My Lion King Forum

Have anyone noticed that the food chain in the jungle that simba, timone and pumba were liveing in was pretty messed up? Baically before when simba, timone and pumba were liveing there there would have been just bugs and that would have been bad for the jungle's enviroment, so there would have had to been other animals to eat the bugs. So why wern't there any other animals to help keep the foodchain in balence? did other animals used to live there but died? moved away?

if anyone has any ideas, then please respond...

That is factually incorrect. Those insects are very helpful to the jungle's environment. They would assist plant reproduction, cross pollination, soil fertility, sustained forest health, and biodiversity. We don't see much of the jungle, but Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa were the only vertebrae animals that we know of. There were audible bird noises in the background after Nala and Simba finished their fight when she tried to eat Pumbaa so surely, those birds would consume insects lying in the trees. Not to mention, there are predator insects that eat other insects.

EDIT: I do agree with DGFone that most of the insect population would reside either ground level or beneath ground level.

We don't actually see that much of the jungle environment, and from what we did see in the movie, the bug count is not unlike what you will see in real life: not too many bugs outside, but if you know where to look, the ground is literally made of 'em.

When it comes to carnivores, of which Timon and Pumbaa qualify as, bugs count as the main food source by biomass by a large margin, simply by their numbers, and the numbers of animals that eat bugs. You don't see the other animals eating bugs in the movie for the simple reason that they are not needed to be shown. Remember that in the into Circle of Life scene, you do in fact see an ant-eater - an animal that lives at a different part of the world, but a bug eater never the less.

As for what effect Simba would have on eating bug when he wasn't in the jungle eating them before, well, not much. Unless he somehow accidentally ate a critically endangered species of bug, the insect population wouldn't even notice his presence.

is stoopid