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Forum THE LOUNGE “Watership Down” based on science :)

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    • mango
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        Thought you might find this interesting. Or maybe you already knew this but it was news to me!

        For those of you not familiar with “Watership Down”, its a famous children’s fiction book starring anthropomorphized rabbits. Apparently, it was inspired by a 4 year scientific study of rabbit behavior in their natural habitat underground.

        https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/wild-things/children’s-classic-‘watership-down’-based-real-science


      • LBJ10
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          I loved that book. I disagree though, I don’t consider it a children’s book. People of all ages can enjoy it.


        • Cottontail
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            LBJ – that’s how I feel about Disney. I’ve got quite the collection.


          • LittlePuffyTail
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              I’ve always been tempted to read and/or watch Watership Down but I’ve heard it’s sad and anything about animals dying just makes me bawl.


            • Diamond
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                LPT: I haven’t seen the movie, but the book isn’t too death-heavy. It has some, but the worst happens “off-screen”


              • Eepster
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                  It is absolutely an adult book, not a childrens’ book. It is sad. The movie gave me horrible nightmares as a child.

                  Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great book, for an adult or emotionally mature young adult. It is just marketed as a childrens’ book b/c it is about rabbits, but it deals with complex issues involving god, philosophy and death.


                • Bam
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                    This is very interesting!
                    I agree that Watership Down is not a children’s book though, don’t know why the article would say that. I haven’t seen it or read it though, because Bright Eyes (the Simon and Grafunkel theme song to the movie) makes me cry and I’ve always thought the book would be too sad for me, I can’t read about animals dying or suffering.

                    I’ve seen the BBC series about the Burrowers, it was really good, but I’d no idea such an experiment had been done before with rabbits.

                    I have been wondering about how come I see so many solo wild-rabbits nowadays around my community garden, I’ve been thinking they ought to have a colony but they don’t seem like they do, and I’ve put it down to the myxo-epidemics in later years. But maybe predation is low here and they don’t have to bother building complicated burrow-systems. We have lots of vegetation that rabbits can hide in. I love watching them, there are young ones now and my goodness, they really are crazy cute.


                  • LittlePuffyTail
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                      Yeah, Bam…I saw that video “Bright Eyes” and made me really cry so don’t think I could handle any more than that. My heart is super soft when it comes to animals, especially bunnies.


                    • Sr. Melangell
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                        I’ve seen Watership Down and was quite sad, I’ve never read the book because when it was in our library we could only have one book at a time, I had the Book called Jane Eyre, it was near the end of term so I missed out, but when I was watching Watership Down, my family knew I didn’t like it because I said I didn’t feel well, I was only 7 when I saw it.


                      • LBJ10
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                          I guess I never thought too much about the book being sad. I mean, I guess there are some sad parts but the book has a happy ending for the most part.


                        • Bam
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                            LBJ, maybe I’ll dare read it then =) The song is incredibly sad though and gets me every time. I have read somewhere that the film is sadder than the book or if it was the other way around /


                          • Eepster
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                              Posted By bam on 7/17/2015 3:07 PM

                              LBJ, maybe I’ll dare read it then =) The song is incredibly sad though and gets me every time. I have read somewhere that the film is sadder than the book or if it was the other way around /

                              I’ve both seen the movie and read the book.  There is greater tension and angst in the book, but the movie has more straight forward sadness to it.  It’s hard to really explain without giving away half the plot and describing things that are upsetting.

                              The book feels more worth reading even though it is sad, b/c even though it’s not a light happy read one gets a lot out of it.  Though the movie has some good moments, I don’t think it’s worth having the image that has been stuck in my head since 1978 when I was just 7yo.


                            • LBJ10
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                                Yes, that is more the word for it Eepster. There are definitely some tense, “nail biting” moments.


                              • jerseygirl
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                                  Posted By bam on 7/17/2015 5:36 AM

                                  I’ve seen the BBC series about the Burrowers, it was really good, but I’d no idea such an experiment had been done before with rabbits.

                                  Yeah that was good. I refer to it as “The Buwwowers” just like the presenter


                                • Bam
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                                    Well, now I’m convinced I must read it. I ordered it, will get next week.


                                  • mango
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                                      Interesting that many of you mention it is not a children’s story. I actually haven’t read/seen it since I was a kid and can’t remember much about it other than, yeah, it was a bit heavy. I’ll have to revisit it!


