Added: 9 months ago
From: nnemmers2
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  • It is indeed a defense mechanism, they play 'dead' when threatened. Although it might be true that mothers won't abandon their young 100% of the time when handled, it doesn't mean that it won't happen at all. I've been to a deer farm where their abandonment issues are quite high, and it might be because the fawns were immediately handled after they were born.

  • I've never seen anything like it! It's amazing how they know to do that. Hopefully the mother didn't go too far. It's been noted that mothers WILL abandon their young if the fawn wonders off and comes back smelling like a predator (Human). But if they can still see the fawn they most likely will not abandon it. I've done a lot of research online... you really shouldn't touch a wild animal unless it needs help. This one looked like it was in the road. So it had to be moved eventually.

  • in fact that IS a defense mechanism.

    baby fawn's carry no scent at all and if they drop down in tall grass predators have almost no way to track them down

  • is it ok?

  • They are trying to get as close to the ground as possible to hide in the grass ... well in this case instinct == failure, but on a field they are next to impossible to spot unless you are right on top of them (why so many are killed in combine harvesters).

  • Bambi :D

  • its playing dead. the mother probably spotted some kind of predator in the sky and didn't want the baby getting hurt. its instinct my good fellows :D

  • Who lays like that? Lolololol.

  • The mother won't "abandon" the fawn in this situation--that's why they DO what they're doing, so a predator could be right on top of it yet not notice it. The mother will always come back to "have a look" and give a call for her fawn.

  • Awww! It's Bambi!!

  • @Werewolphe I love your username, I'm sorry I had to say it x3

  • She/he is probably thinking get that fucking camera away from my face!

  • wtf it's not dead -.-

  • JUst leave em alone if you see them its okay to stare from a distance but dont frighten the poor thing or its mother...just saying;)

  • My girlfriend almost left me once while hiking because she was so convinced by that old wive's tale of the mother abandoning her young for a person odor. I picked the little kid up and took her to a clearing where the mother could find her faster, which we found she did within 5 minutes.

  • You should monetize this video if you haven't already. I'm surprised at the amount of comments you have.

  • weird legs much?

  • @Lawabidingscout Go fuck yourself, sorry you know nothing about deer.

  • playing possum

  • yea thats playing dead

  • playing dead?

  • Awww little does this spotted turd know it's not at all camouflaged against the gray road! =)

  • Mama's going to come back, smell human on her baby, and abandon it. This is basically a video of ignorant people killing a fawn.

  • @DGiovanni

    Not sure if troll,

    or just really stupid

  • @DGiovanni

    You are a fucking retard.

  • MAMA TOLD ME TO PLAY DEAD. I PLAY DEAD FOR YOU.

  • lol i seen her eyes move

  • Baby deer sit still because predators are less likely to see or mess with them, but i think she is fine, mama is probably nearby watching

  • its not a defence mechanism its called shock

  • the mother probably abandoned the baby after you touched it

  • @BlairNakama Read the second top comment.

  • lets play dead!! :D

  • What's truely unbelieveable is how long you continue to fuck with a baby animal that's clearly in distress. Fucktards.

  • "Randy laid there like a slug, it was his only defense."

  • DID YOU HELP IT!!! PLEASE ANSWER! 

  • @Celomuca Help it do what? Did you miss the part of they video where the guy said it was healthy and unhurt?

  • you can see the wetness on the ground...perhaps just born?

  • I would imagine that it would duck down to blend in more with the forest floor....but not so effective on driveways.

  • did you moved the deer of the street cuz the deer could be run over by a car u_u

  • I've been out walking in the bush and nearly stepped on fawns hiding in the brush or the grass. These guys are right, they will not move at all.

  • oh leave the poor baby alone

  • STRANGER DANGER

    

  • Upon further research I have concluded that mother does will not abandon their fawns just because a human touched them.

    In actuality they are more likely to try and kill you.

  • @Werewolphe yeah mama dont play thats for sure

  • @Werewolphe

    yup, she'll be bold enough to charge down other predators as well that threaten her baby

  • 0:44 she get move her eye

  • @EmoLovcia I saw that 2

  • It looks like a great defense if the fawn's in the woods - leaves, brush, etc. would blend.

  • That's what I call military bearing.

  • lol too cute work much better in grass compared to road, and with an animal starting the chase i have watched a mother deer kick her baby cause it didnt run with her away from a car, its twin did run though

  • Comment removed

  • what a cute baby

  • awww  was it ok?

