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Dying Like Animals
"Isn't this just great!?! While you waste my time, Earth gets one step closer to being taken over! That's my problem right there! My problem is that the human race seems to want to be destroyed!"
— Dib, Invader Zim

"A person is smart; people are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, and you know it."
— Agent K, Men In Black

"The government wouldn't lie to us!"
— Some naive girl about to get nuked, Alien Vs Predator 2

Some heroes have it rough. Not only do they have to fight The Virus, the alien menace spreading it, and vampire accomplices... but every step of the way, they have to fight everyone else on the planet! People, by and large, think it's Somebody Elses Problem, and that's if they can be bothered to even notice it's a problem. More often than not, humanity at large is Too Dumb To Live, and won't even notice when the villain's Paper Thin Disguise falls off — heck, the villain may be operating openly, without even the slimmest pretense of a Masquerade!

The breakdown of these folks is almost An Aesop in itself:

Delusional and Apathetic
  • Bats: "Nothing's wrong." Bats are so blind nothing can pierce their self imposed Masquerade, no proof is strong enough to reveal the truth of the threat. Even if the threat were to expose themselves with a neat Power Point presentation about their plan, Bats would just ask where the cookies are. They'll take one look at the growing horde of evil Mooks and say it's nothing more than a bunch of dim-witted pranksters.
  • Mice: "They're too powerful, we may as well give up." Mice are downers, often discouraging the hero from even trying to resist the Big Bad for fear of angering them. You can expect mice to be snitches for The Empire.
  • Ostriches: "If we hide/stay out of it, nothing bad will happen — at least, not to us." Ostriches know there's a problem, and that no large group is responding to it, but believe that ignoring it will make it go away. Yeah, tell that to the zombie of old Mrs. Withers.
  • Turtles: "We can outlast 'em easy from here." Similar to Ostriches, except that Turtles know that the enemy will still be after them once they go into hiding. However, they are confident that their infrastructures will hold and will defend them from the threat. It was always there, so they don't think it's their efforts that are going to save them as the Wolves below think. Also, it's their own safety measures they've inherited, not those put in place by the government. If it were the government, that would make them Sheep. (see below) Still, they underestimate The Virus and its capacity for getting to them.
  • Reindeer: "Okay, this may be a problem, but do we really expect these freaks to save us?" Reindeer are more concerned about the heroes being different and making their lives hell for that. Unlike Rudolph, they'll often continue making the hero's life hell after he saves them, because he's "noble" that way and will continue to save them anyways no matter what they do to impair him.
  • Sheep: "The Government is taking care of it. They'll tell us what to do." Sheep know there's a problem, but see no reason not to buy the government line of "it's fine" or do something themselves. Surely that fiend raising The Legions Of Hell can't possibly be a threat to the army. Interestingly, the more of these people there are, the more likely it is that The Government is actively involved in the Evil Plan.
  • Lambs: "The Hero is taking care of it, so I don't have to bother protecting myself or even try to avoid danger. After all, the hero will save me every time." This is particularly subversive in that many heroes seem to prefer it this way.
  • Mules: "Of course this scientific device won't cause the apocalypse!" The scientists who got everyone into the mess in the first place (For Science!), and refused to listen to any people warning them of the apocalyptic risks. Nearly always either the first or last to die, but it's always a Karmic Death at the hands of what they invented. Intelligent book-wise, but stupid when it comes to common sense (basically the polar opposite of Book Dumb).
  • Poodles: "It may be a problem for the commoners, but we are immune. What? It's here? We get out first, you proles!" The Poodles are extremely arrogant people of wealth and status who believe that their assets will protect them. If and when they learn that the disaster does strike them as well, they often consider themselves the first priority to be saved. In most morality works, however, they learn you can't just say Screw The Rules I Have Money.
  • Rooster: Problems? With me around? I'll have this thumped in no time and be back for din — aarrggh!!!! There's a monster there! All talk when the problem's invisible; all cowardice when it's not.
  • Hippos: You want to fight this war? Well, you can do it without me! A powerful force who puts petty grievances over the greater good. If they would just fight, they would be a powerful asset, but since they won't, the battle is needlessly hard
  • Wasps "Why shoud we believe you?" These guys are rarely helpful, and in fact often mistrust the heroes. This often leads to disaster

