# Do White-Tailed Deer Really Eat Meat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 11, 2011, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-white-tailed-deer-really-eat-meat/578022 "2011-04-11T23:40:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-white-tailed-deer-really-eat-meat/578022/21 "2011-04-12T15:17:49Z")
“It also stalks its prey in the manner of a cat, sneaking up quietly, and defends its territory by “howling” like a small wolf.” Ha! ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-white-tailed-deer-really-eat-meat/578022/22 "2011-04-12T15:52:06Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > “It also stalks its prey in the manner of a cat, sneaking up quietly, and defends its territory by “howling” like a small wolf.” Ha! [Flee in terror!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E35OMfL4A4) ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-white-tailed-deer-really-eat-meat/578022/23 "2011-04-12T17:37:52Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > I’m embarrassed to say that I have a degree is in Zoology. In college we learned about Carnivores, Omnivores and Herbivores. A bear or a raccoon will eat pretty much anything that doesn’t eat them, but **a rabbit only eats plant material** and a bobcat only eats meat. If the truth is that everything is pretty much an omnivore, that’s news to me. I also learned that the digestive system of a cow, for example, is completely different than that of a mountain lion. It boggles my mind to think I’ve had it wrong for all these years… Rabbits will often eat baby rabbits when stressed. So not only do they eat meat, they are cannibals, too. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-white-tailed-deer-really-eat-meat/578022/24 "2011-04-12T17:57:11Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I think it’s not so much the meat that they’re after, but the bones (and eggshells). Plants are deficient in sodium and calcium, which is why herbivores frequent salt licks in order to get the necessary minerals. So from the deer’s point of view, the main benefit is the crunchy bones, not the meat that surround them. (Herbivorous rodents will also gnaw up bones.) Of course you’re probably right, but I disbelieve the deer are _consciously_ after the bones & shells. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-white-tailed-deer-really-eat-meat/578022/25 "2011-04-12T18:05:29Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Of course you’re probably right, but I disbelieve the deer are _consciously_ after the bones & shells. Who said they were doing it consciously? I didn’t. The adaptive value of the behavior is probably to secure minerals, to put it in more formal terms. ---
**Author:** ![This\_Just\_In\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@This\_Just\_In\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/This_Just_In_2)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-white-tailed-deer-really-eat-meat/578022/26 "2011-04-12T20:15:56Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > “Look, mommy! The deer and the bunny are friends!” > _CRUNCH_ > O.O > “AAAAAIGGGHGHGHGHGHGH!!!” For some reason Bambi & Thumper immediately spring to my mind. Thanks for darkly tainting one of my earliest childhood memories. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-white-tailed-deer-really-eat-meat/578022/27 "2011-04-12T20:33:56Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Who said they were doing it consciously? I didn’t. I didn’t mean to imply that you did. ---
**Author:** ![SSgtBaloo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@SSgtBaloo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSgtBaloo)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-white-tailed-deer-really-eat-meat/578022/28 "2011-04-12T21:13:51Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Of course you’re probably right, but I disbelieve the deer are _consciously_ after the bones & shells. ISTR reading an account of a shipwreck survivor who survived at sea for something like 3 months. I have no idea how they were able to secure sufficient fresh water (unless eating raw fish gave him the liquid he needed). He did say that after he’d been out there awhile, parts of the fish he was catching that he at first was throwing away started smelling (and tasting _delicious_. The doctors and nutritionists theorize that at some point he began craving the parts of the fish that were highest in the nutrients he wasn’t getting from eating just the “fillets”. I presume that perhaps deer with mineral deficiencies become sensitive to (and develop a craving for) things that have the nutrients they lack. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-white-tailed-deer-really-eat-meat/578022/29 "2011-04-12T21:20:49Z")
> [@SSgtBaloo](#): > > ISTR reading an account of a shipwreck survivor who survived at sea for something like 3 months. I have no idea how they were able to secure sufficient fresh water (unless eating raw fish gave him the liquid he needed). He did say that after he’d been out there awhile, parts of the fish he was catching that he at first was throwing away started smelling (and tasting _delicious_. The doctors and nutritionists theorize that at some point he began craving the parts of the fish that were highest in the nutrients he wasn’t getting from eating just the “fillets”. I presume that perhaps deer with mineral deficiencies become sensitive to (and develop a craving for) things that have the nutrients they lack. That I have no trouble believing. And looking at what I wrote earlier, which frankly I didn’t bother to earlier, I see that I should really have written that the deer weren’t consciously after the nutrients. They may well be thinking, in the sense that deer think, “white crunch stuff. Yummy!” and consciously seek them out. In other words Colibri was right to be vexed (if vexed she was) with me. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-white-tailed-deer-really-eat-meat/578022/30 "2011-04-12T23:28:42Z")
> [@](#): > > In other words Colibri was right to be vexed (if vexed she was) with me. Does [this](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.royalresortsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/huitzilopochtli.ljpg1_.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.royalresortsnews.com/trips-travel-tools/destination-guide/mexico/tiny-warriors-of-the-tropics-hummingbirds/&usg=__tBPjBpVRXTLgmx07boYqbmAJIfc=&h=240&w=181&sz=56&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=6Ss3Hni7F7qwNM:&tbnh=134&tbnw=101&ei=9d-kTbqGNIT0tgPe2936DA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhuitzilopochtli%26hl%3Den%26c2coff%3D1%26sa%3DX%26biw%3D1199%26bih%3D889%26tbm%3Disch%26prmd%3Divns&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=2233&oei=9d-kTbqGNIT0tgPe2936DA&page=1&ndsp=40&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0&tx=66&ty=70) look like a “she”? ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-white-tailed-deer-really-eat-meat/578022/31 "2011-04-13T00:15:13Z")
