Mufasa from The Lion King taught Simba about how the circle of life applies to all animals. For example: [We lions eat antelope] ...When we die, our bodies become the grass, and the antelope eat the grass. And so, we are all connected in the great Circle of Life.
If he'd lived long enough to teach Simba more, I think he would have told him about an even greater life system in balance. It's the major symbiosis between the animal and plant kingdoms. In photosynthesis, sunlight and carbon dioxide are used as fuel to be converted to water and oxygen. Carbon dioxide is ingested while oxygen is expelled into the atmosphere for us to breathe. Without plants, there wouldn't be enough oxygen available for this most vital element of our survival.
Just as we rely on plants for oxygen, nutrition, shelter, etc., they rely on us for resupplying carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. As we breathe in oxygen, we expel carbon dioxide through our lungs, as a byproduct. This transfer of energy ultimately reaches the plant kingdom, allowing them to survive. If all the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere were not replenished, within two years all plant life would die from consuming it all. We may be entirely different forms of life that consume different types of molecules, but we both rely on each other for survival.
Thus, here is the primary equation of life: photosynthesis = reverse respiration. It's the greatest thing one could teach about balance in life systems, and about the great circle of life that Mufasa taught his son.
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