Self Destructive
  • Boars: "Come on, guys, we can take 'em! Let's get out the torches and pitchforks and we'll finish them off in a matter of minutes!" These are the brave, foolhardy souls who insist on sacrificing themselves for the greater good, even when they don't actually need to, much less help. Their courage may be admirable, but it's sometimes courage of the Dutch variety, and it usually causes them to get in the way of the competent heroes. Not to mention that it's hard to think rationally about how to defeat a Big Bad when you have an army of Boars squealing for his blood.
  • Chickens: "Let's get out of here before it's too late!" Chickens' reaction to the mounting disaster is to try to put as much distance between them and it as they can. Chickens are often as selfish as Wolves, concerned only with their own safety and not with helping others escape. Their escape attempts might fail disastrously — and if they do reach their intended destination, they might find that the disaster got there first.
  • Lemmings: "It's them! It's those terrorists the Benevolent Autocrat warned us of! Get 'em!" Lemmings are a special bunch, not only do they eagerly swallow the same load of bull the Sheep do, but they try as best they can to help the Villain With Good Publicity catch the heroes. While they're less effective than Boars, they nonetheless hamper the hero since he can't very well kill them, but they'll slow him down and maybe get him caught. You can expect any Love Interests the hero develops to have at least one Lemming for a friend and promptly turn him in.
  • Rats: "I'm not sick, it'll all be ok if I keep it quiet." They know they're sick. They know they'll die, and infect or kill their friends if they don't go away or bite the bullet. But they stay quiet and doom them all. Rats make The Virus' work easier by acting as plague carriers, much like rats and fleas during The Black Death in Europe.
  • Wolves: "I said for years they'd come, now they're here! What? Get your own shelter... wait, you're one of them!" Wolves are determined survivors, they not only heeded the Agent Mulder's crazy ramblings but took them as gospel and prepared for the worst. Problem is, they're so paranoid and militant that they're likely to see any other survivors as competition and attack them, or organize with other Wolves into formidable and hostile packs. They usually have something the Heroes need, but are near impossible to convince to help voluntarily. Ironically, these guys are usually among the first to go in any survival-horror situation.
  • Vultures: "These are my corpses to loot! Get your own!" Vultures are a more passive form of Wolf, they're less of a physical threat but will steal anything that isn't nailed down or on fire (and they steal crowbars and fire extinguishers for the things that are), hampering The Drifter and other heroes by stealing his kit when he comes to help. Interestingly, vultures make for pretty good Side Kicks and Morality Pets, since one will inevitably be befriended by the hero after being caught stealing.
  • Bloodhounds: "The Force Five must pay for their crimes!" Bloodhounds are usually well-meaning policemen or detectives who try to capture the heroes. They are unaware that the heroes were either framed or had no choice. Tragic ends are common for bloodhounds.
  • Shrews: "You picked on me, so I want to see you die!" Shrews hold major grudges against at least one of the heroes for some insignificant wrong, real or imagined. However, they go far and beyond a fair punishment, often severly hindering their progress.
  • Racehorses: "We must not attack while they are weak, because that would break our oaths!" These people put virtue before a practical course of action

Opportunistic
  • Weasels: "Get your anti-monster spray!" Weasels are just as scared as Mice, but use the disaster to their benefit. They're the ones selling a gallon of bottled water for $50, cheap "protection from evil" medallions, rainmaking abilities, etc...
  • Foxes: "Both sides are idiots — what an excellent opportunity..." Foxes are somewhat akin to Weasels in seeing the opportunities around. However, not only are they unafraid of the villains, they are savvy and quick enough to play both sides against each other, morality and ideology be damned. A Fox relies on his wits, his speed and his charm to get him through come what may, no matter which side wins — and if neither does, well the Fox will still be on his feet after the dust settles. Unlike most of the others, Foxes can actually be quite useful or even helpful, if you can turn them to your side. Or if the villain betrays them. Or if you can convince them there's more profit in your side winning. Basically, when in a capital-D Disaster, Foxes are your best bet. At least they're smart.
  • Pufferfish: "I know exactly what to do!" Pufferfish take advantage of a disaster to boost their reputation. They are often exposed and/or killed. However, they do harm by drawing attention away from the real hero(es), who can actually help.

Sell Outs
  • Moles: "Trust me, there's nothing to worry about!" The Mole is, of course, the undercover villain who is not only forcing events along the worst possible path, but who is also likely encouraging all the other varieties to live down to their potential.
  • Snakes: "Fight them? Why would I want to do that when they have so much to offer?" Snakes are a special case, they are just as able as the hero of seeing through the villains' ruse... and wholeheartedly support him. Whether it's for power, riches, or kicks, Snakes will join the biggest alpha predator's pack against the hero and help enslave their weaker fellows. In war movies Snakes are the opposite of La Resistance.
  • Jackals: "Finally, we have a strong leader ready to put those malcontents in their place! Where do I sign up?" Jackals are like Lemmings and Snakes, they eagerly collaborate with the villain because they think his campaign of terror and genocide are just causes. Whether it's out of hate, fanaticism, or ignorance, they prefer the villain's despotism to a more benevolent regime. Usually they're harmless once the villain is dethroned, their prejudice only comes out when the bad guys are in power.
  • Frogs: "Sorry, but if I can't get respect from you, maybe I'll get respect from them!" Frogs are often important individuals who turn to evil for reasons that make sense, but hardly justify their actions. Unlike snakes and jackals, they often have a Freudian Excuse

Other
  • Chimeras: "I know he's evil, but he just wants to make the world better; maybe if we hand over the heroes he'll leave us be..." Characters that blend two or more animals of different groups.
  • Termites: "Hey...what's that? OH SHI--" They have little answer for the foe and are very quickly annihilated. The hero couldn't possibly get to them in the nick of time, no matter how much he feels responsible to save them. The option to try saving them may be part of a Sadistic Choice for the distant hero. For the Termites, Failure truly is the only option. Unlike Mice, who realize the enemy is too powerful, Termites don't even get time to figure out that the aardwolf is headed their way. Unlike Bats, they would have noticed if they had time, and would have cared.
  • Spiders: "So you want to investigate the Bukuvu incedent? Fill out these forms and report to the Bureau of Citizen Watchgroups. You should have permission in four to six weeks." Spiders are often flunkies who catch heroes in their "web" of red tape, protocol, and restrictions. They often don't realize how serious the situation is until it's too late.

