Photo of ‘dancing’ deer in Texas prompts social media debate: What was happening?
Two deer were photographed by a wildlife camera engaged in what looked like a dance outside Lincoln, Texas.
The odd photo shows the two females standing on hind legs like “Texas panhandle kangaroos,” face to face and staring into each other’s eyes.
Texas Parks and Wildlife apparently couldn’t resist having fun with the image, so it posted the photo on Facebook Wednesday and challenged people on social media to figure out “what’s happening here?”
Nearly 200 people offered guesses, some offering silly ideas (“polka dance”) and others suggesting legitimate possibilities, like youthful play, eating leaves from a tree limb and fighting.
The answer? It was a fierce confrontation, state officials said.
“These does are displaying social dominance behavior intended to intimidate a potential rival or display status,” Texas Parks and Wildlife posted.
“It’s not uncommon to see two does trying to assert dominance over one another and in doing so will stand on their hind legs and swat at each other with their front hooves. These sorts of encounters generally last a few seconds before one of the does concedes to the more dominant deer.”
Brian Gibson, who took the photo using a wildlife camera, told McClatchy News it was one of several odd moments captured over the past few days. Some make it clear the deer are fighting, with one showing arms swinging and a deer falling after taking a punch.
“It was an ‘oh, wow’ moment,” Gibson told McClatchy News. “We haven’t recorded this kind of activity before, but assumed it was a battle over the hierarchy of the group. The doe on the left is a larger, older doe showing the younger one who is still boss.”
The younger deer lost the scuffle, he said.
The tripod in the photos is a deer feeder that spews corn and protein pellets twice a day, he said.
“We enjoy watching the deer in the evenings, and catching interesting moments like this on the game camera,” Gibson said.
This story was originally published August 20, 2020 at 8:05 AM with the headline "Photo of ‘dancing’ deer in Texas prompts social media debate: What was happening?."