  • What a ridiculous video. So what is the defense mechanism?

    lying on the ground motionless waiting for a predator to devour you?

    C'mon man!

    change the clip title to this flick!

  • @79Testo lol its true!! once I found a baby dear after these woods were burnt in my neigborhood. I was just a kid so me and my friends were petting and looking at the deer and trying to give it food. It just stood there. Then we picked it up and started carrying it away, guess what it did, it jumped out of our arms and walked back to its orginal location and sat back down. we were so surprized. But considering its predators it seems like a good defense, also most baby dears hide while mums away

  • @veanandjean1

    It's not a good defense. A coyote or wolf won't examine whether the fawn is playing or not or just dead. They will start devouring it.

  • @79Testo their defense is hiding. if they can be still, they are better hiders. IDK this is the mechanism baby dear in africa use and usually lions completely miss the baby dear. I thought that maybe north american dear weren't too different. Once they are found they will be eaten but most aren't found.

  • @veanandjean1 true the deer are interesting creatures. if not found this tactic works, but if found = lunch

  • @79Testo

    A lot of animals freeze when faced with a predator. Yesterday my cat was staring at a mouse that had gotten into the house. It looked dead to me at first until I examined it closer.

  • The whole time I'm watching this I was waiting for mom to make an appearence.

  • @kemanchie You could actually not be more wrong with that statement... The mother will still take it back, same goes for baby birds. 

  • @buntemeyerl People only like your comment because they believe what they want to believe.

    No she wont.

  • @x0vergaard 1 of 2 This isn't just towards you, but others as well. I just did some searching and though not definitive from what I've seen but most of the evidence points towards this being a myth. So I'm calling for a challenge of proof. What i have seen is video's of mothers fighting off predators trying to attack their young. So by your logic, once a predator even touches their young the mother should just run away and never come back. Also animals can identify their young by sight and....

  • @Atriticuss 2 of 2 ...sound too. It seems illogical to me from an evolutionary standpoint for animals to abandon their young just because of scent. Similarly despite having human scent, wild animals sometimes mate with domestic animals. Also what about zoo's and sanctuaries? Human interaction hasn't always hampered instincts.

  • @buntemeyerl weird, ive seen a bird nest abandoned. the babies were taken to a local bird type rescue facility

  • @yamahonkawazuki Maybe the mother bird died.

  • @buntemeyerl no. ive got security cameras in the area where the nest was found. ( a carport/garage. she would come around, but after that point she never came to nest again. after 8 hours of not even keeping them warm/covered. i took matters into my own hands. btw the birds last time i checked were fine and released into wild.

  • @yamahonkawazuki There is literally dozens of reasons why the mother abandoned her babies. It is NOT because someone touched the babies... Do some research please

  • @buntemeyerl It's further from the truth with birds.... birds have a poor sense of smell so it's even more unlikely the bird will abandon or kill the baby after it's been touched.

  • @kemanchie this is a common misconception. and completely false. not true. >.>

  • it is a defense mechanism

    they can't run as fast as their mother so they drop. that way if they can't get lost running after the parent and the parent can come back for them. the mother was probably someplace within eye sight of her

  • atleast its not as bad as a raccoons defense... they just cover their eyes lol

  • why are u touching the baby!? u dont want the baby to smell like human because the mother could reject it wtf !

  • @theSarahbear1 As said in another video, that is a false myth so children won't bring home wild animals and want to keep them as pets. If the mother ever rejects her young, it is for a reason other than smell. Its more than likely that there is something wrong with it if that happens.

  • I bet that young fawn would have some tender meat. Good eatin'.

  • playing dead

  • LOL the mom saw u guys and screamed "CONTACT! CONTACT!"

  • "I'm not a deer, I'm a chameleon. See, I TOTALLY blend in with the ground"

  • Animals are highly intelligent, so int tune with their true nature and with Existence itself.

    Even a sweet little baby deer and her Mother.

  • As soon as you touch their heads they will make a run for it. That is danger zone to them.

  • he's playing dead DUH :)

  • LOL,...playin' dead,...now what predator would wanna eat a dead fawn?!! Nothin' like fresh kill,....hehehehehe....

  • @qualqui hyenas

  • @Rayquaza911 LOL,....true,...great point there ya make!

  • "hehehe they cant see me they r soo stupid XD" *touches fawn* "GAAAAAAA I WAS WRONG" "stay still it will go away..... why arent they leaving..... i need a bath now... it touched me"

  • them deer and their damned Munchhausen's syndrome.