In short, these are the people that ensure Failure Is The Only Option for the hero. At best, they'll have a too-late epiphany, as their worst fear stares them in the face (and hopefully eats them). More often than not the hero will save them despite themselves. Occasionally he'll toy with just letting the aliens win; then again, maybe the aliens are actually trying to do the galaxy a favor by killing off such a stupid species. Humans Are Bastards, after all.

Often falls into Truth In Television;, especially during wartime, for example, An Enemy of the People, below, was based on a true story.

See also: Apathetic Citizens, Masquerade, Muggles, Paper Thin Disguise. Antonym to Fighting For Survival.

Examples

Anime
  • The farmer and villagers of Samurai Seven are the mousiest people in all of anime, even after the samurai trained them to fight and land a victory. Naturally there was at least one Weasel.
  • A rather literal example of suicidal Boars: the magical boars in Princess Mononoke know they'll die if they make a headlong rush against the human settlement, but do so anyway.
  • The citizens and Navy of the World Government in One Piece are a veritable zoo, mainly Sheep and Lemmings. Early in the series we encounter a Boar (Mayor Boodle, an ordinary old man who has the guts to confront Buggy the Clown and his gang, but is subdued by Luffy before he can get himself killed).
  • The refugees from the Albion arc in Berserk are lemmings, doing whatever the brutal inquisitor Mozgus tells them to so that they don't get devoured by demons. The priest from the village being attacked by trolls later on is both a mouse and a reindeer, believing that the troll attack is a trial sent by God and that all the villagers need to do is pray to survive, and when witch Schierke tries to cast a spell around the church to protect everyone, the priest actually tries to stop her since she's, well, a witch.
  • In the fourth season of Sailor Moon, the villain openly exclaim that people in Tokyo are Bats.
  • In Twentieth Century Boys, virtually the whole world is turned into sheep, except who they rally around is not the true heroes of the story but Magnificent Bastard Friend, who was behind the world-shattering events he pretended to stop in the first place.

Comic Books
  • The Marvel Universe is nearly entirely comprised of Reindeer. J. Jonah Jameson in particular is the patron saint of Reindeer.
  • For a good example of Bats, take a look at any city in any superhero comic. No matter how many bad things happen, the citizens never ever move out, revolt, or take any steps to make the city safer. (We're looking at you, Batman Beyond.)
  • In most incarnations of Superman, the planet Krypton seems to consist entirely of Mules and Bats, with Jor-El silenced and censured not only because they doubt his scientific findings but because they find it offensive he would even suggest that the mighty planet Krypton might explode in the first place.
    • In at least one incarnation, they were Lemmings; they placed all of their trust in a single super-computer, fed with all of the data of Krypton and which thoroughly disagreed with Jor-El's findings. Unfortunately for them, said super-computer was smart enough to realise that organizing the salvation of the Kryptonian people would almost certainly result in it being abandoned to die with the planet, due to lack of time, self-centered enough to consider its own survival as being more important than that of the Kryptonians (after all, as the sum of all the lore of Krypton, it would effectively allow the planet to live on through its own survival), and canny enough to lie to the rulers of Krypton. This computer became Brainiac.

