A Love-hate History


The fox stood in front of a small wooden door with two polished wooden pillars in between. The door was marked 'grandpa's studyroom' and when the old rabbit opened it, the fox looked amazed at how many bookshelves surrounding a double bed in middle of the squared studyroom. In front of the bed was a coffee table sacked with many books and notepads, and two dark-red synthetic leather armchairs facing towards the bed with the coffee table in the middle.

"Sit, sit," said the old rabbit as he placed the wine glass on the edge of the coffee table.

The fox sat on the old yet comfy armchair, and the smell of musty books reminded him of his school library, which he rarely went there to read.

At first glance, he thought the old rabbit was a bookworm or a book collector, but when he looked behind him, his eyes were focused on a couple of framed certificate hanging on the wall beside the door, especially the one indicating, 'Certificate of Appreciation, Professor Doctor Charlie Hopps, Teaching and course evaluation for the history of Zooland from 1991 to 2000 at Zooland University'

"You're a professor at Zooland University."

"You're one observant fox, Nick," said the professor as he sat down. "Now, are you familiar with the history of Zooland?"

The fox shook his head awkwardly.

"Alright then, I'll keep it simple," said the old rabbit. He reached his notebook on his bed, opened the Zoogle Map app, and showed it to the fox.

"This is the world map of Zooland, or Pangea in terms of geography. I reckon you are no stranger to it, yes?" the fox nodded, "Earth has one big continent, Pangea, but some might argue that Earth has two continents, because Pengea was split into two, with one third of the land up north, and two thirds down south. At the center of Pangea, that's where the two continents connect. But compared to the vast and endless ocean, Pangea is relatively small. It accounts for approximately 10 percent of Earth's surface; the rest is covered in water," the professor paused for a sip of wine and then continued on, "Nevertheless, life began on this small continent, with dinosaurs dominating Earth for many, many years until an asteroid hit Earth, wiping them out. But evolution didn't stop there, small creatures that lived underground survived and evolved into mammals of all breads, prey and predators alike. Back then, it was natural for predators to hunt prey, and it could have stayed that way for millions of years if it weren't for our rabbit ancestors... Do you know why?

The fox shook his head again.

"Our rabbit ancestors were easy prey, back then. When hunted or caught, they screamed and yelled; they weren't particularly dangerous; and they couldn't even fight back, but around 2.8 million years ago, they started to stand upright so that they could see further objects, like predators; then they evolved hands and fingers to make tools and weapons so that they could defend themselves. And after many years of evolution, they were able to fight back; they were superior to all predators because they understood one rule of survival: it was them or us; hunt or be hunted. And as for the predators, they understood that rule as well. Soon enough, predators and prey started to evolve and compete for survival, and eventually, they all stood upright, evolved hands and made weapons to hunt and defend. But that begs the question: millions of years of evolution; predators hunted prey for many years; how did the predators and prey get along?" the professor paused to see if the fox could answer the question.

"We evolved, and moved beyond our primitive savage ways?" answered the fox.

The professor hesitated for a moment to think about what he was going to say, "I'll ask the question from another perspective: why should the predators and prey get along?"

The fox looked at the professor, trying to interpret what he just said.

"The first sign of peace between predators and prey was around 10,000 thousands of years ago. At that time, mammals were hunters and gatherers, living in tribes, scattered all over Pangea. But unlike our ancestors, both predators and prey didn't bother each other that much. Seeing as prey were hard to hunt down, predators changed their main food source to fish catching, and continue to do so for thousands of years; and today as well. But then came Ice Age. It was the harshest and toughest Ice Age of all, so in order to survive the harsh winter, predators and prey migrated to the center of Pangea, where the humid subtropical climate is located—"

"What's a humid—?" questioned the fox.