    TIGER gogogogogogogogoo eat them up while they're playing dead!

  • probably not the 'best' defence on a road??

  • i heard that if u get ur sent on them the mother wont take them back

  • @tsmithprice That's actually a common misconception with many animals. There is no truth in that myth whatsoever. I once found a baby bird in my yard that had fallen out of its nest. Its parents took it back with no issue after I placed the little guy back in his home.

  • did she stay like that when yall left?

  • @EnterpriseXI he was probably scared then when they left he probably left

  • by the titel i thought he would have biten you lol :3

  • they do it in tall grass. they drop as low to the ground as possible to get out of sight of predators

  • WE KNOW YOU'RE ALIVE. SERIOUSLY, YOU'RE FREE TO BLINK.

  • is it playing dead?? lol

  • Are you sure its healthy

  • @AquariusDarling It is, it just looks strange because they usually do this in tall grass where they're camouflaged.

  • 121212

  • why would you continue to approach it if the mother was near by? ignorant dicks!

  • why is there a wet area around it? it is injured.

  • @phantomcreamer It might be urine. I've seen a rabbit urinate when caught out in the open and surrounded by people.

  • LEAVE IT ALONE.

  • she looks dead

  • Young wild animals should not be encouraged.

  • bambi quit playin

  • Defense mechanism - yeah right. You ran over it you bastards

  • @ThePrivateJoker had it been ran over it would be much flatter, trust me iv'e had a dog hit by a car

  • Why do people feel the need to pet anything in the wild? Idiots! Leave them alone, not terrify them more.

  • I'm sad to say that is some good food they told me it was baby after i ate they hit on the raod head fist now i know how it happed that is some defense mechanism

  • @blackgriffinxx What?

  • Laying flat on the ground like that is a defense mechanism from predators. They lay still so that the predator gets bored and won't chase it. They will stay like this until it is safe to get up again or when it's mother approaches it signaling that it is safe.

  • the mother will abandon the fawn if you handle it, go near it etc. its not a myth. she'll be able to smell us on her baby, and its a natural instinct for deer to fear us and to think of us as danger. so well done

  • I would've moved my car away and waited inconspicuously to see if the mama came back to get her baby.

  • i would of picked it up with some gloves plopped him.her in my car and brought it to a vet or soemthing.End of story

  • @AngelKay7 this could potentially be a new species...deersum

  • i remember when i was young we caught a baby duckling and its mother abandoned it after we gave it back

  • The mom 'ordered' her child to do this, yes it is a defense mechanism. Amazing<3

  • Playing possum?

  • was it dead?

  • I wonder what they think when they're waiting for their mother to find them by scent and some humans with one of their perpetually roaring and beeping vehicles "descend" to pore over it. It must feel like visitation by some kind of gods, with no way to know whether they will smite it (though there's no way for them to make that correlation). The "scent of humans" thing is a BS in most cases including this, so it should be OK to move a fawn to the road's side if you see one lying on the road. :)

  • It's thoughts: "Oh shit oh shit, human, oh shit oh shit, mama, gotta breatheeeeee gotta breathe *small breath* oh good, they didn't see. AHHHH! oh he just touched me, god go away!"

  • @cocoa020

    hahahaha

  • awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, its crippled with fear, theres no mother etc to protect ittt looks so heartbreakinggg LOL

  • @Sunnyrach it is the best way to survive, only that. As they roam on grassy fileds, the fawn lays down and becomes pretty much invisible. It will stay like that until it's " mother " comes collect it. Emotions are only useful, in terms of nature, if it helps us to survive. That is mainly why we bond... we' re safer and more likely to succed. Take care. Hey, and if you see a predator, duck like a fawn...! :)

  • @cadaveresquisito lmaoo thankss hahah

  • Comment removed

  • 0:22 ooooh get away from me -_- im so tired :(

  • My goats do the same thing. A doe will snort and stamp and the kid will drop to the ground (normally shortly after birth). The doe generally does this if she sees something outside the pen. It's to prevent predators from seeing the fawn/kid by being as still as possible. Once the kid/fawn gets bigger, they can run and keep up with mom.

  • @Ten13Grl I'd have to agree with you...

  • Fawns will do that, they're not like puppies, they'll occasionally lay down and stay still for quite a while at a time. Best never to touch them though as deer can carry rabies, and sometimes a deer that looks dosile and still is actually just sick.

  • The fawn obviously isn't moving cause the mother probably tout it to play died if any predator came along.

  • "I am one with the ground."