Film
  • The majority of people trapped in the grocery store in The Mist start off as Bats, refusing to believe there are any monsters in the mist. Their refusal results in the first death in the film, and even in the face of this evidence, several people still refuse to admit that there are creatures prowling around outside. Once these Bats leave and the monsters start besieging the store, however, the remaining survivors quickly become Lemmings, listening to the religious zealot's rantings about the apocalypse and try to offer up the few sane people in the store as sacrifices to the creatures outside the store. How was that going to solve anything? By their leader's admission, they were all doomed anyways. As one character points out, as a species we are "inherently insane."
  • Any natural Disaster Movie will invariably have every local official be a willing Ostrich or Bat, valuing the tourist season over The Jor El's expert opinion. Often to the point they'll try to chase him out of town or silence him to avoid the ugly rumor that the volcano/sharks/spiders will kill townspeople.
  • Men In Black: Humans are "dumb, panicky, dangerous animals", or Bats, for the purpose of our little list. Those that do actually see are either reindeered or neuralyzed back into bathood, or are MIBs themselves.
  • Councilman and Smug Snake Theron in the film version of 300 was a Snake. He collaborated with Xerxes and the Persians to delay and inhibit the deployment of the Spartan army in exchange for gold.
  • The human police and guards in The Matrix can be considered Lemmings, and who can blame them? After all, the human Resistance kills them with impunity and dress like leather-loving terrorists.
  • In V, Donovan's mother is a chimera, combining Sheep, Bat, Mole, Snake and Jackal.
  • Captain Korso, in Titan AE, is a mouse-turned-mole, though he eventually realizes what a prick he's being and tries to redeem himself with a Heroic Sacrifice.
  • In many zombie or alien invasion movies, most non-main humans are either a chimera of boar and mouse, in that they run around screaming alternately in fright or as part a berserker charge (which is especially fun when it's the same person or group of people doing both, usually when they figure out pistols don't beat Death Rays in armored walkers), or as snakes or vultures, using the disaster as an excuse to get money or serve the aliens. Snakes and vultures usually bite it at the end by the heroes or by betrayal, while boars have a 50/50 chance of surviving, dependent entirely upon when they realize pistols don't beat Death Rays. Of particular note was the feeble attempt at resistance attempted in Independence Day. However, they might also take themselves out while trying to get away. Silly humans. No wonder aliens like messing with us. We are to Martians as the Spathi are to us.
    • Zombie movies pretty much always have one Rat, such as Barbara from Shaun of the Dead. Probably the most grating example of a Rat is L.J. from Resident Evil: Extinction, who despite having lived through a zombie apocalypse decides to hide his injury from the other survivors, even as he get increasingly sicker and sicker.
  • The regular citizens in The Incredibles are Reindeer who are Too Dumb To Live... but not to sue. (Although if you don't think that's Truth In Television, you obviously don't get out enough.) They gleefully start filing negligence lawsuits against the Supers for minor injuries sustained in the course of having their lives saved! Talk about biting the hand that saves your life. It really is a miracle that a rogue super villain didn't take the opportunity of heroes being outlawed to work their mischief. (Maybe the authorities are Genre Savvy and use snipers to avoid Joker Immunity? It would explain why Syndrome did all his work by remote control with robots...)
  • Most of the cast of 28 Days Later, being by definition survivor types, manage to avoid these — well, mostly. Selena begins (before taking a step up to badassitude in her own right) as a Wolf of sorts, the first male survivor we meet, Mark would have been a Rat if the infection hadn't been checked by Selena butchering him with a machete and Jim was at first a bit of an ostrich. Most of those offed in the titular 28 days of strife seem to have been unlucky Bats or all too aware and simply too late.
    • 28 Weeks Later, however includes one of the worst plague rats of all time, the moron kid who carries the plague over the English Channel.
      • Well, the kid isn't really to blame, since no one bothered to tell him why they were protecting him in order to spare the "poor" kid of their real motivations. Also, being a movie so deliciously inclined to the cynicism side of the Sliding Scale Of Idealism Versus Cynicism they had to show that Idealism will get the world killed
  • In V For Vendetta, the fascist government of future Britain relies heavily on the essential Sheep/Ostrich nature of humanity in order to keep the population under tight martial control. Slightly subverted as V's actions succeed in inspiring some Boar behavior.
  • I, Robot has half a city's worth of Boars.