"A zone that has humid summers and mild to cool winters; you know, Zootopia never snows, right?" replied the professor, "Now where was I... oh yes, now some mammals can hibernate, but others like rabbits, foxes, zebras, tigers can't, and when winter did come to Zootopia," the professor paused for a moment, "Now, it may be sound a bit absurd, but according to cave drawings, predators and prey worked together during ice age: prey caught fishes for predators while predators built camp fires to keep prey warm. So, the question is: why should the predators and prey get along; why didn't the predators eat all the prey that gathered in Zootopia; and why didn't the prey leave the predators to die of starvation during ice age, I mean, if they have done that then they would never have to fear the predators anymore…"

Before the fox could shake his head again, the professor opened his Zoogle Photo app on his notebook, and passed it to the fox, "Take a look at this cave drawing," the fox viewed at the cave drawing on the professor's notebook and saw rabbits surrounding a fox, and to his surprise, they weren't attacking the fox; they were learning from the fox. "According to this cave drawing, you'll see it depicts a fox teaching rabbits how to make fire. Now, because the predators eat meat, they learnt how to make fire and cook food, and as for the prey, they only knew how to farm, so during desperate times, prey did rely on predators for survival, because without them, even their furs couldn't keep them alive. For the first time, they co-existed."

The professor grabbed the notebook back, and searched for another photo, "There's another cave drawing that depicts a tiger shaking a zebra's hand, thanking them. Take a look."

The fox took the professor's notebook and viewed at it. "I saw this in the history museum."

"Ha, I bet you have," the professor smiled as he took back his notebook, "So did Ice Age help them bond a peace, not exactly, I mean, it didn't stop them from hating each other, but it didn't stop them from thanking each other either. And soon after the ice had melted, many went their separate ways, hence dividing into what we modern mammals called, Predators Continent up north and Prey Continent down south," the professor took a sip of red wine, and asked, "So, Nick, where's your hometown?"

"Zootopia?"

"No, what I meant to say, a hometown is where your kind lives or come from, like Bunnyburrow populated mostly with rabbits."

"I'm not sure... We have several hometowns that are populated with foxes. I'll have to ask my family."

"You go ask them, alright? I mean who knows, maybe your parents and their parents and many generations ago, were the predators who stayed and lived alongside the prey."

"Really, Mr. Hopps?"

"Indeed, some tribes, both predators and predators prey, stayed and formed a society where they could coexist; a place called, Zooland Kingdom."

"Not Zootopia?"

"It was the Medieval Age, c'mon, don't you know that?"

The fox shook his head again.

"That's expected, because what I'm about to tell you is undisclosed in school textbook; only taught in Zooland University."

The fox looked skeptical.

"I'm serious, Nick," said the professor, and seeing the fox raised his eyebrows, he asked, "Aright, I have another question for you. Do you know what a chicken is?"

"What's a… chicken, you mean 'don't let the fox guard the chicken coop?'" the fox looked surprised to hear the word 'chicken' as he had heard it from somewhere before, not in history class, but in his everyday conversations.

"I see you have heard the word 'chicken,' but did you know that predators ate chickens thousands of years ago?"

"But I thought chickens are birds, and birds can fly, so how did the predators eat birds from the sky?"

"What? No, chickens couldn't fly, but yes, they were birds. As for other birds, they can fly, and many of them are now living on an island above South Pole. They are considered to be the only uncontacted intelligent animals or lost tribes, and they are likely to remain so," the professor suddenly giggled, "Let me tell you: a few of my colleagues attempted to sail to the bird island so that they could study them, but guess what happened," before the fox could answer, the professor cranked the joke, "the birds were throwing spears and pooping at their ship from the sky! Ha, and when my colleagues returned, they said, 'and I thought they were intelligent species!' Those were some angry birds. "

The professor laughed, and so did the fox.