I still can’t get over how much [this video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9vxHN8_jSE) messed with my head. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-white-tailed-deer-really-eat-meat/578022/32 "2011-04-13T00:47:39Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > In other words Colibri was right to be vexed (if vexed she was) with me. I am more vexed that you think I’m a she.😉 Thanks to **Chronos** for linking to Huitzilopochtli, my tutelary deity. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-white-tailed-deer-really-eat-meat/578022/33 "2011-04-13T00:55:52Z")
Allegedly, deer on Michigan’s Isle Royale regularly munch on alewives and other fish washing up on shore. So it doesn’t surprise me to hear deer will eat other forms of animal flesh when they can easily get it ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-white-tailed-deer-really-eat-meat/578022/34 "2011-04-13T05:50:57Z")
> [@SSgtBaloo](#): > > ISTR reading an account of a shipwreck survivor who survived at sea for something like 3 months. I have no idea how they were able to secure sufficient fresh water (unless eating raw fish gave him the liquid he needed). [I think you’re talking about Steven Callahan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Callahan) (he obtained potable water using a solar still and drinking the body juices of catched fish.) ---
**Author:** ![SSgtBaloo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@SSgtBaloo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSgtBaloo)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-white-tailed-deer-really-eat-meat/578022/35 "2011-04-13T07:05:37Z")
> [@Toxylon](#): > > [I think you’re talking about Steven Callahan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Callahan) (he obtained potable water using a solar still and drinking the body juices of catched fish.) That sounds like what I remember. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-white-tailed-deer-really-eat-meat/578022/36 "2011-04-13T13:12:28Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I am more vexed that you think I’m a she.😉 > > Thanks to **Chronos** for linking to Huitzilopochtli, my tutelary deity. It was a shot in the dark, dude! I thought about writing he/she, but every time I do that it gives me hives, as just now happened. ---
**Author:** ![annacyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c6cbf5/32.png) [@annacyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/annacyn)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-white-tailed-deer-really-eat-meat/578022/37 "2013-07-10T04:10:40Z")
Okay. This is really weird. Warning: a bit gross—so if you are at all squeamish, don’t read this. I googled deers and meat because of this and found this thread. Tonight, I was driving into my neighborhood and there was a hit baby deer in the middle of the road. It’s Mom was near it; seemed to be nudging it. I thought the baby was dead and because it’s a high traffic street into my neighborhood, I pulled over to see if I could pull the deer to the side of the road. The baby was still alive, but was clearly dying very fast. The baby died within a couple of minutes. I couldn’t tell what was going on initially—but the baby deer (it gets gross here) sort of exploded at the belly due to impact. Seriously. Shocked me. My brain was telling me that was what happened, but I couldn’t accept it. But was truly more shocking was that the Mom picked up an organ/tissue/some mass of something innards that was laying on the ground next to the baby, walked off to the lawn of the nearby house, and ate it. I watched horrified. Was the Mom in shock? I was shocked, let me tell you. This happened tonight in Austin, Texas. Maybe the Mom was hungry due to drought? Maybe it’s like when Mom cats eat their kittens when they die? The Mom deer wanted to come back to her baby, but she was keeping a wary distance from me and other people who stopped. I put the baby in my car and took it to an emergency animal clinic because a person who stopped told me that the clinic would take care of the body. Can anyone explain to me what happened? It was sooo disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-white-tailed-deer-really-eat-meat/578022/38 "2013-07-10T04:36:09Z")
1. Welcome to the SDMB! 2. Accept that animals do stuff we think is weird because they don’t think like people. 3. Read the parts of the thread that suggest reasons for it. Some of the people here are real experts in their fields. 4. Watch the videos that are linked. They’re disturbing, too, but they may help inure you to disturbing weirdness. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-white-tailed-deer-really-eat-meat/578022/39 "2013-07-10T10:57:33Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > I’m embarrassed to say that I have a degree is in Zoology. In college we learned about Carnivores, Omnivores and Herbivores. A bear or a raccoon will eat pretty much anything that doesn’t eat them, but a rabbit only eats plant material and a bobcat only eats meat. If the truth is that everything is pretty much an omnivore, that’s news to me. I also learned that the digestive system of a cow, for example, is completely different than that of a mountain lion. It boggles my mind to think I’ve had it wrong for all these years… Or the squirrel that the rabbit found that a car had hit and it wasn’t moving too fast or well … [I was getting ready to shoot the poor squirrel and then the rabbit took care of it :eek:] ---
**Author:** ![TerpBE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc8723/32.png) [@TerpBE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TerpBE)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-white-tailed-deer-really-eat-meat/578022/40 "2013-07-10T15:10:31Z")
When we dissected frogs in high school, ours had an unusually large stomach. The biology teacher was excited to cut it open and discover a mouse inside. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-white-tailed-deer-really-eat-meat/578022.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-white-tailed-deer-really-eat-meat/578022.md?page=3)