ok… After seeing a deer splattered all over a country road in the middle of the night with no other car around, I have to ask… are these the dumbest animals on the planet? I mean, what the hell? Do they see the headlights and think it’s a salt lick? What possesses these things to run at or in front of vehicles? Why can’t they figure out that a vehicle can squish them? (I haven’t ruled out the possibility of suicide, or maybe a friendly game of deer “chicken”, but I digress). Anyhow, I figure that somewhere down the line the deer figured out that a grown man in an orange suit is trying to kill them… so they run. Why can’t they make the same connection about the car/road combo?
Which brings me to another question… which I’ll put in another thread entitled “Predators-food chain question”
Well you are right deer aren’t too bright. They get hit a lot during this time of year because 1: the females are in rut (or in heat to equate it to a dog) and 2: they are being hunted and so are being spooked by hunters so are moving even more. Also deer are nocturnal and for some reason freeze in sudden bright light. That is why some poaching on them is dome by “spotlighting”, where a poacher will shine a bright light on them in the dark and then shot then will they are frozen still. Also, deer cross the roads all the time because they are in such great numbers.
I really think that a deer has NO idea what a car is, what it’s for, and what it can do. If a deer is standing on the road, and a Buick comes along at 60 mph, I really don’t think the deer understands that it’s going to get hit. As for deer jumping in front of cars, I have two theories, although they may both be wrong. Growing up in a mountainous area, I’ve seen many deer on or neer roads in my life. Most of the time, even with no cars around, when a deer comes to a road, they sort of jump onto it, they usually don’t just slowly walk onto it. I don’t know why, and I don’t know if it’s ALWAYS that way, but that seems to be what I’ve seen. So, it would stand to reason, that if a deer wants to cross the road (and why did the deer cross the road… ), and there happens to be a car coming, the deer would appear to literally jump in front of the car, in a sort of suicide fasion.
In another view, I think it’s possible that deer are standing on the side of a road, get spooked by an oncoming car, and jump (or run) out of fright. Not knowing what cars are, and that they follow roads, sometimes they run right in front of the car.
As for deer knowing that a man + orange clothes + gun = danger, I don’t think that’s true. Deer are, for the most part, easily spooked by anything moving in the trees/brush/etc… They are a prey animal, and I think they have to have this “spook” instinct in order to survive.
Well, from an evolutionary standpoint, this isn’t really all that hard to understand. Deer tend to blend in to the woods pretty well, and some predators tend to have vision that focuses on movement. Together, this means that for a long long time, if you were a deer, the smart thing to do was to freeze whenever you sensed danger. That’s what they do with cars now. Cars have not been around long enough by a long shot for them to have evolved a new strategy of action.
I am a deer. I am standing 50 feet off the road, munching leaves off a tree.
munch munch
There’s a noise growing from the left. It is one of those strange, huge, loud creatures that has apparently never tried to eat me, because they always just go zooming by. They’re scary. I’m hungry. Decide to eat some more.
munch munch
The noise grows louder. I amble out a little toward the road to see past a bush. Looks like the thing is coming toward me. Does it see me? Should I run or do I stay here and blend in? Oh, it went behind a tree. I can’t see it, so it probably can’t see me. I bet I’m safe now. I wonder if Jane Doe likes me.
munch munch
Holy Moses, that thing is LOUD! And there it is right here, coming right toward me! Freeze! Jump or sit tight? I don’t know… Maybe it doesn’t see me, but it’s getting closer, and… uh oh, it must see me. And it’s coming to eat me, gotta jump!
jumps in the direction my body just happens to be pointing
horrified look when I realize in mid-air that I cannot correct the trajectory
Oh crap.
splat
Seeing as how these are deeper thoughts than what most politicians, professional wrestlers, or supermodels have, I’d have to say no, deer are probably not the dumbest animals on the planet.
North of Burlington Ia. on highway 61 the state installed red reflectors in a pattern thet was supposed to scare away deer as cars headlights shined on them.They were placed along side the road so as a car was going down a large hill and around a curve the deer were frightened or at least warned.
I noticed the last time I was down that hill the reflectors were gone. Go figure.