In their view, hunting intelligent beings for food is morally unacceptable, and one should only subsist on simple-minded creatures such as fish. Consequently, they view the large-prey ecotype cultures, such as pastoralists and whalers, who feed on other large marine birds as being monsters and murderers.

* Brilliantly handled in ''Literature/WatershipDown'', where 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 [[HumansAreCthulhu for no comprehensible reason]], they acknowledge that [[PredationIsNatural their predators only kill because they have to]] and that they are struggling for survival not unlike themselves.

* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'': Predators are likely to attack you on sight while herbivores tend to shy away and get killed. There are exceptions however: Diablos is an extremely aggressive and territorial monster which also happens to be herbivorous. This is played with in ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterWorld'', several monsters of all kinds tend to just ignore you, either doing their own thing or hunting down their regular herbivorous prey. Even certain Elder Dragons like the Kushala Daora and the Kirin, who could be classified as animals above even Apex Predator, tend to mostly disregard your existance unless you decide to attack them. There are exceptions however in naturally extremely aggressive and territorial monsters like the Odogaron, who will roar and attack you on sight as soon as it spots you. Even when they do, however, it's never as a show of malice, in fact most of them see you as a threat rather than prey.

* {{Deconstructed}} and {{Subverted}} in ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}''. The movie takes place in a {{World of Funny Animals}}, where regular mammals have evolved to become intelligent, although [[FantasticRacism prey animals still see predators with these stereotypes in mind.]] These stereotypes are only reaffirmed when [[spoiler: it’s revealed that the predators are going savage and attacking innocent civilians on sight.]] However, it turns out that predators are some of the nicest characters in the film, and that they’re just trying to live their lives like anyone else. [[spoiler: The real reason that they were going savage is because they were being forcefully injected a drug by [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain racist sheep]].]]

* ''Film/JurassicWorld's'' website lists most of its carnivorous dinosaurs, pterosaurs and sea lizard as having high "Aggression Indexes" (in layman's terms, the carnivores have {{Hair Trigger Temper}}s). Plot relevant ones include the infamously carnivorous ''UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex'', long-time villains ''[[RaptorAttack Velociraptor]]'', the fish-eating pterosaur ''[[PteroSoarer Pteranodon]]'' and SHARK-eating sea lizard ''[[SeaMonster Mosasaurus]]''. Given what Jurassic World is like, it's possible that they did this on purpose so the animals could live up to the expectations of the public, as most of these animals would have been relatively docile in real life[[note]]Amusingly, ''Pteranodon'' is the one that would most likely have had a bad temper in reality, though this would have had less to do with it being a carnivore and more to do with it being a polygynous breeder (and all of the park's specimens are female)[[/note]]. In the raptors' case this is consistent with how they were depicted in the previous films and the ''Pteranodon’s'' high aggression level is a plot point in the film, seeing as the saurian BigBad of the film frightens them into a maddened frenzy and sics them on a helicopter that was pursuing her. There are exceptions, though; the fish-eating ''Baryonyx'' and ''Suchomimus'' have a medium Aggression Index, as does the opportunistic pterosaur ''Dimorphodon''. ''Gallimimus'', the one omnivore of the mix, has a low Aggression Index.

* Two evil alligators try to eat the cubs in [[VillainExclusivityClause every episode]] ''WesternAnimation/{{Kissyfur}}''.

** One of the many sequels does give us Chomper, a child Sharptooth who does not attack Littlefoot & co because they raised him for some time after he hatched. He and his parents show up in a later sequel, where they do refrain from eating the protagonists again (although it's implied that if the parents had found them without Chomper around, they would have eaten them anyway. The dad implies that the main reason ''he'' isn't interested is because they were hiding in smelly plants and thus were unappealing).

This trope is practically never TruthInTelevision, obviously enough. Very few predators have ever been observed to engage in apparently deliberate cruelty, and herbivores are usually much, ''much'' [[JustForFun/TelevisionIsTryingToKillUs more violent and dangerous than the existence of this trope would suggest]]. After all, if a carnivore loses a fight, it can always run off and catch something easier for dinner, but if a herbivore loses a fight, ''it'' becomes dinner. NoRealLifeExamplesPlease

This trope is practically never TruthInTelevision, obviously enough. Very few predators have ever been observed to engage in apparently deliberate cruelty, and herbivores are usually much, ''much'' [[JustForFun/TelevisionIsTryingToKillUs more violent and dangerous than the existence of this trope would suggest]]. After all, if a carnivore loses a fight, it can always run off and catch something easier for dinner, but if a herbivore loses a fight, ''it'' becomes dinner. Please do not list RealLife aversions - nature averts this by default, playing it straight is by far the more remarkable.

-->-- '''Mr. Wolf''', ''WesternAnimation/TheBadGuys''

* {{Deconstructed}} in ''[[WesternAnimation/TheBadGuys2022 The Bad Guys]]''. The titular gang is made up entirely of predatory animals who are master criminals feared by all of Los Angeles. But they had spent their whole lives being seen as monsters due to stereotypes about their species, and [[ThenLetMeBeEvil decided to live up to those expectations]]. [[spoiler:Once the leader Mr. Wolf realizes he's unhappy with his criminal life and he can be more than the monster others see him as, he begins to reform, and the rest gradually follow.]]

->''"Oh, I know what it is. You're afraid, because I'm the big bad wolf! Well, I'm not surprised. I'' am ''the villain in every story."''