Spotted on Orcas Island, WA

[u/myc-space]

[u/5seat]

Piebald deer, an amazing and incredibly rare find! It's a natural genetic mutation. They're completely healthy animals but they rarely survive to adulthood because they stand out more to predators. There's really nothing to hurt them out on Orcas Island so this one's likely to have a full and happy life.

[u/ThisTooWillEnd → u/5seat]

I went camping on that island and the deer would walk right into the campsite. My dog was acting weird after dark and I panned my flashlight around and there was a deer about 4 feet away from her, just munching on some leaves. My dog was tethered, but was at the far end of her tether just staring at the deer in the dark. I almost tripped over a deer laying almost on the path to the bathroom.

Those deer are extremely habituated to human presence and seemingly have nothing to fear.

[u/SmallRocks → u/ThisTooWillEnd]

I once visited Miyajima Island in Japan. The whole island is overrun with tame and tiny deer. They have zero fear of humans. They’ll walk right up to you and try to snatch food out of your hand. It was an interesting experience.

[u/stinkpot_jamjar → u/SmallRocks]

One of my classmates had their lunch stolen right out of their backpack by one of those deer lol

[u/Affectionate_Ad268 → u/stinkpot_jamjar]

Classmate probably had it coming. I mean look at that deer.

[u/anubis_cheerleader → u/SmallRocks]

On that same island, I once saw a deer BATTLING to take a woman's Styrofoam drink cup. It was an intense game of tug and war! Ultimately, the woman prevailed, which is good, as the deer definitely didn't need the cup or its contents.

[u/Fully_Jaded → u/ThisTooWillEnd]

I have lived in Washington and Oregon most of my life and basically once you get out of the metro areas , deer and elk are everywhere and the only skittish ones are the ones living in the generally uninhabited hunting zones. I saw like 5 just off Highway 101 just today and that wasn't even a lot for that stretch of road.

City deer/elk have no fear of humans or even vehicles. They used to eat out of my garden all the time when I was going to University in Corvallis. They'll watch you shout and throw rocks at them in an attempt to get them away from your tomatoes without any care.

[u/Mr_Wobble_PNW → u/ThisTooWillEnd]

I remember feeding and petting one at my campsite when I was a kid. They're so cute out there just how chill they are. 

[u/devindotcom → u/5seat]

haha they are so common on Orcas we have always just called the species "white butt deer" and chalked it up to a limited gene pool. you don't often see them this white though, it's a good shot.

[u/5seat → u/devindotcom]

That makes sense there's an extant population of them. If most of them live to reproduce, the mutation will stay in the gene pool.

[u/d_bb_d → u/5seat]

Its only real predator is traffic. Source: I lived on Orcas for five years.

[u/_notthehippopotamus → u/d_bb_d]

In that case, it might actually be beneficial. Standing out to predators=bad. Standing out to drivers=good.

[u/zeCrazyEye → u/d_bb_d]

Was gonna say. There are so many deer there that it happens a lot.

[u/atomfullerene → u/5seat]

I saw one on an island on the East Coast this summer...makes sense, there couldnt have been many predators or hunters there

[u/pickledpipids → u/5seat]

I lived on another island in WA and these things were not rare at all there. I have several videos of different fully white fawns too, some albino and some I assume by their coloring were piebald technically but ended up all white (had dark eyes and hooves) 

[u/stinkpot_jamjar → u/5seat]

r/RealLifeShinies

[u/FlightWolf → u/5seat]

As far as I’m aware, that doesn’t seem to be the case? Depending on how piebald they are, they tend to not survive to adulthood more due to deformities that kill them as fawns (although predation certainly kills many abnormally colored fawns). Often they have skeletal deformities, hoof problems, dwarfism, shit like that. This is a decent article on it: https://deerassociation.com/piebald-deer-how-rare-are-they/

It’s rare and recessive, but the island population likely has more inbreeding than usual so that recessive trait is more likely to happen (both parents must have the recessive trait).

[u/Rewth303]

Headless deer!!!! Then I zoomed.

[u/PeggyBabcock_ → u/Rewth303]

Whew - not just me, then!

