Sometimes… the things you see in nature just don’t make much sense. But that’s part of the magic and mystique… that’s what keeps us hungry to explore.
I mean, a deer helping a rabbit get away from a hawk sounds like the plot of a Disney movie, right? But this isn’t a movie… it actually happened in a viral video out of Wisconsin, which just so happens to be my home state.
Let’s break it down and figure out how and why something as seemingly odd like this could happen and be captured on video.
First, let’s talk about deer. Whitetail deer are highly adaptable herbivores found across North America, known for their agility, speed, and the distinct white underside of their tail which they raise like a flag when alarmed. During the spring and summer, does (female deer) give birth to fawns, which are born with white spots to camouflage them in the brush.
Because newborn fawns are too weak to outrun danger, their primary defense mechanism is to instinctively lie completely motionless to hide from predators.
Hawks, such as the red-tailed hawk, are formidable birds of prey equipped with sharp talons, hooked beaks, and incredible eyesight. While they primarily hunt rodents, snakes, and small birds, large birds of prey are fully capable of targeting very young, vulnerable fawns.
Why a Deer Would Attack a Hawk
A whitetail’s primary motivation for attacking a hawk is maternal instinct and the evolutionary drive to protect its young.
While adult deer are not prey for hawks, small fawns are. Mother deer are notoriously protective and will aggressively charge, stomp, and kick predators, whether that is a coyote, a dog, or larger birds of prey, to defend their offspring.
Interestingly, this aggressive instinct can be so strong that it triggers even if the deer’s own fawn is not actively being attacked. A hawk on the ground is a highly vulnerable predator, and by stomping it to death, the doe is proactively eliminating a potential threat to her babies.
For this rabbit in Waushara County, Wisconsin, that was the case:
“Kris Miller was trimming trees around Nordic Mountain country park, Wisconsin, USA, earlier this month when he spotted a red tailed hawk dead on the ground. After checking CCTV from June 11, the 29-year-old operations manager was ‘astonished’ when he saw the bird of prey swoop down on an unsuspecting rabbit below.”
A hawk is seen coming down out of a tree and hitting the ground pretty hard, which is exactly how hawks like to hunt. Hard, fast, devastating precision. And a grassy spot near some tree cover is their bread and butter, as it holds lots of opportunity for prey to come out into the open while hawks spot them secretly from above. This is actually Nordic Mountain (more like a hill), a ski spot in Central Wisconsin.
As the hawk is wrestling whatever it has got ahold of, an angry doe comes out charging out of nowhere, and just starts stomping the absolute life out of the hawk. A rabbit breaks free of the grip and makes for high ground with better cover. And the hawk? Well, it takes the worst beating of its life.
But since a fawn wasn’t locked in the hawk’s talons, why would the deer do this? There’s a few different reasons…
When a deer attacks a hawk that is actively hunting a rabbit, the deer is not trying to be a hero or save a fellow woodland creature. Wildlife biologists attribute this specific, violently aggressive interaction to a case of mistaken identity and hardwired maternal triggers.
When a rabbit is attacked by a predator, it often emits a high-pitched, piercing scream. To a deer, this scream sounds incredibly similar to the distress call of a newborn fawn. Hearing that specific distress scream more than likely triggers an intense, blind protective instinct in a nearby doe. It does not matter that the animal in danger is actually a rabbit.
The doe rushes in to neutralize what her instincts tell her is an immediate threat to her young. She sees an active predator on the ground, hears a sound mimicking a dying fawn, and goes on the offensive, violently trampling the hawk to death.
Ultimately, the rabbit escaping is just a lucky byproduct of the doe’s aggressive maternal defense mechanisms. And for the hawk, well… mama wasn’t letting him off easy.
As the poor chap tries to fly away, the deer just doesn’t let it. Rather, it uses both sets of legs to stomp the actual life out of the bird. A lovable woodland grazer turns stone cold killer, flipping the script on one of Wisconsin’s aerial predators… the circle of life.
