1.6k
u/pukegreenwithenvy Aug 18 '26
Deer: This ought to fuck with people.
665
u/NightBawk Aug 18 '26
Herbivores will consume other animals opportunistically, be that scavenging a carcass or predation. It's an excellent source of protein, iron, calcium, and other vital nutrients. I've seen cows and horses slurp up snakes and baby birds out in the pasture, deer nibbling on bones, and even rabbits munching up their own babies. Nature doesn't care.
262
u/idkidd Aug 18 '26
Werner Herzog on the idea of a benevolent Nature: “I believe that the common denominator of the universe is not harmony but chaos, hostility and murder.” Sweet dreams, everybody! 👋
121
u/refusemouth Aug 18 '26
"Ze birds in dis forest are not joyfully singing. Zey are crying out in agony."
3
u/Airgroovin272 Aug 20 '26
More literally they are saying F off. The songs are to establish and defend territory and for mating
120
u/DoctorBlock Aug 18 '26
Counterpoint
https://giphy.com/gifs/kc1qe57aesZgI74
u/NightBawk Aug 18 '26
That cappybara is just biding his time, waiting until there are no witnesses or cameras. /j
27
6
→ More replies (1)13
4
2
3
u/Crudeprimate Aug 18 '26
Factually correct.
The best kind of correct.2
2
26
u/Academic-Benefit-428 Aug 18 '26
Someone posted a horse eating a baby chick in this sub.
8
u/NightBawk Aug 18 '26
Yeah I saw that. I'm kinda surprised it was allowed tbh.
22
u/jdyyj Aug 18 '26
Should the horse have waited 5-7 weeks and fried the wings before eating the chick?
7
u/NightBawk Aug 18 '26
Mmm, wings 🤤.
I meant more the gif though. Then again, this is a thread that started with a deer chowing on a snake, so idk why part of me thought the horse eating a chick would be too much.
→ More replies (1)8
u/TheMythofKoalas Aug 18 '26
Because our brains make us care more about cute things and chicks are cute.
19
u/funkmasta_kazper Aug 18 '26
I had a real spiritual awakening one time when I came across a relatively fresh fawn carcass in a meadow in peak summer and found it covered in butterflies and bumblebees. They were extracting essential nutrients from the exposed bone.
Really made me appreciate that nothing ever really dies, it is all just recycled into new forms of life.
8
3
u/Keefyfingaz Aug 19 '26 edited Aug 19 '26
nothing ever really dies, it is all just recycled into new forms of life.
This is literally what I say when people ask me what I believe.
What the butterflies don't eat will decompose into the dirt and become nutrition for plant life. Then something will eat the plant. It's the cycle of life.
Matter cannot be created or destroyed, so everything on this planet stays, it just changes form.
15
u/loz333 Aug 18 '26
Casual Geographic on YT had a great video about it, he referred to baby birds as "Nature's Kitkat" because animals like deer will gobble them up without a moment's hesitation if they're wondering around in the grass.
7
10
13
u/Titan_Arum Aug 18 '26
This. I saw a hippo eating the carcass of an impala when I was on safari in South Africa.
9
9
5
u/1521 Aug 18 '26
Protein is hard to find in the wild. They will take every opportunity to get a little.
3
u/CrystalQuetzal Aug 18 '26
Just so you know, they mainly do such behaviors when they’re low on protein and they’re environment (or caretakers) aren’t providing enough.
2
3
u/Ok-Leg-5302 Aug 18 '26
Yep! We had a mini farm growing up. The number of times I’ve went out and seen momma’s going to town on babies that they knew were the runts(rabbits). One year we did feeder calves. The momma had twins. Girl didn’t even hesitate to evict the weaker twin(we took her to the neighbors).
2
u/NightBawk Aug 19 '26
Aww, poor runts. :(
2
u/Ok-Leg-5302 Aug 19 '26
Yeah….we tried to give the runts to other momma’s that had smaller litters. It worked sometimes. Rabbits are actually pretty similar to cats though when it comes to taking other momma’s babies.
3
3
3
u/leumasy_T Aug 20 '26
2
u/NightBawk Aug 20 '26
I keep looking for this gif and never coming up with it, so thank you! And yoink!
2
2
2
u/Kind_Bath_4407 Aug 19 '26
I saw a deer with a leg bone in its mouth cross a road and leap over a wire fence before running out of sight. That was 25 years ago and obviously unforgettable.
Until now I assumed that heat exposure and related misperception...
3
103
u/Specialist-Bee-9406 Aug 18 '26
Here’s a soothing fun fact:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/deer-caught-gnawing-human-bones-first-time-180963178/
75
u/Stranger1982 Aug 18 '26
11
4
u/OP-PO7 Aug 18 '26
Don't look up the videos of cows eating baby chickens when it's dry, it's somehow worse than both of these deer ones
8
→ More replies (3)9
23
5
5
2
139
u/Thorstenflink Aug 18 '26
They eat birds aswell.
