What do you think this posture means, re: this buck's current focus?
He walked around with his head straight out like this (and lower) for a while.
You can learn a lot from body language in many species besides our own,
so it's nice to pick some of these things up whilst ogling wildlife.
Please submit guesses in the usual way (comments),
and you are, as ever, welcome to fling guesses wildly,
without a thought about consequence.
And here's a bonus shot, just for fun. Cutie, eh?
=) Good luck!
Well, I'd say he's sniffing out a doe, or he's posturing for a turf battle (the other picture suggests the latter). Two sides of the same coin, really...
ReplyDeleteI don't know a thing about deer but my guess is, he's sniffing around for some Action, if you know what I mean. There's something he's intrigued by. And I think it's lovin'. How'd I do?
ReplyDeleteMay be getting ready for Flehman response or lip curling - often done by bucks when "tending" a doe to smell whether she is ready for breeding or not. That buck has his neck stretched out but doesn't have his upper lip curled back yet. It may seem like it is a little late for deer to still be in the rut in December but I saw blacktails doing this and tending does two weeks ago on central Calif coast. If some of the does are not successfully bred in the main part of the rut, they come back into their breeding cycle again a few weeks later and the bucks are out looking for another opportunity. Or, maybe this is his best attempt at planking.
ReplyDeleteI love a "guess" that teaches me stuff. Plus, planking got a loud HA! =) Riot.
DeleteSomeone stage left is holding a chocolate chip cookie. My friend had a sheep who would behave like that if it saw a chocolate chip cookie.
ReplyDeleteMt. Lion!
ReplyDeleteogling
ReplyDeleteYeah, maybe I've become single-minded b/c of my own research area, but I too say it's mate-related or mating-related behavior. --Well, either that or the chocolate-chip cookie. OR he and his fellows are playing hide and seek.
ReplyDeleteI'd say the second shot gives it away, but what are you keeping in the 'well built' pen/enclosure.
ReplyDeleteGoogle Blogspot never recognises my ID, I bet it's competition with WordPress.
Mark @ beingmark.com Posting as anonymous ...
Chickens. =) Given the # and variety of predators we have here, we decided to make a pretty bomb-proof coop. The only predator I think it will not foil is a bear.
DeleteMaybe I'm showing my age but I hadn't even thought about the mating possibility I was going to vote for the chocolate chip cookie idea I need to start watching my pink music videos more often
ReplyDelete