The embrace

The embrace ? The day slowly dawned on Jolliet Bay on Anticosti Island facing the small village of Port-Meunier. The high tide had receded and left ice spectra on the shores, keeping them in balance with each other. A few white-tailed deer ventured there to find some remnants of kelp to eat. Winter was here and so was the cold. Fights between the big dominant males were raging all around me. Without ever seeing them, I could hear the violent sounds that the woods were making as they collided with each other. White-tailed deer fights are the most dangerous deer in our territory. Their sharp antlers frequently pierce the leather and can be fatal. I have often seen males come out of a fight with pierced eyes or dislocated ears. Sometimes, under the force of too much impact, two males can entangle their antlers and get stuck. The slow and painful death of both individuals almost always follows. For a behavior that aims to ensure the survival and strength of the species, it is quite paradoxical that two large ones fall in combat without having been able to mate. A white-tailed deer reaches its maximum plume size on average in its fifth fall season. The two males that I was able to observe that morning were not on a mission of territorial conquest. At the time of mating, the frontal glands are particularly active. The latter would be used for the recognition of individuals. A little like a business card for each one. Social grooming between males is also observed during this season. These glands, like the nasal and preorbital glands, produce an oily substance that would darken the coat, making it darker in these areas. The value of this silent communication is crucial. Throughout the fall, males get to know each other and are able to determine their social rank. It is in the form of an embrace that the discussion takes place. With this method, several fights, which can be fatal, are avoided, allowing the species to avoid unnecessary losses. This image is strong in symbols. The elder crowns the younger one with his straight wood, which is much bigger than the older one. It is impossible for me to know what they communicate to each other, but there seems to be a strong complicity and fraternity between these two individuals. We often attribute all the merits of evolution to the law of the strongest, whereas a closer look reveals that mutual aid is much more important in the survival of a species than competition. But for this question, I will have to deepen the subject in a future text.