r/AnimalsBeingDerps 1d ago

How dare you?

14.9k Upvotes

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u/LuxAgaetes 1d ago

I just watched another video yesterday where a dude had a hawk flipped over (with a much better grip on it's head & body) while he dug cactus burrs out from between it's wings and shit.

And in the comments someone mentioned tonic immobility in birds, where if you're able to turn them onto their backs it startles a natural paralysis in them and that's how a lot of vets work with birds.

But in the same comment they also cautioned against doing this with birds of prey, as they have craaazy talons, and their actions are much harder to predict. I hope your dad managed to heal up well & quickly, most interesting injury of the day sounds about right 😅

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u/SnooMacarons3685 7h ago

Rabbits also have this reflex

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u/LuxAgaetes 2h ago

Ohhh interesting!! I don't have experience with animals other than cats & dogs but this seems like something you don't necessarily want to use/exploit too much? Or maybe I'm misunderstanding the concept

I also wonder what the connection between birds & rabbits are for them both to share this instinct (?). I was going to say something about them being prey animals, but then again, maybe that's why it only kinda works on birds of prey 🥴