·October 10, 2022 (whiskeyriff.com)
In the words of the great Sturgill Simpson:
“I guess it could be worse, it ain’t that bad,
at least I ain’t sittin’ in old Baghdad
In the middle of a hot damn desert sittin’ in a tank…”
Or… getting eaten alive by a deer.
We’ve all thought we’ve had some pretty bad days at some points in our lives, but the next time things feel like they’re going south for you, just put think about this poor rabbit.
A video has gone viral of a Red deer in New Zealand, eating a whole-ass rabbit alive.
Considering a deer’s diet mainly consists of plants, you wouldn’t think in a million years that the creature had the nerve to consume a whole small creature, like a rabbit…
But think again, because this video says otherwise.
In the post uploaded to the Nature Is Metal Instagram page, the caption explains that deer will take an opportunity to eat small creatures like this one at times, if given the chance:
“Red deer (as they are called in New Zealand) are ruminants, herbivorous mammals that acquire the vast majority of their nutrients from plants and grasses that they chew, swallow, regurgitate and chew again.
Being so adapted to consuming plant matter, you would think that these animals would lack the digestive enzymes required to break down flesh, but this is simply not true.
Yes, the overwhelming majority of their nutrients are derived from the consumption of plant matter, but it is quite difficult to overstate the value of animal protein in the natural world… given the opportunity/ease of access, there’s always room for Jello.”
So yeah, deer can, and on occasion, do eat meat, but their bodies are primarily built for plants. Their teeth aren’t sharp, their jaws aren’t strong, but when plant food sources are scarce, especially in the winter, they can be found snacking on meat to fulfill their nutritional requirements.
This doe is behind a fence (with more deer), however so one might imagine that they are domesticated deer, being raised for human consumption. Perhaps being confined to the pen has not allowed for proper nutrition, but it’s impossible to tell.
It’s a pretty wild scene, to say the least, but it’s just another example of the brutality of nature, even from some of the most innocent of creatures.
Check it out:
(Shared by Gwyllm Llwydd)