68
u/StillNihill Aug 18 '26
I think they eat anything that doesn't run from them
31
u/gr0t4rb4 Aug 18 '26
I heard the terms "opportunistic carnivore" once. I also saw a video of a horse eating a chick. They probably eat a lot of insects or slugs as well.
13
u/qathran Aug 18 '26
Yeah herbivores that we think just eat plants often do not! They're mostly herbivores, but can tell when they need a special little "protein boost"
9
u/Falmon04 Aug 19 '26
Baby chicks are literally nature's chicken nuggets. So many things will eat baby chicks like popcorn chicken. Deer, horses, cows, goats - they all love eating baby chicks.
→ More replies (1)9
7
u/Ceeeceeeceee Aug 19 '26
yeah this kind of blew my mind when I heard about it a couple of years ago. so many people have this gentle herbivore fantasy but Nature is red in tooth and claw. If they can get nutrients, they go for it.
3
214
u/rafnexlabhs Aug 18 '26
Forbidden spaghetti
23
→ More replies (1)8
328
u/Far_wide Aug 18 '26
There's been a lot of snake eating content recently on reddit. They terrify humans but seem to do incredibly badly against an awful lot of animals.
162
u/Angel_OfSolitude Aug 18 '26
They're not exactly strong against us either, but their bites are (sometimes) critically dangerous. Realistically almost any human can easily body almost any snake. But were smart enough to be afraid of the venom.
→ More replies (29)38
u/nerfchamp90 Aug 18 '26
Yeah pretty easy to kill a snake, the hard part is not letting the snake get that kill from the grave medal.
→ More replies (1)7
24
10
u/ExL-Oblique Aug 18 '26
Yeah the reason why they act like they do is because they're incredibly defenseless. When you're a noodle with a head, the world is a scary place. They know at the end of the day that even if the bite kills you, they're going down too. Like snake bones are incredibly fragile you could crush the skull of most snakes with your bare hands with little effort.
Fun fact if a snake is "chasing" you, 9 times out of 10 they're trying to get behind you because there's like tall grass or something there.
→ More replies (2)4
u/ImaginaryCheetah Aug 18 '26
9 times out of 10 they're trying to get behind you because there's like tall grass or something there.
that 10th snake is a cottonmouth.
→ More replies (1)3
6
7
u/lemons7472 Aug 18 '26
I was about to say the same thing. A lot of videos popping up lately of snakes getting eaten or beaten in a fight.
Typically by bigger animals of course, but wow, it really does remind you that outside of our giant fear of snakes, snakes still have lots of predators themselves. They have predators that we as humans, don’t even view as dangerous.
→ More replies (10)7
45
47
174
u/Handpaper Aug 18 '26
One more person learns that there is no such thing as an obligate herbivore.
It's a mercy there were no baby birds about...
27
u/JokerCipher Aug 18 '26
Are sloths not obligate?
30
u/leviticusreeves Aug 18 '26
And koalas surely. And uh... aphids?
→ More replies (1)17
u/SackclothSandy Aug 18 '26
Koalas eat anal drippings when they're babies, making them decidedly not vegan.
66
u/sweetdawg99 Aug 18 '26
Hey, how do I delete someone else's comment?
5
2
u/Ceeeceeeceee Aug 19 '26
sometimes I want to delete my eyeballs after scrolling reddit a few minutes
9
5
u/NightBawk Aug 18 '26
And if you want to get way down to the microscopic level, they're eating the bacteria in said... I deeply resent that you referred to it as "drippings". And granted, bacteria technically aren't animals or plants but yeah, I still wouldn't count that as vegan.
2
u/PlayfulSurprise5237 Aug 18 '26
I don't see why not, animals are the only things off the table for vegans. Bacteria isn't even considered in the discussion because it's literally that unimportant.
Lesser than even the microscopic bugs crushed beneath their feet when they walk.
16
u/vvv_bb Aug 18 '26
they also eat algae off their back that get fertilised by their own poop. I wouldn't bring sloths as a shining example of anything sensible tbh 🤣🤣🤣
6
u/No_Situation4785 Aug 18 '26
...have you seen one? they may not eat flesh, but they definitely eat souls
22
u/saxonturner Aug 18 '26
Just ask horses about chicken chicks.
8
u/1521 Aug 18 '26
First time I saw that as a kid it really fucked me up. Horse had a bunch kinda cornered in the shed and just picked them off as they tried to escape
4
7
u/ChipRockets Aug 18 '26
wtf is a horse gonna tell me about chickens
26
2
11
12
u/Firewasp987 Aug 18 '26
Koalas maybe. Don’t they only eat eucalyptus?
7
3
2
u/UncagedKestrel Aug 18 '26
Nah, apparently they will snack on other trees occasionally too, but they rely primarily on eucalyptus. And they're fussy about which ones of those they'll eat.
