oh.....dear.....deer

We got to observe a part of nature that one rarely sees:  A newborn fawn being cared for by its mother.

Vicky ran into Bambi laying at the gate to our garden.  She quietly came in to tell me, so I went to look.

I was convinced it was dead.  It didn't move, didn't breath, didn't blink even for the two-three minutes I stared at it.  So I gently poked it with a stick--no response.  I wasn't trying to torture Bambi, but wanted to know so I could deal with it.

I went back inside to tell Vicky.  I didn't want to have to tell her because I knew she would be so sad.

But we waited, and I was wrong.

Mother appeared later.  She stood watching for the longest time (we were hiding in the bedroom watching out the window).  She would disappear, then re-appear.  One of those times we saw little Bambi hidden under her.

 

Bambi was back the next day, but we didn't see her/him come or go.

Mother deer leave their babies in a safe place to go seek food.  The babies apparently give off no odor that would attract predators.

And they have learned to lie completely still, and play dead, which apparently works for the stupid animals that are lower than us in the phylogenetic tree.