"Okay, let's not get off topic," said the professor after he took another sip of the red wine, "After Ice Age, animals such as bird-like creatures that laid dormant started to wake up. However, they haven't flown in years, so some decided to stay on the ground. Eventually, they evolved into chickens, birds that couldn't fly, which meant that they were easy prey. Around a few thousand years ago, predators would keep them in henhouses, and as farming got more and more efficient, what we call civilization began. Agriculture gave predators and prey a reliable and predictable food source, which allowed them to hoard food on a large scale for the first time. Farming required mammalpower(manpower), which led to other tribes and communities banding together, the need for organization grew. The more organized predators and prey got, the faster things became efficient. Villages became cities, cities became kingdoms, kingdoms became empires. But as predators' population increased over the medieval centuries, so did the demand for chickens. Many chicken farms became more like a slaughterhouse, in which they supplied about half of predators' food. However, something bad happened…"

"What happened?"

"Seven hundred years ago, there was a devastating pandemic, called the Black Death. The plague was thought to have infected the chickens at first, but it didn't kill the host; chickens acted as transmission, spreading across the entire northern continent and infecting those who consume chicken meat," the professor paused for a second to recall his memory. "Now, you have to understand that half the world's population was predators at that time and medical knowledge and treatments were very out-dated, and the only way to stop the plague from spreading was exterminating predators' own food source," the professor took another sip of red wine and carried on, "Frankly speaking, the predators had to kill all the chickens they could find… It was brutal; it was genocide; but it was necessary for survival. They did leave a few female ones alive so that they could lay eggs and reproduce, but what they didn't know was, if a chicken lays an egg without first mating with a male chicken, we called it a rooster, the egg is not fertilized, meaning it won't hatch, which led to… total extinction. The last chicken died around one thousand years ago."

"Chicken went extinct… because of us?"

"You have to understand: back then, hometowns were kinda like a empire of its own, like Russian bear empire, Chinese panda empire and British rabbit empire. Most of the kingdoms minded their own businesses, and when the plague got out of control, many predator kings were desperately trying to save themselves from being overthrown. But at the end, ironically it was the plague that killed most of them, not the usurpers. Even your king—

"I had a king?" the fox interrupted.

"Ah yes, a wolf king, he was the king of all foxes and wolves. He called himself, 'The King of the North,' but he didn't live for a very long time. Kings were dying like flies at that time, I mean; the Black Death is estimated to have infected 30 to 60 percent of predator's population, resulting in the deaths of an estimated one million, that was half of predators' population at that time. Only a minority of prey were infected since they didn't eat chicken. But the two main factors that stopped the plague from spreading to the southern continent was that chickens were concentrated in the northern continent, and since the center of Pangea was the only way to the southern continent, it acted as a barrier for the plague," the professor took one sip of the wine and continued, "Unfortunately for the predators: they had no leaders; they were starving; but they were not hopeless. Living on an infected continent, they desperately rushed to the southern continent where it was regarded as safe haven. The prey, however, did not want the infected predators roaming around their kingdoms, and were willing to do whatever it would take to stop them from crossing the southern continent, even starting a war… so, in desperate times, would the predators and prey call for desperate measures?" the professor looked at the fox, signaling him to answer, "C'mon, put yourself in their paws (shoes)."

The fox knew this wasn't a test but he was thinking very hard to answer this question, a real situation that had happened before.

"I don't know, I mean, if I were a predator at that time, and I saw my family and friends dying, I would risk my life just to get to safety… And if I were a prey, I guess I would freak out when the plague starts infecting my family?"

"You see, you're caught between a rock and a hard place and so did King Richard—"

"Who's King Richard?"

