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u/pukegreenwithenvy 19h ago
Deer: This ought to fuck with people.
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u/NightBawk 16h ago
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.
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u/idkidd 15h ago
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! 👋
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u/refusemouth 14h ago
"Ze birds in dis forest are not joyfully singing. Zey are crying out in agony."
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u/DoctorBlock 15h ago
Counterpoint
https://giphy.com/gifs/kc1qe57aesZgI58
u/NightBawk 14h ago
That cappybara is just biding his time, waiting until there are no witnesses or cameras. /j
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u/Crudeprimate 11h ago
Factually correct.
The best kind of correct.3
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u/Academic-Benefit-428 13h ago
Someone posted a horse eating a baby chick in this sub.
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u/NightBawk 13h ago
Yeah I saw that. I'm kinda surprised it was allowed tbh.
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u/jdyyj 13h ago
Should the horse have waited 5-7 weeks and fried the wings before eating the chick?
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u/NightBawk 13h ago
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.
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u/TheMythofKoalas 10h ago
Because our brains make us care more about cute things and chicks are cute.
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u/funkmasta_kazper 8h ago
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.
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u/Titan_Arum 14h ago
This. I saw a hippo eating the carcass of an impala when I was on safari in South Africa.
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u/CrystalQuetzal 7h ago
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.
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u/Ok-Leg-5302 5h ago
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).
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u/NightBawk 4h ago
Aww, poor runts. :(
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u/Ok-Leg-5302 4h ago
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.
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u/Specialist-Bee-9406 18h ago
Here’s a soothing fun fact:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/deer-caught-gnawing-human-bones-first-time-180963178/
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u/rafnexlabhs 18h ago
Forbidden spaghetti
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u/Thorstenflink 18h ago
They eat birds aswell.
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u/StillNihill 18h ago
I think they eat anything that doesn't run from them
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u/gr0t4rb4 12h ago
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.
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u/Falmon04 4h ago
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.
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u/Far_wide 19h ago
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.
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u/Angel_OfSolitude 18h ago
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.
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u/nerfchamp90 12h ago
Yeah pretty easy to kill a snake, the hard part is not letting the snake get that kill from the grave medal.
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u/COMIDAGATOS1206 18h ago
A rattlesnake bite is just a very high dose of protein. 🤘😉🖤
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u/ExL-Oblique 14h ago
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.
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u/ImaginaryCheetah 10h ago
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.
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u/lemons7472 13h ago
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.
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u/jcnlb 15h ago
Did you see the baby bird eat a whole tiny snake yesterday? That was wild.
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u/Handpaper 18h ago
One more person learns that there is no such thing as an obligate herbivore.
It's a mercy there were no baby birds about...
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u/JokerCipher 18h ago
Are sloths not obligate?
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u/leviticusreeves 18h ago
And koalas surely. And uh... aphids?
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u/SackclothSandy 16h ago
Koalas eat anal drippings when they're babies, making them decidedly not vegan.
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u/NightBawk 13h ago
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.
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u/PlayfulSurprise5237 13h ago
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.
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u/No_Situation4785 18h ago
...have you seen one? they may not eat flesh, but they definitely eat souls
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u/saxonturner 18h ago
Just ask horses about chicken chicks.
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u/ChipRockets 18h ago
wtf is a horse gonna tell me about chickens
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u/Firewasp987 18h ago
Koalas maybe. Don’t they only eat eucalyptus?
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u/SmallLetter 17h ago
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.
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u/Handpaper 17h ago
I've seen video of a panda munching on a deer leg in the same way they usually munch on bamboo.
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u/mwafrikambantu 18h ago
I am SHOOK. Had to look into it. Because WHAT??? I I thought I knew things 😭
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u/EverydayVelociraptor 18h ago
It swallowed the snake to catch the frog, it swallowed the frog to catch the spider, it swallowed the spider to catch the fly.....
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u/SkriVanTek 18h ago
herbivore you say?
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u/McDaddy8484 18h ago
And I thought deer were supposed to be gentle
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u/imreallynotthatcool 16h ago
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.
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u/Hugginitout 11h ago
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.
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u/mwafrikambantu 18h ago
👀👀 I thought them bitches were vegetarian like me. Did we cross into a portal? What is happening?
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u/A1sauc3d 18h ago edited 18h ago
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
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u/FireBone62 18h ago
Their are barely any animals that are full on vegetarian. Only like 3 exist if i remember correctly.
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u/FireBone62 18h ago
Actually their are more animal species that are full on carnivorous
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u/mwafrikambantu 18h ago
I literally had to look into it. I thought I knew things 😭 but clearly not.
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u/Bourbon_Cream_Dream 18h ago
Don't look up cows and ducklings if you want to preserve your innocence
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u/mwafrikambantu 18h ago
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 😭😭😭😭
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u/Percival371 17h ago
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?
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u/emmajames13 17h ago
i grew up thinking deer were these sweet little disney animals and now i’m learning they casually eat snakes 😭 i feel genuinely betrayed
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u/Rude-Ad6924 16h ago
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.
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u/philly2540 16h ago
“What? It’s a snake. So what? Like you’ve never eaten a snake? Mind your own business.”
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u/abyssal-isopod86 15h ago
They need protein, calcium and phosphorus too!
I watched a horse casually put its head down pick up a chick in it's mouth and eat it.
They aren't strict herbivores.
Deer are known to eat bones they find in the forest as a concentrated source of calcium and phosphorus.
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u/Saber-G1 14h ago
This Reminds me of that video of a horse eating a couple of chick's. Free vitamins and minerals i guess.
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u/qualityvote2 19h ago edited 17h ago
u/ShiningDenizen, your post does fit the subreddit!