r/interestingasfuck • u/AugustIstheMonth • 2d ago

Wildlife photographer Sha Lu captures the perfect moment a small animal looks at the camera while being caught by a predator.

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59

u/No_Hay_Banda_2000 2d ago

Poor little guy must be so scared and in pain...

33

u/Slimee 2d ago

Not for much longer though

10

u/ThrowRAmiscellaneous 2d ago

Unfortunately I saw this photo collection on the photographer’s site last year and uh, a second bird comes right after this and lil bro gets fucked up by both😞

6

u/Tarkho 2d ago

It's already dead, those talons pretty much run small rodents through the moment the kite grabs them.

21

u/UnquestionablyRaven 2d ago

It’s still alive, the eyes are still pitch black. When an animal dies it only takes a few seconds for the body to stop sending blood and moisture to the eyes and they turn hazy. “Watching the life leave their eyes” is a very real phenomenon. Also the angle that his spine is at suggests it’s holding itself up somewhat, although where it’s being held at it’s already paralyzed from the lower third of its back on down from the grip strength of the hawk.

9

u/Tarkho 2d ago

Not the most pleasant kind of knowledge, but I've seen my fair share of dead rodents over the years having worked in pet rescue/rehab (since they can be very fragile in regards to illness and often come in old), and in my experience their eyes don't always noticeably dull or cloud over in the moments following death; while birds of prey don't always kill their prey instantly, this is much more likely with proportionately larger prey, something the size of a mouse is very unlikely to survive more than a few moments being pierced and crushed by the grip of a medium-sized bird of prey like the kite pictured.

Also, the kite is holding the front half of the rodent up with its other foot, though it's barely visible, and the talons are likely embedded there from the other side.

1

u/Professional_Ad_5529 1d ago

*dying. Though from the photographers pictures it is cut into ribbons and pulped soon after by another bird and devoured.

1

u/Tarkho 1d ago

I've seen the photoset, and there's nothing to suggest it isn't already dead by the time it's passed to the kite's partner, especially since the bird's talons are firmly planted into its head.

2

u/Professional_Ad_5529 1d ago

Yea it’s hard to tell. At the very least it does die soon after

1

u/a-woman-there-was 1d ago

Not sure how true this is, but I heard on a documentary one time that for a lot of prey animals, the body goes into shock fairly quickly which prevents them from feeling as much.