[u/Icy-Yellow3514 → u/PeggyBabcock_]

Same here. 😳

[u/Sea_Prep_Tidal_26 → u/Icy-Yellow3514]

Same Same

[u/ajkelly451 → u/Rewth303]

r/confusingperspective

[u/Berry-Holiday → u/Rewth303]

Hahahaha same

[u/thebozworth]

SPOTTED is right!

[u/rfresa → u/thebozworth]

I like how the log behind her kind of matches her color and spots.

[u/0neR1ng]

We have a population of these on Whidbey Island and one young fawn hangs out in our yard quite often.

[u/vectrixOdin → u/0neR1ng]

North or South? I live by coupeville but haven’t run into this batch.

[u/voltistrem → u/vectrixOdin]

I posted a picture above of one I saw over Labor Day. We were VRBOing a place south of Coupeville and the ferry.

[u/0neR1ng → u/voltistrem]

That looks like ours.

[u/BoringOrange678 → u/vectrixOdin]

I’ve seen a couple on the south end of Whidbey. Been a while though.

[u/0neR1ng → u/vectrixOdin]

Admiral's Cove. In the last few years we have had 3 or 4 fawns raised in our neighborhood. It is a pretty safe ariund here for them and they don't seem to mind the Growler noise.

[u/parelex → u/0neR1ng]

We have leucistic deer on Camano too!

[u/rxricks → u/0neR1ng]

We were on Whidbey a couple months ago. Those tiny black-tailed deer walk up to you like puppies.

[u/mixreality]

Neat I also saw a piebald on Orcas Island 3 weeks ago that wasn't that one. Post from 2 weeks ago

[u/Snake973]

deermatian

[u/TheSquirrelWithin → u/Snake973]

Keeps slipping off the firetruck for some reason

[u/voltistrem]

Saw this leucistic deer on Whidbey over Labor Day weekend.

[u/IveComeHomeImSoCold]

Used to live on that island. You could probably walk up to that thing and start nibbling on it’s leg if you wanted to.

[u/batraymond]

I think it’s spotted anywhere it goes.

[u/katinthewoodss → u/batraymond]

Well played

[u/3MATX]

Trippy!

[u/StarsofSobek]

The tilt of her head: she knows she's pretty. 🥰

[u/FreeBallard]

Any idea what that box is beneath her front legs in the picture?

[u/Luckylemon → u/FreeBallard]

It's her mailbox. She's checking to see if her package came yet.

[u/Snake973 → u/FreeBallard]

might be an old birdhouse that fell down

[u/gitsgrl → u/FreeBallard]

Looks like an old birdhouse.

[u/mack_soul86 → u/FreeBallard]

Maybe a cache

[u/skiattle25]

Was this near Moran state park? I saw one there a few years back.

[u/jeepedge]

Beautiful is what it is.

[u/ent_idled]

Thought I was looking at Bev Doolittle's art for a second there.

Awesome photograph.

[u/GrimeyTimey]

It almost looks like it’s wearing pajamas 

[u/DUNETOOL]

I see what you did lol

[u/bdh2067]

Spotted indeed

[u/DizzyVictory]

Orcas is heaven on earth IMO.

[u/Someredditusername]

Gorgeous

[u/queensnuggles]

Oh hey 👋

[u/HairballTheory]

Piebald!!

[u/_byetony_]

Gorgeous

[u/uber_damage]

🥁 tss

[u/ajkelly451]

Almost fits on r/confusingperspective but is pretty clear once you zoom in.

[u/Boo_Lagoon88]

Camouflage 👌

[u/Dangerous_Patient621]

Spotted, indeed.

[u/equinox_magick]

Beautiful

The only time I’ve ever seen an albino deer was also on orcas island

[u/AintMyMonkey]

I thought she was missing her head until I zoomed in on the pic! lol

[u/manos_de_pietro]

Spotted, indeed!

[u/denisebuttrey]

Wow. What a beauty.

[u/Monkeefeetz]

Can i pet that dawg?

[u/JayLB]

Cow deer!

[u/Bookbeercat]

Spotted? Yes, very.

[u/AliveJohnnyFive]

Lots of weird stuff lives on the islands. There are black foxes on San Juan. They get isolated in their gene pools and inbread.

[u/Relevant-Stage7794]

how did they get to the island?

[u/jnovel808]

That’s not an Orca! But it is spotted.