Who's the Boss?

Are you a leader or a follower? When the plane makes a sudden jolt, or co-workers begin to argue about who gets credit for a project, are you the person who takes a back seat to watch the drama unfold or are you the person who stands up and reassures everyone on the plane it will be okay, or makes peace with your work peers? Everyone has their place of comfort - some are born leaders, others learn how to lead, and the majority of people follow along - content in being part of the crowd. There's no right or wrong, no good or bad. Where we fit in in our social circles has much to do with our temperaments, our family dynamics, our personal history, etc. Take comfort in knowing that even in a deer herd, these same strong social hierarchies exist.

Most people associate this "Who's the Boss" behavior with bucks who will fight antler to antler at the risk of injury, even death, to decide who dominates, but female deer also have a strong social structure with some of the does being "higher up" than the others. The "lead doe" rules the female herd. This "Queen Doe" is the one who gets first dibs on the best spot to have her fawns in the spring, gets first crack at whatever food is available, and makes sure that others understand her position through a series of moves including nudges, head raising, stare downs, kicks, and when she really means business, rearing up at the other deer in her herd.

This social behavior is practiced early on by fawns in playful moves like kicking at each other and rearing but they are learning an important lesson on what their position in the social ranks is. This video shows a more dominant doe kicking at a younger one, who is likely her own fawn, to let her know who's boss and who gets access to the food first. Note, no animals were injured during the filming of this video. As usual, Mother Nature sorts everything out just the way it's supposed to be.