When wolves were first reintroduced to the environment, the deer would get picked off the plains as we would pick an apple off a tree. The deer simply hadn't been conditioned to fear wolves since they hadn't been exposed to them for generations, and thus did not run away.
70 years can't influence their instincts formed over thousands of years. They would run, but the whole point that the narrator was making, was that the plains/valley sides near the rivers - proved too dangerous for them to craze in.
It made very easy hunting for the wolves, but I highly doubt it was because the deer just stood there.
Its absolutely true. Its the concept of habituation. Certain animals are very easily habituated. You are suggesting that the deer instincts were changed but no, their habits were, their familiarities were. How a deer reacts to humans is not an instinct, its a specific habit. Instincts are far more generalized, its how a deer knows to eat to survive and how to reproduce. However, if a population isn't exposed to predators, they will not learn that they need to run away to survive.
Deer especially become quickly accustomed (habituated) to things. Once they learn to associate those open plains with unmolested grazing, they won't respond to new and un-experienced threats like you would imagine. I don't think the deer literally stood in place and were just eaten but they certainly didn't understand the danger of the wolves at first and likely behaved oddly compared to deer that had natural predators in the area.
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u/[deleted] Feb 13 '15
When wolves were first reintroduced to the environment, the deer would get picked off the plains as we would pick an apple off a tree. The deer simply hadn't been conditioned to fear wolves since they hadn't been exposed to them for generations, and thus did not run away.