Literature
  • Literary example, Older Than Radio: in Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People, the main character attempts to blow the whistle on dangerous contamination of the town baths... and meets with the scorn of everyone from the mayor on down.
  • The Harry Potter series uses off this one pretty heavily:
    • While most Muggles don't really count (they're kept in the dark on purpose), Harry's relatives count as excellent Reindeer.
    • The Order of the Phoenix features the Ostriches in the Ministry of Magic turning the wizarding community into Sheep and Reindeer.
    • The Deathly Hallows sees The End Of The World As We Know It as Wizarding England (a democracy) basically transforms from one much like current England into a Nazi-like police state pretty much openly run by Death Eaters, with Ostriches, Weasels, Mice, and Bats running rampant for weeks after the coup. Slytherin House becomes a bunch of Chimeras (Snakes, Jackals, Mice, and Lemmings), while the other houses are boars. You see, a Death Eater placed a mind-control jinx on some of the elected leaders, and most people, for no apparent reason, continue to trust the Daily Prophet. Mousehood becomes the overriding force in society for the next seventeen or so chapters, to the point where encouraging graffiti glows with phoenix fire by comparison. (Aberforth has convinced himself that he's a Mouse, but this runs totally counter to his actual actions. A real Rick Blaine type, that one.)
    • Dolores Umbridge and caretaker Filch both become Jackals — Umbridge when the Ministry is taken over by Death Eaters, and Filch when Umbridge takes over discipline in Hogwarts.
    • Additionally, a huge bunch of Weasels spring up in the Half-Blood Prince, selling things like cheap talismans and fake protection kits. Mr. Weasley's job on duty is to track down and arrest these Weasels.
  • Left Behind: Mostly the Sheep and Reindeer variety.
  • Mundane people on the Discworld are usually either Sheep (especially in the City Watch and Witches books, where the public always relies on the overworked and underappreciated main characters to save the day, and never have any serious doubt that they can't handle it) or Bats (especially in the Death books, where people just ignore what their brains can't handle, like The Grim Reaper walking around in public). The Sheep metaphor is especially prevalent in the books starring Tiffany Aching, who is both a shepherd's daughter and a witch in training. On the other hand, CMOT Dibbler is a Weasel all the way.
    • In Guards! Guards! pretty much every single one of the above animal-types makes an appearance.
    • The Sheep nature of Discworld citizens was Lampshaded in GURPS Discworld Also, where if ordinary citizens are asked why they haven't investigated large animal corpses floating down the river, they respond "What do we look like? Daft 'eroes? No offense, o'course!"
    • Lampshaded and semi-subverted in Small Gods: The Great and Powerful Om has a rather skewed view of humanity because his first contact with humanity was a shepherd rather than the goatherd in the next valley. As the book says, "Sheep are stupid, and have to be driven. But goats are intelligent, and need to be led."
  • It is stated in the second book of Abarat that everyone actually felt something was going on, but the commoners prefer to ostrich themselves. This is somewhat justified by the fact that who was capable enough to do something has been "put to sleep with the Requiax".
    • Then, Candy's father refuses to be rescued by the Abaratians because they are, in his words, freaks. He refuses to get out of a sinking boat just because they told him to. Reindeer much?
  • In Jim Butcher's Small Favor, Harry Dresden explicitly compares the bulk of humanity to ostriches.
    • However, the supernatural community is well aware that they should not attract the attention of the bulk of humanity, because they'd come down on them like a gigantic angry hornet's nest. Armed with guns, tanks and missiles.
  • The Stephen King novella The Mist contains examples of several of these types. In fact, it could almost be argued that every character in the book embodies one of these.
  • Even older than Ibsen's, Cassandra was the daughter of Priam and Hecuba, the last king and queen of Troy. She was so beautiful Apollo fell in love with her and gifted her with prophetic sight. However, she spurned him, and being the Greek god he was, he cursed her so no one would believe anything she said. So she foretold the whole deal, the problem with Helen and Paris, the siege and fall of Troy, but no one listened. Oops.
  • The premise of nearly every Michael Crichton book is a bunch of scientist Mules.
  • Although The Chronicles Of Narnia are the Trope Namer for many of the animals in Fighting For Survival, the final book presents the creatures falling into the habits of Dying Like Animals. Most of the creatures act like Sheep who are easily herded into the plans of the Calormenes; the Ape Shift is a classic Snake; he tricks the gullible donkey Puzzle into helping him trick the Narnian masses, and the Dwarves deserve a special mention, since they play the role of both Reindeer and Bats at various points in the story.
  • World War Z practically has a catalogue of these:
    • Bats: Widespread denial allows the zombie plague to grow to epidemic proportions.
    • Sheep: Even when it's clear that there's something going on, most people take their Phalanx and wait for someone else to solve the problem.
    • Chickens: The freeway full of stopped cars, in addition to other mass evacuations.
    • Boars: Yonkers. Military strategy included equipping soldiers with flashbangs.
    • Rats: The other major cause of the plague—people constantly deny that they have the plague, and fleeing refugees will often carry around a zombified family member in a box until it breaks out and kills them all.
    • Wolves: The LAMOs.
    • Weasels: The manufacturer of Phalanx, still justifying his actions from his hidden base in Antarctica after he practically caused the apocalypse.
    • Jackals: The quislings.
    • Poodles: The celebrities on Long Island that flaunt all of the supplies that they have and are promptly invaded by a horde of desperate people.
  • Animal Farm uses this literally as part of its allegorical message. While the list isn't identical on all points to that listed here, readers get no prizes for guessing who the sheep are supposed to be...
  • In Hosts, Repairman Jack accuses the surviving subway passengers of being Sheep to their faces, disgusted that he was the only one armed and able to fight back against the spree-killing psycho. By this trope's definitions, they're actually Termites and Chickens, not Sheep; either way, Jack fears that they'll turn into Reindeer if the truth about his "profession" comes out.
  • Percy Jacksonandthe Olympians has quite a few...
    • In Book 1, the furies serve as bloodhounds, we are introduced to plenty of bats and reindeer, Luke turns out to be a Frog, and Ares is a jackal
    • Book 2 features Tantalus the Mouse/Shrew chimera, still more bats, frogs and reindeer, and Clarisse the boar
    • In book three, there are snakes in the form of mortal mercinaries and Nico the shrew
    • In book four, Dadelus is a mouse/shrew/frog chimera.
    • In book five, we have Prometheus the shrew, Clarisse the Hippo, Hades the Hippo/Fox chimera, and Silena Beauregard the mole
  • The comedy book Apocalypse How gives you pointers on how to be the best Vulture you can be in the post-apocalyptic world.

