Red Deer Story

In the Eiffel Mountains on the left bank of the Rhine. In late autumn, a red deer named "Hannibal" was moving restlessly in the dense forest. It was in rut and was anxiously looking for a mate. It came to a forest area, stopped, raised its head and let out a very deep deer sound. Then, it ran lightly towards a dense bush. Suddenly, it was taken aback: in front of it appeared a stag named "Alexander". The stag had antlers with twenty-two branches on its head, weighed 340 kilograms, was majestic and had a dignified appearance.

Just looking at the antlers on Alexander's head was enough for Hannibal to be terrified. He quickly turned around, running and jumping, trying to avoid this formidable opponent. After a short run, a clump of sawed and sun-dried fir branches blocked his way.

Hannibal was not angry. It poked its horns hard into the pile of branches, and after venting, Hannibal found that Alexander was close behind.

Now it was even more nervous, and it raised its head and stared warily at Alexander. Unexpectedly, there were three small sun-dried fir trees hanging from Hannibal's antlers, which made it look particularly mighty. Now it was Alexander's turn to be surprised. It shuddered all over, turned and ran away, and disappeared into the depths of the jungle in a moment.

Many scholars once believed that antlers are the size of a soldier's rank and must be respected regardless of the object. However, many ethologists have proved through a series of new experiments that this is only the case when unfamiliar deer occasionally meet, and in deer that are familiar with each other, it is a completely different situation.

The famous zoologist Dr. Esmalk once conducted such an experiment: he selected a deer with the least developed antlers and the lowest status from a group of twelve red deer. On its head, he put a pair of extremely powerful and beautiful antlers from the hunting club. In this way, the weakest became the "strongest" in the area; however, the red deer of the same group, because they knew its details, did not give it due respect, but bullied it and abused it as usual. The deer only recognize and respect their existing leaders.

The leader of this group of deer is called "Lex", and his head has a pair of large antlers that make every deer hunter's heart beat. If all its antler branches are sawed off, will its status in the deer herd plummet? Dr. Esmalk had all the branches sawed off, but the leader is still the leader, and its dignity and authority remain the same. Even when its antlers were sawed to a short post only forty centimeters high, it was still the undisputed leader, the "second-in-command" of the group - a red deer with sixteen branch antlers, still obedient in front of it. The doctor had all the antlers of the leader sawed off again. At this time, the situation changed. All the deer in the group rose up to form the leader's rebellion, and the leader's prestige was lost. It fell from the head to the tail and became the lowest status in the group. The loss of all the antlers would have catastrophic consequences for its "social status".

After Lex's antlers fell off, he was caught by researchers and sent to Springer's "Wild Boar Park" to be laid down with other red deer. This summer, Lex's horns grew on his head so pitifully that every visitor who saw him said he belonged to an "inferior race."

Why did a red deer with excellent genetics like Lex do so badly this year? It came to such a completely unfamiliar captivity as an outsider with no horns on its head, and was immediately involved in a series of endless fights. The hornless deer fought with its hind legs upright and its front legs beating forward like a drum, and the power of such a fight was naturally limited. So during the year, Lex had to bow his head and surrender. Its status was low, and it could only grow horns suitable for its status on its head. But in the second year, the situation changed completely. Lex was tall and strong after all. In the fight, it gradually gained the upper hand, and finally climbed to the position of leader. This year, its antlers grew tall and large, with many branches, reproducing the majesty of the year.

Scholars have thus concluded that it is not the size of the antlers that determines a deer's status in the group, on the contrary, it is those who are qualified to be leaders who grow the most powerful antlers.

A deer with big antlers is not necessarily really strong, but a strong deer will definitely grow huge antlers. For people, the same is true. The person who is the leader does not necessarily have the strength, but the person who has the strength must be able to become the leader.