Damn, Nature! You Scary
"Did I just die by walking into the fucking door!? Yeah! Everything kills you, literally everything."
Okay, so, you're in a Crapsack World. The city's decrepit and corrupt and full of nasty people, and from your standpoint the only safe way out is to head off into the woods and live with the animals... Wait, the animals? They said the animals were even MORE dangerous than the people! Ah well, it's your funeral, I guess.
In many stories with a civilized setting, the wild is often portrayed as a dangerous, untamed place, full of vicious animals and occasionally even dangerous plants. This way, people are urged to stay within the confines of cities and towns, or villages if you're in a fantasy setting. This is hardly the case in many Real Life areas, though - animals actually have more to fear from us than we do from them, courtesy of our ever-expanding civilization encroaching on their space, as well as killing animals for all kinds of reasons, sometimes even for fun. Keep in mind, however, that many animals can still kill a human being if push comes to shove. It's just that they try their best NOT to.
This trope is named after a Crowning Moment of Funny from the Family Guy episode, "Play It Again, Brian", featuring the BET (Black Entertainment Network)'s newest earth science program, Damn, Nature! You Scary. The phrase itself became memetic rather quickly, often used as a response to terrifying reports of natural phenomena. Videos on YouTube featuring animals often have this phrase among their most popular (read: greatest number of thumbs-ups) comments, and the meme has spread very quickly across numerous other websites.
A subtrope of Everything Trying to Kill You. See Darkest Africa for a related trope.
Needs More Examples.
Tabletop Games
- Dungeons & Dragons has an entire bestiary dedicated to the dangerous creatures that may attack you sooner or later. Aside from dragons, of course, we have manticores, harpies, snake-women, werewolves, griffins, and the list goes on and on and ON...
Video Games
- Pokémon. EVERY SINGLE ONE has the potential to kill you if you don't know how to battle them properly. Yes, even the cute widdle ones you may meet at the start of your journey or beyond.
Web Original
- Felarya. A land mostly inhabited by Cute Monster Girls who tend to see human visitors as tasty snacks. Apart from giant sentient predators, said visitors may also be devoured by animals, carnivorous plants, or even gaping mouths in the ground. Or shredded by sharp leaves falling from a tree. Or... The possibilities are many.
Western Animation
- Along with the Trope Namer moment, of course, Family Guy depicts pretty much all of its wild animals as being vicious and dangerous. In one scene, Peter tries to goad an octopus in a fish tank... which promptly breaks, with the octopus attacking Peter as a result.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Two words: EVERFREE. FOREST. More specifically, there are vicious animals and creatures lurking at every corner, and many of them think of ponies as being very tasty. And not even the plants are safe - Poison Joke, anyone?
Real Life
- Australia. Just... Australia. There's a reason it has an entire folder dedicated to its wildlife alone under Everything Trying to Kill You.