Ahh, I see. Well, at least we both have dodged Disney's Live Action Remake craze. :D
The animated film is still pretty much my favourite Disney animation, so I have watched it a lot, though not in the last couple years because I seem to have lost my copy.
Animationwise, we see Shenzi & Banzai complain that they're hungry, but nothing that suggests this is a species-wide problem rather than these three in particular being poor hunters. (They definitely fall into the "bungling henchmen" Disney trope, and we see them let a prospective meal escape because they're too busy goofing off.) All the goose-stepping background hyaenas are drawn identically, so no indications there, either, beyond their sheer numbers.
Speaking of those numbers, though... I have a zoology degree, and that definitely shapes my reactions to fictional animal characters. For me "we were hungry before, and now we're hungry again" is pretty much just how I expect a predator's life to go? Predator numbers multiply, prey gets scarce, predators die off, prey becomes abundant, rinse-repeat. The "circle of life" doesn't turn smoothly; it takes sharp course corrections to stay round, and one of those is periods of hunger and population reduction. Coming from a predator, wanting to never be hungry again sounds like a kid wishing they could have chocolate cake every single day forever - it's something that sounds amazing but they don't seriously expect it, and neither would any other animal on the savannah.
If there are a thousand hyaenas marching on the Pridelands, a fair number of them probably are hungry! There's no way their territory could support that many individuals. That sounds like a predator population peak, so prey is probably scarce and there would be heavy pressure toward scavenging or stealing lion kills, and/or changing territory. (We have pretty strong evidence the lions do this; Sarabi is shocked when Scar refuses to follow the herds.) Large numbers of hyaenas entering a new territory and clashing with their most competitive species in response to food scarcity is a pretty natural part of the circle of life, Hamlet subplot aside. :D
...Man, I don't have any lion, Hamlet, Disney, OR hunting icons? That's a bummer.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2019-08-17 06:05 am (UTC)The animated film is still pretty much my favourite Disney animation, so I have watched it a lot, though not in the last couple years because I seem to have lost my copy.
Animationwise, we see Shenzi & Banzai complain that they're hungry, but nothing that suggests this is a species-wide problem rather than these three in particular being poor hunters. (They definitely fall into the "bungling henchmen" Disney trope, and we see them let a prospective meal escape because they're too busy goofing off.) All the goose-stepping background hyaenas are drawn identically, so no indications there, either, beyond their sheer numbers.
Speaking of those numbers, though... I have a zoology degree, and that definitely shapes my reactions to fictional animal characters. For me "we were hungry before, and now we're hungry again" is pretty much just how I expect a predator's life to go? Predator numbers multiply, prey gets scarce, predators die off, prey becomes abundant, rinse-repeat. The "circle of life" doesn't turn smoothly; it takes sharp course corrections to stay round, and one of those is periods of hunger and population reduction. Coming from a predator, wanting to never be hungry again sounds like a kid wishing they could have chocolate cake every single day forever - it's something that sounds amazing but they don't seriously expect it, and neither would any other animal on the savannah.
If there are a thousand hyaenas marching on the Pridelands, a fair number of them probably are hungry! There's no way their territory could support that many individuals. That sounds like a predator population peak, so prey is probably scarce and there would be heavy pressure toward scavenging or stealing lion kills, and/or changing territory. (We have pretty strong evidence the lions do this; Sarabi is shocked when Scar refuses to follow the herds.) Large numbers of hyaenas entering a new territory and clashing with their most competitive species in response to food scarcity is a pretty natural part of the circle of life, Hamlet subplot aside. :D
...Man, I don't have any lion, Hamlet, Disney, OR hunting icons? That's a bummer.