"Ah, he was a lion ruler of Zooland Kingdom, and as he saw more and more predators seeking refuge in his kingdom, he did two things to solve this outbreak: First, he had to quarantine the infected predators, preventing the plague from spreading into his kingdom. Second, he had to find another food supply for the refugees. The first task wasn't difficult seeing that he was the only hope they got, predators seek his leadership. But the second task was the hardest: predators has to eat high protein food to survive, however, the only food source he had was fishing, and with only a handful of fishing boats docked in his kingdom, he soon seek the southern kings for help, but even if they've agreed to help, fishing was uncommon for prey and they lacked fishing equipment. But not all hope was lost; King Richard finally came to terms with the prey kings that the refugees will remain in Zooland Kingdom, in exchange they came up with a proposal to solve the predators' food source: seeing predators eat high protein foods, they gathered as many pest insects from their farms as possible, and delivered to King Richard—"

"Is that how we change our diet?"

"Well, there weren't many alternatives for the predators to eat, so yes. They could have started eating prey and declaring war, I mean, after the chickens were exterminated, two thirds of the surviving predators were dying from hunger, not from the plague, meaning they would literally die for food, but King Richard prevented that from happening, in which he at least provided them an option, insect food or war. They chose insect over war, which I have to say was a bit gross but very honorable," the professor paused to take a sip of red wine and continued on, "I mean, at the blink of war, King Richard didn't rally the vicious predators to conquer the meek prey's kingdoms; he didn't seek power or riches; he just saw a bigger picture, and so did the prey kings: they saw how deadly a plague can be, going as far as animals extinction, and if they kept on minding their own businesses and isolating others because of hate and racism, another plague could have wiped out the entire mammal race; their vision for Zooland's future was democracy, which meant all mammals are involved in making decisions about their hometowns' affairs instead of kings deciding for them. It made the world more adjustable and flexible in facing catastrophic events; many hometowns opened up their borders, connections between predators and prey exploded which led to opportunities to exchange knowledge, bringing us into Renaissance Era. The Industrial Revolution followed soon after, laying the foundation for our modern world. Today, every hometown consists of one elected mayor, governing their own region for 4 years... and that's it, a brief history of Zooland..."

There was a moment of silence after the professor took one sip of red wine. In the absence of the professor's voice gave the fox time to digest the history.

"Why should the prey help us, I mean, why didn't they leave us to die? They are better off without us in every aspect: they don't have to fear us; they don't have to live with us; and they could be the dominant species left on Earth."

"You're right, that is why I asked a simple question from the very beginning, 'why should the predators and prey get along?' The Ice Age, the Black Death, and even at the blink of world war, these catastrophic events didn't tear us apart. Of course, sometimes we hate each other, sometimes we thank each other, but what kept us from killing each other was the 'love-hate relationship' between us: from ice age where predators had kept prey warm, to Middle Ages where prey had kept predators' from starving—"

"Mr. Hopps, I hate to break it to you but the only relationship I see today, between predators and prey, are racism and discrimination. You saw what Jill and William did to me, and I can tell you that was not what 'love-hate relationship' looks like."

The interruption caused the professor to hesitate. He had been through many lectures and debates between his students but he had never seen a student's brain responding him in a fraction of a second, like the fox didn't have to think and have already came up with many rebuttals, and to the professor surprise, he wasn't even in his class.

"Nick, you have to understand that never before, we mammals lived in a world as sophisticated and engineered to our need as today, giving us the luxury to forget about our nature and not worry about survival. After Medieval Era, we began to forge a society without fear; without worrying that the next day, we have no food to eat; no clothes to keep us warm; no medicine to cure our sickness; we could die tomorrow. All that, GONE! We forged a world where predators and prey could coexist; this coexistence and our relationship is a mixture of mutual reliance and prejudice, and during times of mutual reliance, the light bulb was invented by a predator, the Mona Lisa painting was painted by a prey, the first to circle around the globe and proved that Earth is round, was a predator. The point is: Predators are aggressive while prey are passive, without predators, there wouldn't be ambitious inventions and incredible discovers; without prey, there wouldn't be literacy, art and music; without mutual reliance, we would still be isolating each other, and progress won't be as exponential as it is today."

The professor answered the fox's question, with no sweat at all, but that didn't stop him from questing.