Live Action TV
  • The townsfolk of Sunnydale in Buffy The Vampire Slayer would seem to be a combination of both Ostriches and Bats — it's implied throughout the series that they're aware of the supernatural oddities (and extremely high mortality rate) of their town, but prefer to live in blissful ignorance of the truth of the situation. This attitude has come to be known as Sunnydale Syndrome.
    • Likewise Principal Snyder is a Jackal.
    • Mayor Richard Wilkins III's Back Story has him as a Snake who ascended into Big Bad Boss territory, and from there hopes to ascend into even bigger Snake territory.
  • A particularly bad example is Doctor Who, where most humans remain Bats despite the earth being visibly invaded by aliens several times. Each apparent first contact is quickly dismissed as a hoax or hallucination. This does seem to be slowly changing, over time the Bats are gaining sight — for example a man who openly believes in aliens was elected as Prime Minister and people backed this belief on radio. Mind you, this was part growing belief in aliens, part subliminal suggestion as the PM in question turned out to be the Master.
    • And now the bats ain't blind no more. In "Voyage of the Damned", the people of London have realized that there were alien invaders on the last two Christmas', so London is evacuated in this episode. Ironically, nothing happens. Except a space cruse liner almost crashing into Buckingham Palace.
      • In Torchwood, which takes place in the same continuity, the ongoing Bats joke seems to wobble in and out of favor; the season two opener has a fishheaded alien being chased by MIBs, and an elderly woman just rolls her eyes at it as a typical scene. And yet, one episode later, a character patently insists there are no aliens until she's shown one up close. Of course, she was an alien sleeper agent, so her programming might've turned her into a Bat despite the in-continuity establishment of visible aliens.
      • The episode "Turn Left" had fun with removing the blinders. Because of an alien that feeds off of changes in the timeline and picking the wrong food source, the Doctor dies in "The Runaway Bride". Without the Doctor to end certain threats before they escalated or at least providing plausible denial ability things become much more obvious. It is easier to be a bat when you thought you saw a giant replica of the Titanic falling from the sky than when it actually explodes decimating the southern portion of Great Britain.
  • In the Stargate Atlantis episode "The Hot Zone", a scientist infected by a virus tries to get away, despite quarantine.
  • Lost: At the beginning of the series, Rousseau is very much a Lone Wolf, though she can eventually be convinced to ally with the survivors (but not join their community). The survivors themselves often degenerate into Boar-ishness. Sawyer is a quintessential Vulture — until he becomes nicer and there are no more corpses to rob.
    • That is, the major characters are Boars. The background characters are Lambs who look to Jack or Locke. Sawyer actually replied to Locke's query about what the rest of their group were saying, "Baaaaa. That's the nice thing about Sheep. They're predictable."
  • In Babylon 5, the entire Markab race dies for being a bunch of Ostriches: "Since the plague only kills sinful hedonists, we good and upstanding citizens are perfectly safe." Well, not quite so.

Tabletop Games
  • The World Of Darkness: Humanity as a whole, with a tiny handful of exceptions, are Bats, but not of their own free will. There's a reason the keystone game of the Old World of Darkness was called Vampire: The Masquerade, after all.

Video Games
  • Dead Rising is an obvious example, as it takes place in a zombie-infested shopping mall. The few humans still alive run the gamut of animal types from the turtle survivalists in the gun shop, to the lamb in the Entrance Plaza being pinned down by snipers ("I was waiting for someone strong like you to come sort things out. Lead the way!"), to Doctor Barnaby the mule.
  • The humans in Melody Of Oblivion are either ignorant of the fact that Monsters have invaded — and defeated — humanity, or are complicit in offering children as sacrifices. Children and most adults fall into the former category, with only the leaders of a given area knowing the truth. The existence of the heroes, the Melos Warriors, is completely denied by nearly everyone.
  • The citizens of Alfard in Baten Kaitos are Snakes to a man, as The Empire has trained them in extreme civil pride. They couldn't give a damn about Geldoblame's conquest ambitions, since they themselves are all so well off.
  • The Legend Of Zelda: A Link to the Past includes a few Lemmings in Kakariko Village, when Agahnim takes over Hyrule Castle and blames Zelda's kidnapping on Link. Whenever Link comes within sight of these characters they'll run into their house, lock the door, and call in the soldiers to attack Link. Obviously you can't attack these people even to shut them up. In order to get into their houses and indulge your Kleptomaniac Hero nature, you have to sneak around them.
  • The mayor of Iselia in Tales Of Symphonia is a chimera of mouse and reindeer, though there are a lot of the latter in the game.
    • Also, for most of the game, Zelos is a fox character.
  • The Funny Animal video game Tai Fu: Wrath of the Tiger actually has some of the above categories as literal versions of this trope, specifically the Boars, Snakes, and Rats.
  • Advance Wars: Days of Ruin has a lot of these, with the Mayor being a Reindeer, and Waylon being the biggest goddamn Snake in recent memory.
  • Most of the When They Cry series uses this as one of its big points, showing how everyone Dies Like Animals, until they finally manage to put their strong points to use and Fight For Survival. Both have pretty apparent boars, but Higurashi definitely has more wolves. At least in the first arc of Umineko, chickens factored pretty heavily in the outcome.
  • The town of Toha in Fire Emblem 9 is full of reindeer-lemming chimeras. They turn in the remnants of their country's resistance to the invading nation of Daein to the Daein army because they were working with laguz, or, as the citizens call them, subhumans.
  • In World of Warcraft the Scarlet Crusade in its various incarnations are all wolves... if you're not one of them, you are the scourge. Or if you're not a zombie right now, you will be soon; better to kill you now to prevent it.
  • Mass Effect: The Citadel Council are a charming mixture of Bats, Ostriches, Reindeer and even Lemmings at one point. Udina never actually works for the villains, but is otherwise a classic Snake, while Saren turns out to be a Mouse.
  • In The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, most of Vvardenfell's inhabitants are some combination of Sheep and Reindeer, while certain members of the Temple and House Redoran turn into Lemmings at one point in the main quest. On the other hand, they're also the only ones actively trying to fight the Sixth House, while the other Houses (particularly the Telvanni) are largely Ostriches. The corprus stalkers are Rats, while the Tribunal — who helped create the problem in the first place — are the resident Mules.
  • In Mega Man Star Force 2, Electopia's whole population is basically turned into Mice. At the climax of the story, the lost continent of Mu appears and the Big Bad makes a submit-or-die speech; from that point on, almost every NPC you talk to is scrambling to prove him/herself worthy of membership in the "Neo Mu Empire". There's a plot reason for this, but it's still annoying — who wants to save a bunch of quislings?

