Not exactly the memorable moment they were hoping for.
One of the biggest attractions in the northeastern portion of the US is Niagara Falls, a group of three waterfalls at the south end of Niagara Gorge.
It famously sits on the border of upstate New York and Canada and gushes an incredible 3,160 tons of water over the crest every second, making it the most powerful waterfall in North America.
It’s a tradition for many families where I grew up in Pennsylvania to take a summer trip up to see the falls, and although I’ve never been myself, I heard the size is hard to wrap your head around and you wind up just mesmerized by it.
Well, a family recently decided to take the trip to Niagara Falls and they got to see a much different sight that many others when they noticed a helpless animal being pulled mercilessly toward the crest.
Deer are very common in the area surrounding the falls, and despite them being good swimmers and generally quite careful about where they step, one happened to find its way into the current with no way to escape.
You can hear folks gasp as they realize that deer is about to get thrown down a 100ft cliff with millions of pounds of water crashing around it.
While there’s no proof either way in the video, it’s almost 100% certain those were the deer’s final moments.
Nature shows no mercy.
Golden Eagle Dive Bombs & Body Slams Deer
A golden eagle with a golden opportunity.
You shouldn’t ever underestimate the size of a golden eagle. The bird of prey is among the largest of all flying creatures in North America. They can boast a wingspan 72 to 86 inches (up to 7 feet), so that alone makes the golden eagle one of the Animal Kingdom’s most intimidating birds.
Though they typically stick to hunting smaller animals like rabbits, squirrels, and other mid-sized prey, golden eagles have been known to pick on things that are little bit bigger than their size. So yes, that means they go against the “pick on something your own size” saying.
That’s has been made evident by unbelievable videos of golden eagles picking up and carrying off goats, flying off with a fox in tow, and even a pair of the eagles taking down a fully grown wolf. In case you need it plainly spelled out for you, nothing is off the menu for golden eagles.
The large birds can be dangerous to just about anything on land. A golden eagle’s agility combined with its speed and their razor sharp talons can spell trouble for even the fiercest of animals. And don’t forget that they are usually launching aerial attacks, which often benefits them with the element of surprise.
It seems as though that’s how the golden eagle in the video below was able to take down a smaller deer. This won’t be the biggest buck you’ve ever seen by any means, but it also isn’t Bambi. The deer was doing its best to run away from the approaching golden eagle, though it was ultimately no match for the sharp-taloned eagle.
The golden eagle flew down with tremendous speed and latched on to the back of the smaller deer, sending it tumbling and leaving it in a pretzel on the ground. It might not have been part of the initial attack plan, but the golden eagle basically body slammed the deer before it brought it to a complete stop. If it was an accident, it worked out for the big bird.
Even with the golden eagle digging into its upper torso, the small deer put up a valiant fight. However, the sizable bird was in full control by the end of the clip, and probably had itself one heck of a meal when it was all said and done.
Take a look:
Is Anything Weirder Than Five Deer Licking A House Cat?
Maybe the cat stopped washing itself and the deer were sick of the smell…
Weird things happen in this world, we all know that. Our culture is a spinning blob of political statements and viral trends that change the way us malleable humans see life on planet Earth, and while we tend to view this as a very human problem, sometimes things playout in the world of wildlife that make me second-guess the role people play in the matter.
Case in point, a video resurfacing from a few years ago showing a herd of deer circling a house cat and licking it.
Yes, licking a house cat in the middle of some patch of woods; It’s as strange as it sounds.
So many questions pop up in my feeble, warped brain.
How is the person filming able to get that close without spooking the deer? Is this an outdoor cat that made friends or an indoor cat that got loose with no survival abilities, subjected to the instinct of the white tail? Did the cat use its cunning mind to trick these deer into cleaning it? Why would deer want to lick a hairy cat in the first place?
All questions that will go, unfortunately, without answers.
Truly, all we know is that strangeness is interwoven into the very fabric of reality at a level we rarely, if ever, understand. Maybe normality is the true strangeness, since what happens most often would definitionally be the most “normal” thing and there seems to be more weird than typical in modern times.
Maybe I’m thinking too deeply about a one-off occurrence that happened to be caught on camera, but I would challenge that maybe you’re not thinking deeply enough and the claws of a society gone mad have penetrated to your bones with such delicate acuity that you never noticed the incision.
Anyway, here’s a video of deer licking a cat. I hope you enjoy it.
