In a land of intelligent, talking animals what do the predators eat? In more than one of the Oz books, Baum, the author, suggests that they eat each other. But he only suggests, vaguely implies, it. None of the main character predators: the Hungry Tiger, the Cowardly Lion, Toto the dog or Eureka the pink kitten, are ever show actually eating. A few bad animals, dragons, Kalidahs, the Skoodlers and other BAD folks threaten to eat our heroes but they never succeed.
In Gregory Macguire’s Wicked Years series there are both animals (the dumb sorts we’re used to) and Animals (who can think and talk). Animals eat animals.
In Skipp and Levinthal’s The Emerald Burrito of Oz there’s a brainless animal called a goomer that serves as the food source for all Oz predators.
I’m not sure what the predators eat in Steve Ahlquist’s version of Oz.
In my short story “The Vultures and the China Milk Maid” the vultures are gifted a table of magically replenishing dead meat; the table wanders about the landscape so things don’t get too boring. I think that appeared in Oziana.
But, yeah, I’ve wasted some daydreaming time on the meateater problem.
I liked the goomer solution in Emerald Burrito best. They were kind of like schmoos only dumber. And, in the reverse of Earth animals suddenly talking when they arrived in Oz, the goomers gained sentience when they were imported to Earth.
Macguire’s Animals and animals solution isn’t bad. I wish I didn’t find his version of Oz to be such a depressing place.
I suppose trees with meat fruit would work well too.
“Hey Billina! Have another fruit from the chicken leg tree!”
“Fall off a ledge Bungle.”
There’s an even more horrorshow solution. Since nothing dies in Oz the predators just eat the same prey over and over again. I’m not sure how that works nutrition wise. Or digestion wise.