Web Original
  • Doctor Horrible actually calls people in Captain Hammer's statue-unveiling ceremony "sheep" and "lemmings": Look at these people, amazing how sheep / 'll show up for the slaughter. / No one condemning you, lined up like lemmings, / you led to the water.
    • Somewhat subverted in that Horrible has no intention of killing them. Captain Hammer, on the other hand...

Western Animation
  • Invader Zim makes a running gag out of how humans are all Bats and Sheep, to the point where the (competent) Invader Tak muses:
    Tak: "The great thing about your people, Dib, is that most of them don't notice. All they see is another faceless corporate venture, not a plan for world conquest.
    Dib: "Wait, is there really a difference?"
    • If that isn't enough, all of Dib and Zim's classmates, who have firsthand evidence of Zim's alien-ness, are all far more interested in being Reindeer about Dib's giant head and obsessive alien/paranormal fixations than Zim's own freakishness (which is far less obnoxious by comparison).
      Dib: My head's not big!
  • The citizens of Townsville in The Power Puff Girls are so accustomed to them that they've all become Lambs. They even have an episode where the girls get so fed up with everyone needing constant babying, that they set out to prove they aren't helpless idiots by taking a break and walking them through defeating the Monster Of The Week. The moral? "We don't need the Powerpuff Girls at all!"
  • Everyone in The Simpsons turns into Vultures as soon as the lights go out. Not one window remains unbroken. Tip: If moving to Springfield, become a glazier.
    • According to the DVD commentary, the writers loved to incite riots in Springfield, often over relatively small events, like a soccer game or a museum opening. The insert for The Simpsons Movie DVD proclaims "Springfield's largest riot ever!"
    • Occasionally they'll all go Boar instead, depending on plot requirements. Usually involves literal torches and pitchforks. "It's bringing love! Don't let it get away." "Break its legs!"
  • The citizens of Ba Sing Se in Avatar The Last Airbender are Mice to their own city government, which forces them to be Ostriches to the Fire Nation war.
    • Eventually lampshaded ("All this time what I thought was a great metropolis was merely a city of fools. And that makes me the king fool.") and partially justified ( the Dai Li are ruthless about keeping the truth under wraps).

