In their first few days of life, fawns are at their most vulnerable. Usually, the doe stashes her fawn away somewhere safe and hidden, hoping to allow the young deer to spend most of its first week of life sleeping and staying hidden from predators. However, every year, there are fawns who simply don't make it that far. If the fawn has any physical defects or problems, odds are it's going to make a quick meal for some predator. Today's video demonstrates that in brutal detail. This trail camera footage, which appears to be shot at the end of a driveway or quiet road, shows a young fawn and her mother soon after the baby's birth.
Something appears to be wrong with the fawn, because it lays in the same exposed spot for nearly a whole day. Several times, the mother comes in and tends to the fawn. It appears she's trying to get the young deer on its feet and into a safer area, but the baby struggles to stand. Eventually, a black bear wanders into the area and snatches the fawn away. Then the mother wanders in and sniffs the place where her fawn was. It's a soul-crushing reminder of the brutality of the food chain.
As hard as it is to watch, survival of the fittest is part of the natural world. It's hard to see exactly what was wrong with this fawn, but there was clearly something amiss. It never moved from that spot the entire time, despite the mother's prodding. She clearly knew this wasn't a safe place for her baby to be, but at the same time, she was helpless to do anything more about it.
Contrary to popular belief, fawns do have an odor when they are young, and it seems clear that the bear sniffed this young deer out. For the bruin, finding a fawn is like hitting the jackpot. It's an easy meal that doesn't require a lot of expended energy of his own. Nothing goes to waste in nature. The fawn died so the bear can live. This video is a great reminder that the food chain is one vicious circle.
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