  • it is in fact a defense mechanism. if a fawn is separated from it's mother its instinct is to become as invisible as possible to avoid being seen by predators. also the mothers will "bark" at their young to warn them of danger and again the fawns hide.

  • it looks sorta dead :/

  • @theultimatepower66 That tells you it's working! That baby is trying to look dead so a predator will think it is not a fresh meal and go away.

  • @Reinminer i know tht. i just said it looked dead. thts the point and i get it. u dont have to tell me tht.

  • @theultimatepower66 Oh, I know, I posted that for anyone else that thought it was.

  • @Reinminer well ok just when its a response it gets confusing. next time just post it like a normal comment k?

  • Comment removed

  • Deer-handbag-hometime lol

  • The poor baby is terrified. you should've left it alone.

  • So playing road kill is their defense mechanism, that hilarious

  • @sigmiami and ironic

  • if the mother was there and its not an orphan and its not overtly injured (of course dropping is its defense mechanism, normally mom keeps her babies in tall grass). the best thing for you to do was NOT PET IT AND RUB YOUR SMELL ALL OVER IT AND WALK AWAY AND LEAVE IT ALONE. yes of course its cuter than sin but its a wild animal. this was very irresponsible.

  • Very strange. I've never heard of deer playing dead like that.

    I bet it's a learned behavior, unique to some of the deer in your area, or maybe even the particular group of deer that the fawn came from.

  • Fawns pretend they're dead when they think they are in danger. like playing possum

  • OMG POOR BABY NEVER DO THAT YOU JUST SCARED IT TO DEATH FOR NO REASON

    ;(

  • If you leave it alone, and go away, it will rejoin it's mother.

  • @2bornot2b1984 If you leave it alone, on a gravel road, it may get run over.

  • @Ten13Grl exactly

  • Careful wild deer can carry rabies

  • dead drama next time poke on his eye lets see how he runs like a hell lol

  • the deer is just soooooo cute... and to tell you the truth.... id do the same thing

  • comer lil fawn ill take some ticks home for you.

  • when i tried to pick one up, it bopped me with its nose

  • I don't understand why people are disliking this...You were just concerned...You did well.

  • yeh

  • STOP TOUCHING IT AND LEAVE IT ALONE, YOU ASSHOLE.

  • is it dead

    

  • That would work in normal habitat where 90% of the area has tall bushes and it's possible for the predator to miss the fawn and chase after the bigger target (the mom) instead.

  • If you make it think it's gonna be hurt, it will try to escape. I saw another video where the guy came upon a fawn like this. The fawn was perfectly still, but the moment the guy gently grabbed it near its head, the fawn bolted.

  • poke the eye :D

  • @SweetBloodyBlackRose what? Not True! This is nothing but a common wives tale. They don't care that your scent is on their babies, after all, they are familiar with human scent because it is all over the area and on everything. They felt secure enough to have their babies nearby all that human scent. They don't care that human scent is on their babies - the mothers instinct is much stronger than the fear of human scent.

  • @SweetBloodyBlackRose Take it from a person who works day in and day out with multiple species of animals (I'm talking about myself here), very few give a crap if their offspring smell like people. Like others have already pointed out, that's an old wives tale.

    Also, if this was filmed in a state park (where hunting is illegal), then the mother won't know to fear humans, Go to Inks Lake in Texas. You're not supposed to feed the deer, but people do, so the deer actually seek out people.

  • @Ten13Grl yes, yes, i understand that, but if you work day-in day-out w/ them, they get to know you, but think, i highly doubt this yougling has ever even seen a human b4, so immagine what its thinking... immagine what it mother could think too... but also, i've had to practically raised baby wild animals before that ppl've messed with & the mother no-longer accepts them-... so those of you who are saying that its an "ol'wives tale", think again b4 another person sends another ugly coment...

  • @SweetBloodyBlackRose I understand, by your comments, that English isn't your best subject, so let me try to explain.

    By "a person who works day in and day out with multiple species of animals", I did not mean that I work with the same member of the same species for a long period of time.

    The babies you've raised, do you know the real reason (with scientific verification) that the mother abandoned them, or is your evidence purely anecdotal?

  • @Ten13Grl is YOUR evidence purely ancdotal? ...so your telling me, (a native american person who hunts deer & has a love & understanding for animals' nature,) that i don't know anything about animals, hmm?! i fyou work with ANY animal 'day-in, day-out', they get to know you & your scent... but this is a wild animal here, so they are not around ppl 'day-in, day-out', thats what i mean, know-it-all!!! >:(