"The medieval part… the chicken extinction. Why aren't we taught in history class?"

"Nick, there're some parts of our history are better off left alone—"

"But isn't learning from our past mistakes the point of studying history?"

"You're right, the history class you took in high school only taught you the good side of our coexistence, The bad side, however, such as animals extinction, would only encourage more hate towards predators, but that doesn't mean it's hidden when you can look up on Zookipedia (Wikipedia), so if you're interested, go check it out, alright?"

"Thanks, Mr. Hopps... I'm sorry I was a bit rude when I questioned you—"

"Oh, that's fine. My students did that all the time, and I'm glad you did, otherwise you won't learn."

"Well, it is never too old to learn, right?"

"Ha! You remind me of one of my student," the professor pass the wine glass to the fox, and said, "Here, a toast to our coexistence, and for not eating us."

The fox kindly yet awkwardly accepted, "a toast… for not eating you..."said the fox, quickly sipping a little red wine, then passed back to the professor.

"I'm 84 years old; this could be my last history lesson, and I'm not planning on teaching my stubborn grandkids!" said the professor and chugged the remaining red wine, finishing it instantly.

"Nick, I want the world to be free from racism but I can't change who we are: you used to eat me and that's enough reason for prey to hate predators; no matter how we prey evolve, we just can't let go of our past history; predators however, they saw a bigger picture; they changed their diets multiple times instead of reverting back to eating us," the professor covered his mouth with his hand and belched discreetly, "I for one respect the predators; I respect your ancestors; I respect you."

The fox could tell that the professor was a bit drunk and emotional. He carefully replied, "Mr. Hopps. I appreciate the brief history lesson you gave me today. I know that prey outnumbered predators 10 to 1 and their opinions matter more than us. But, if I had the power to change who we are, I'll make sure that all of us are one unique dominate species with no race (like humans). Now I know why you helped me—"

Before the fox could finish, the door behind them abruptly barged in a bunny, "Nick, you're here with grandpa?"

The fox turned his head around, and said, "Carrots?"

"I have been looking everywhere for you. It's almost ten-thirty and the last train leaves at eleven," the bunny suddenly turned her attention to his grandpa, and said, "Oh grandpa, how are you?"

"Judy, I'm still alive and well, thank you. Me and Mr. Fox here are talking like civilized mammals, am I right, Mr. Fox?"

The fox nodded.

"Really, Nick? I don't think grandpa here is more… 'boring' than me, so if you like being bored, come with me and I'll 'bore' you even more."

"Okay, grandpa's not that boring…"

The fox rolled his eyes, turning his face towards the professor.

"Mr. Hopps... It was nice chatting with you—"

"Add me on Pawbook (Facebook) and we'll stay in touch."

"Oooooo, grandpa's got a Pawbook..."

"Judy, I added you, don't you know that already?"

"I have at least two thousand friends on my Pawbook—"

"Ha, Carrots, you have at least 3 Pawbook accounts, one of them is for family only, another is for friends only, and the last one is for ZPD—"

"Nick, one more word and I'll delete you."

The professor's eyes bulged a bit after he heard what the silly bunny said, "What do you mean, 'I'll delete you?'"

"Mr. Hopps, what she meant was removing me from her Pawbook friendlist—"

The annoyed bunny grabbed the fox's left arm and pulled him out of grandpa's studyroom, and said, "We have to go now or we'll miss the train! Bye, grandpa!"

"Carrots, hey, okay, okay! I'm coming... Goodnight, Mr. Hopps!"

"Nick, take good care of Judy—" the bunny slammed the door before the professor could finish, "…she's the only bunny living out of our circle…"


I love history. Imagining Zootopia is fun! Even though it's not real, it's still fun to think of those little fluffy cute animals wondering around on the streets, coexisting together. I know, Disney forgot to explain how predators and prey get along, so here I am, writing this story for Zootopia's history. Cheers!