                                    • LittlePuffyTail
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                                        I get upset when reading “Peter Rabbit” and the Mom says “Mr. McGregor put your Dad in a pie”. Always skip that part when I read it to Evi. How traumatizing…


                                      • Bam
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                                          Goodness LPT, I’d skip that part too. How awful. Imagine trying to explain to Evi that Olivia and Bindi could be pie-ingredients. I guess they had rabbit pie for supper all the time back then though.

                                          I skip everything that even hints at the possibility of cruelty to animals may be about to follow in books, films, tv-shows etc. I just leaves me devastated.


                                        • LittlePuffyTail
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                                            Yeah…my husband thinks it’s weird I can sit through slasher horror films without batting an eye but if a dog dies, I shut it off.


                                          • Sr. Melangell
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                                              LPT The story ‘Peter Rabbit.’ is lovely, apart from the Pie bit, but why does Peter’s Mother dress him up in a coat and shoes? How did she tie her Apron round her waist with her paws? Years of practice.


                                            • elliusoopius
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                                                Edit: sorry for the double post, typing on a phone and hit submit instead of moving the cursor.


                                              • elliusoopius
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                                                  I highly recommend this book to everyone. I first read it around age 16, and I don’t consider it a children’s book. I could see reading it to a kid, but I probably wouldn’t recommend it for a kid to read themself younger than 12 or 14. Some things in the book aren’t 100% accurate, and the rabbits are definitely anthropomorphic, but he did a great job giving them their own culture and making them very rabbit like also.
                                                  The book is an epic that has been compared to the oddysey. The violence in the book is vivid, but it’s doesn’t come off like it’s happening to cute little bunnies so much as to dynamic characters.
                                                  The movie seems to play up the action a lot, and it comes off a lot gorier because you actually are seeing a wounded rabbit instead of imagining that a character has sustained an injury.
                                                  I honestly can’t praise this book enough, if you are considering reading it, I promise you won’t be disappointed.

                                                  By the way I think the reason it gets listed as a children’s book a lot is because it started out as a story Richard Adams told his daughters on long car trips, over a period of timeand they liked it so much they eventually convinced him to write it down and get it published. I read that he had a lot of trouble publishing it at first because the main characters are rabbits but it’s too mature of subject matter for the age group that’s usually associated with reading about rabbits.

                                                  When I got my bunny I was able to convince my partner to let me read the entire book to him out loud, after I failed to get him to read it himself several times. At first he was skeptical, but by the end he loved it as much as I do.


                                                • Bam
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                                                    LPT, I’m glad I’m not the only one =)

                                                    Pinky, years of practice would be it. Mothers are wonderful, they’ll do anything for their kids even if they don’t have opposable thumbs to do it with =)

                                                    elliusoopius: that is a wonderful description of the book, can’t wait until I get my hands on it.


                                                  • Bam
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                                                      I just finished reading Watership Down. I’ve been trying to read it slowly, to make it last longer. It’s a lovely book! I cried many times.


                                                    • LBJ10
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                                                        Did you like it then Bam? Is it safe for other people to read?


                                                      • BrunosMama
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                                                          Watership Down is one of my husband and Is favorites. The boom is quite good. There was a sequel I think that focused on Fivers stories and other adventures they had.

                                                          I bawl during Bright Eyes every time! Lol

                                                          I agree, this is not really suited for kids. The movie is kind of depressing, but I still enjoy it.


                                                        • Bam
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                                                            I liked the book so much! Not quite suitable for children because of some vivid descriptions of human cruelty to rabbits though. In the movie I’ve heard one of the leading characters die, so I will never see the movie if I can help it.
                                                            I warmly recommend this book! Maybe even to LPT because I managed to read it without skipping over pages (I do that when there are bad things happening to animals in books).
                                                            I did cry though.


                                                          • BrunosMama
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                                                              Our Hazel is named after Hazel in the story. Hazel Rah.


                                                            • LBJ10
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                                                                Oh good, I was hoping you would like it and not be mad at me for recommending it. LOL

                                                                Did you hear that LPT? You have a go-ahead from Bam.


                                                              • LittlePuffyTail
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                                                                  Nope…..it made Bam cry. Don’t wanna take a chance. Maybe I will get into that children’s series “Bunnicula”.

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                                                              Forum THE LOUNGE “Watership Down” based on science :)