Why is it that the whitetailed deer - intelligent and wily in every possible respect - can't seem to associate danger with cars and roadways?
These are animals that can pattern a hunter in a couple days. They can successfully evade armies of gun hunters, predators, starvation, disease... But they can't get out of the way of a speeding car? Why?
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I have a theory - and it may be flawed, but it's my best guess: Since deer who live in and around roadways see/hear traffic all day everyday - and 99% of the time, that traffic is not an actual threat - they don't view it as a threat, ever.
Compare/Contrast a would-be hunter invading their bedding area, which is a more intrusive event.
But it stands to reason that a deer who witnesses another deer in an auto collision - or sees the dead carcasses along the roadway - it should be able to make the logical connection between motor vehicles and danger, right?
One would just think, from an evolutionary or learned behavioral standpoint - that whitetails would know by now that standing in front of a speeding car is a great way to get themselves killed.
Do you guys think that deer are becoming more "intelligent" with regard to roadways and motor vehicle traffic? Are they progressing at all?
Do you think a wild whitetail is any more "streetwise" now, as compared to a wild whitetail 30 years ago?