Truth In Television
  • Neville "Peace in Our Time" Chamberlain, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the lead-up to World War II, is the Patron Saint of Bats, as his attempts at appeasing Hitler allowed the dictator to run rampant over much of Europe unopposed. In his defense, Chamberlain, like many Europeans, had witnessed World War I as it happened and had good reason to oppose another Great War, but his inaction made the fight that much harder for the Allies.
    • In Chamberlain's defense, there wouldn't have been a lot the British could have done to defend the Sudetenland and it didn't really make much sense for him to start a war to keep people who considered themselves Germans from joining Germany.
    • Another reason for appeasing Hitler was to provide a buffer against the USSR, making Neville something of a Snake as well.
    • However, it's worth mentioning that Chamberlain brought Britain some time to prepare for the war, and it has been argued that this was possibly part of the plan all along.
    • Also a signatory of the Munich Accord, Edouards Daladier knew full well the idiocy of it. "If I had had 4,000 aircraft, Munich would never have happened." He did not, and signed. He was greeted with enthusiasm in Paris, which made him mutter "les cons" loosely translated as "idiots". In his mind they were all bats. Since he knew the problem, said nothing, and signed the accords anyway, that would make him a rat.
  • There's no shortage of Weasels in real-world history — one of the reasons it took so long for the US to intervene in World War II was public disgust with the corporations that profiteered off the US involvement in World War I. And while we're on the subject, let's not leave out American Jackals like Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh, who lauded Hitler — even after he invaded Poland.
  • The French Military policy in 1940 was a good example of a Turtle. They were confident that the formidable Maginot Line of defenses would be impenetrable. Indeed, the Germans never succeeded in breaking through. Instead, they just went through Belgium and Holland, who adhered to an Ostrich policy of keeping out of the fight to avoid provoking Germany, and encircled both the main French Army and the Maginot Line. The shock of the speed of this defeat destroyed French morale, and the French Generals promptly turned into Mice.
  • The American response to Global Warming has so far been a combination of Bat/Sheep behavior, as shown by many, many polls. Can anyone who's read those polls tell me why that is, because I get why?
  • Probably the greatest real-life example of a Bat/Rat Chimera is Typhoid Mary, who was adamant in her refusal to believe that she was a carrier for an infectious disease despite the numerous infections and deaths that occurred at the homes where she worked. She eventually had to be forcibly quarantined.
  • Not to mention the so-called Patient Zero of the AIDS epidemic: a promiscuous male flight attendant who was Patient Zero for North America and Europe. Contrary to popular belief, he was not the first person infected, only the earliest identified in a large pandemic. What made him a Rat was that he still continued his rampant sexual activities and dangerous behaviors knowing he was infected and was spreading it to his partners.
    • Hell, AIDS and HIV managed to spread to pandemic levels largely because people in general acted like bats: first pretending there was no disease, refusing to shut down gay bath houses, refusing to screen blood for the infection, refusing to believe straights could be infected, President's Reagan's refusal to even mention the disease, refusal to acknowledge that it had, or even could, jump from the gay population to the straight population (indeed, it was even originally named GRID, or Gay-Related Immune Deficiency), etc., etc. It's frankly by sheer providence that the spread was somewhat controlled since all of America was acting Too Dumb To Live!
      • Not to mention that the whole GRID thing is almost exclusively American. In 1984 it was shown (by Dr. Robert Gallo, of the Institute of Human Virology) that the virus was the same one as was being researched in France and Africa, which was only slightly more common in gay people. In case you care, there is something of a rivalry between the IHV and Pasteur Labs (Led by virologist Dr. Luc Montagnier) in France over who, exactly, did what first.
      • And then there were some Corrupt Corporate Executive Weasels that, for example, scolded the employees of their pharmaceutical company for using the new, more reliable AIDS test kits to test the blood used for transfusion kits because they produced more positive results than the older tests, causing a greater loss of raw material (and thereby increased manufacturing costs).
      • One of the big problems with the blood supply at the start of the AIDS epidemic was that the gay population had, by and large, traditionally been very loyal as blood donors. Blood banks were worried that, by asking questions like "Are you gay" or "Do you participate in risky behavior X" they were going to offend some of their best donors, thereby driving them away and losing a major source of both blood and income. It's one of those things that, as a business decision, makes sense on some level, just not on any level where the words "decency", "safety", or "basic humanity" appear.
      • I think it's very human - The assumption that yeah, maybe some people will get sick later, but that there are people dying from bloodloss RIGHT NOW. It was really hard to see the span of the disease at the time.
      • Today it's somewhat swung in the opposite direction, with blood and plasma donation centers (and others, including sperm banks, etc.) in the US showing Lemming/Reindeer behavior and refusing to take blood from openly gay/bisexual men. Never mind that heterosexuals — who comprise most HIV sufferers today, are more numerous, and can engage in all the same risky behaviors — aren't subject to the same scrutiny.
      • Especially drug addicts, who aren't turned away from blood donation even though they are the demographic that is most afflicted with HIV. - Well, they certainly are in New York and Illinois. Where are you referring to?
      • Then we can get into the Weasels who hawk homeopathic "cures" for HIV, and even extreme Bats who deny that HIV causes AIDS at all and continue to have unprotected sex. Let's just say that over the history of AIDS a lot of humans have been bastards.
      • The pharmaceutical companies who produce real effective treatments have been pretty weaselish too, holding their patents more important that the lives of millions in Africa and South America who can't afford normal prices. They've relented some, but still....
  • Jesse Ventura has explained this trope on numerous occasions, accusing people of being lemmings.
  • During World War II, the British often used standard envelopes and the public mail system to send secret documents, on the theory that anyone conditioned enough to security procedures would ignore the public mail, since it wasn't "secure". It worked, too.
    • On the other hand, during the Irish War of Independence, a raid on a postal sorting centre by the rebels led to the post for Dublin Castle, then the centre of British administration in Ireland being opened, read and marked "Opened and Censored by the Irish Republic" before being sent on.
      • In East Germany, where a lot of similar postal censorship took place, a common tactic apparently was to send the potentially dangerous messages with postcards, since no-one would bother to read what was on plain sight. Presumably some code words were still used, just in case.
  • Professor James Lovelock is a pretty good example of an Ostrich/Chicken/Wolf Chimera. His solution to global warming is essentially "save yourself, because it's going to kill everyone else. Oh, and save England, too. Which has nothing at all to do with the fact that that's where I live."
  • Real Life Conspiracy Theorists seem to consider everyone else on Earth to be one of these; in their minds, anyone who doesn't buy into their mythology is one of the "sheeple," and the most vocal skeptics, like James Randi and Mark Bunker, are regularly accused of being moles.
    • On the flip side, most people outside their small circle consider them wolves.
  • The Titanic was full of poodles. The First Class passengers were considered first priority to be saved. In fact, the poorest of the passengers were sealed into their quarters to make more room for the wealthy and middle class

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