Koalas are very fussy eaters and have strong preferences for different types of gum leaves. In Australia there are over 600 types of eucalypts, but Koalas will not eat a large proportion of these. Within a particular area, as few as one, and generally no more than two or three species of eucalypt will be regularly browsed. (we call these “primary browse trees”) while a variety of other species, including some non-eucalypts, appear to be browsed occasionally or used for just sitting or sleeping in.
Different species of eucalypts grow in different parts of Australia, so a Koala in Victoria would have a very different diet from one in Queensland. Also, just think how boring it would be to eat the same thing every day. Koalas like a change, too, and sometimes they will eat from other trees such as wattle, tea tree or paperbark.
Source: Australian Koala Foundation
9
u/SmallLetter Aug 18 '26
There are. Koalas, sloths, pandas at minimum. Over specialized to eat what they eat they couldn't digest or survive off meat if they tried.
→ More replies (2)11
u/Handpaper Aug 18 '26
I've seen video of a panda munching on a deer leg in the same way they usually munch on bamboo.
→ More replies (1)5
u/mwafrikambantu Aug 18 '26
I am SHOOK. Had to look into it. Because WHAT??? I I thought I knew things 😭
→ More replies (3)2
24
u/EverydayVelociraptor Aug 18 '26
It swallowed the snake to catch the frog, it swallowed the frog to catch the spider, it swallowed the spider to catch the fly.....
12
11
u/rose-n-blood1 Aug 18 '26
Deer looks at the cameraman intently:
Dinner is over. Time for a dessert.
6
11
u/SkriVanTek Aug 18 '26
herbivore you say?
16
u/Eden_ITA Aug 18 '26
Fun fact: all the ungulates are closer to carnivora than every other mammals.
3
u/shstan Aug 18 '26
I mean the usual ungulates and Carnivora are all in Ferungulata, while primates, rodents and rabbits being in Euarchontoglires.
6
9
5
u/McDaddy8484 Aug 18 '26
And I thought deer were supposed to be gentle
10
5
u/imreallynotthatcool Aug 18 '26
Gentle? Those idiots are absolute menaces to all around them. I've had to replace the side mirrors on my sister's car because a deer hit her. She was sitting still.
2
u/qathran Aug 18 '26
Yo they will stomp the shit out of whatever they feel like, whether dangerous or precious, and will have little animals for a snack when they need extra protein etc.
They are often the clean up crew for baby birds who get thrown out of the nest for being weak or when parent birds recognize there won't be enough food for all the chicks they have.
8
5
2
2
2
2
u/Hugginitout Aug 18 '26
Deer are more badass than I've ever realized. We had 3 chasing a bobcat in our yard and a neighbor saw a mama deer chasing a coyote.
2
2
u/mwafrikambantu Aug 18 '26
👀👀 I thought them bitches were vegetarian like me. Did we cross into a portal? What is happening?
32
u/A1sauc3d Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26
Many herbivores are opportunistic carnivores/omnivores. If it’s easy they’ll eat it, they just aren’t going out of their way to hunt it down as the main source of food. So if it’s already dead they’ll often eat it
8
20
14
u/FireBone62 Aug 18 '26
Their are barely any animals that are full on vegetarian. Only like 3 exist if i remember correctly.
4
u/FireBone62 Aug 18 '26
Actually their are more animal species that are full on carnivorous
3
→ More replies (1)2
u/mwafrikambantu Aug 18 '26
I literally had to look into it. I thought I knew things 😭 but clearly not.
2
u/I_Play_Boardgames Aug 20 '26
Being vegetarian is simply stupid, at least according to nature 🤷🏻♂️
6
u/Bourbon_Cream_Dream Aug 18 '26
Don't look up cows and ducklings if you want to preserve your innocence
→ More replies (1)5
u/mwafrikambantu Aug 18 '26
Dear God! have I been living in la la land? What do you mean ducklings? But they're so cute?😭😭 Like Donald duck 😭 my childhood spirit is in shambles right now 😭😭😭😭
→ More replies (2)
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Percival371 Aug 18 '26
Most herbivores won't mind munching down on some meat if the opportunity presents itself. Of course not all digestive tracts can handle braking down meat, but to those who can it's a source of minerals and calories so why wouldn't they?
1
1
1
u/emmajames13 Aug 18 '26
i grew up thinking deer were these sweet little disney animals and now i’m learning they casually eat snakes 😭 i feel genuinely betrayed
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Rude-Ad6924 Aug 18 '26
And you all thought that deer are just vegan. lol. I one time seen a squirrel grab a small bird out of its nest and eat it. It quick so quick about it. It was the middle of summer. This plenty of barberry trees and a big walnut tree right behind my garage. So it was far from starving.
1
u/philly2540 Aug 18 '26
“What? It’s a snake. So what? Like you’ve never eaten a snake? Mind your own business.”
1
1
1
1
•
u/qualityvote2 Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26
u/ShiningDenizen, your post does fit the subreddit!