r/AnimalBehavior • u/Dennyisthepisslord • 16d ago

Deer in large herds

Yesterday I was going for a run in a local deer park where I saw two deer. They were kinda spooked but not massively so as it's a public park so they are used to humans. I accidentally followed them to their return to a larger group where eventually the younger deer suddenly picked up speed when another deer ran towards them and it started suckling from it.

Would young deer go off without their mothers or suckle from other deer?! It wasn't a tiny baby as they are normally born in June time.

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u/Ellibean33 16d ago

This time of year? This year's fawns are weaning/weaned and are probably ranging farther and farther from the herd as they explore independence and practice normal deer behaviors. Developmentally, this is probably close to a deer's "teenage" phase: mostly independent but still requiring some support

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u/Dennyisthepisslord 16d ago

Ah so it was a freaky stunted teen deer! I wouldn't have thought anything about it until it started suckling. I see them regularly and it was the first time I have seen such noticable behaviour.