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Deer jumps into the lion's den at The National Zoo

washingtonpost.com — The deer, over as much as 20 minutes, was in and out of a moat while the lions clutched, clawed or swatted it. A crowd of spectators grew. Some shrieked, cried out or took children away.

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  • UnFriendlyFire, on 11/09/2009, -4/+119Go ahead and digg me down, but they should have let the lion eat the deer. It's what they do in nature and the kids would learn that real lions aren't link in the Lion King.
  • DBLOCK916, on 11/09/2009, -1/+63This is what everyone waits to see when they go to the zoo.
  • Awwzm, on 11/09/2009, -0/+40Video or it didn't happen. Oh wait..It did happen!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CbPzjhFY8Q
  • cptcliche, on 11/09/2009, -0/+30Oh deer.
  • VenDrake, on 11/09/2009, -1/+28Poor lion. He was set to have a perfectly organic dinner and it got away.
  • veins, on 11/10/2009, -0/+23not only that but they removed the deer and then euthanized it after it was found that the deer would not survive... seems to be a pretty useless story then.
  • Surferess, on 11/09/2009, -0/+20If those lions really wanted to kill and eat that deer they would have. They were probably just happy to have a toy to play with and break up the monotony of the daily routine.
  • skate3214, on 11/10/2009, -0/+20Link was in the lion king!?
  • Roshz, on 11/09/2009, -1/+20Damn nature, you scary!
  • Sixagon, on 11/10/2009, -0/+17clever girl.
  • doctechnical, on 11/09/2009, -0/+17I don't think lions are used to hunting while surrounded by a hundred or so screaming humans. That cat looked pretty distracted.

    I definitely would have been cheering for the lions. "NOM KITTY, NOM!"
  • RagingReid, on 11/09/2009, -0/+15I bet that deer wishes it jumped into the panda paddock instead.
  • Tollboi, on 11/09/2009, -1/+16I was pretty surprised at people's reaction. I would be amazed to see a scene of nature like that in a zoo, but all people could do was yell and scream and root for the deer. At one point it even looked as if the lion had a "WTF" look on his face when people were screaming at the event.
  • diggystardust, on 11/10/2009, -2/+15IT'S A DEER. A baby deer jumps into a lions den, I smell darwinism.
  • ThsGuyRightHere, on 11/09/2009, -0/+13It's like Discovery Channel but without the annoying commercials.

    Then again in nature there's the possibility that the deer could have made it across the body of water and escaped.
  • jordantneff, on 11/10/2009, -0/+10D'oe!
  • DiggUmFrog, on 11/10/2009, -0/+10The animal kingdom equivalent of suicide by cop.
  • akchrs, on 11/10/2009, -1/+10If deer had evolved with some sort of shell or protective layer like a turtle or armadillo the deer might have survived. Nature can be a cruel.
  • Livert, on 11/10/2009, -1/+10I would visit my zoo a lot more often if they allowed more of this to happen. Come on admit it, you would too.
  • Velocity14, on 11/10/2009, -0/+8A zoo is such a ***** block for instincts. The lions should have been able to at least keep the random piece of deliciousness for sheer experience.

    I wish zoos could focus on keeping natural instincts in tact. It'd be cool to roam around a well-designed zoo that allowed animals to hunt their prey within their boundaries... Hard to do, but fun to think of.
  • desertDenizen, on 11/10/2009, -0/+8Silly newspaper website puts a link to youtube but doesn't know how to embed it, LOL.
  • RAAFStupot, on 11/10/2009, -0/+8<Commence gravelly voice>

    For one to live, another must die. And so, nature's cycle continues.
  • abk0110, on 11/09/2009, -0/+8or they had never tried to eat a live animal before and they were completely out of practice.

    If I was a lion, and a hopping sack of meat jumped in front of me, I know I would eat it if I could.
  • cawfee, on 11/10/2009, -1/+8Welcome to life, kid, here's your box of Kleenex and a little paper scroll that reads "it's not fair".
  • Kaegro, on 11/10/2009, -0/+6Although I couldn't watch the vid and I'm sad that the deer died. It's still nature and animals have every right to kill to eat. They should have let the lions do their thing, as cruel as that sounds.

  • dogpigeoncow, on 11/10/2009, -0/+6In nature the lion would have had enough exercise to be have been able to catch the deer. I have seen a lion in the nature run and its a lot faster than this one, plus notice how it got distracted by the crowds reaction? its very sad what predators in captivity get degraded to.
  • HeDiggMe, on 11/10/2009, -0/+6A deer!
  • judicar, on 11/10/2009, -0/+6Spoiler: The deer loses in the end.
  • shutaro, on 11/10/2009, -2/+8OM NOM NOM NOM!
  • Lunarparcel, on 11/10/2009, -2/+7GLADIATDEER!
  • charlie3782, on 11/10/2009, -0/+6A female deer.
  • Laminarcissus, on 11/10/2009, -0/+5So from your living room, after reading one article, you're saying that veterinary professionals who have paid for years of schooling for the sole purpose of dedicating their lives and careers to saving animal's lives, in a highly public case where a large crowd had a vested interest in seeing that animal survive, just took a quick look and said "WTF, looks like a goner to me. Shoot him up, I have a train to catch."

    I've seen some absurd armchair quarterbacking on Digg, but you may well take the prize.
  • Lonandubh, on 11/10/2009, -0/+5and one of them was all wet, as noted in the video...
  • Lunarparcel, on 11/10/2009, -0/+5And the lion thinks, "Glad I ate deer?....but I didn't!"
  • knifesideleft, on 11/10/2009, -0/+5If this happened at zoo's more often I'd actually go to one, especially if they included some large explosions as well. They need to create more realistic and exciting surrounding for the animals. Imagine a jungle type scenery where you would see indigenous tigers hunt deer in their natural modern day habitats surrounded by poorly placed landmines long forgotten during warring times.
  • SNESChalmers, on 11/10/2009, -0/+4I like pizza; I like bagels;
    I like hotdogs with mustard and beer.
    I'll eat eggplant. I could even eat a ba-a-by deer.
  • ryanonfire, on 11/10/2009, -0/+4Well Zoos aren't really nature are they.
  • kongol, on 11/10/2009, -0/+4Too bad the lions never learned their "wild side" and only held the deer down rather than eat it's throat. Obviously those zoo keepers restrict the lions from watching the Discovery Channel.
  • boredco, on 11/10/2009, -0/+4I like this new zoo concept, but let's make it interesting: may I suggest we populate the moat with sharks with laser beams attached to their heads?
  • knifesideleft, on 11/10/2009, -0/+4If the deer had evolved into a dinosaur he would of eaten the lion or alternatively, if he had become a astronaut he would of just floated over the zoo inside his spaceship.
  • Laminarcissus, on 11/10/2009, -0/+4They couldn't take down a deer? Those lions are pussies.
  • Junkyarddawg, on 11/10/2009, -1/+41) Well-fed lions = they play with the deer. They may not even realize deer are food. It could take hours for them to kill it.

    2) Wild deer may carry parasites & disease.

    3) It's a real bad idea to awaken the predatory instincts of captive lions.
  • j0phus, on 11/10/2009, -1/+4Dugg for the epic Jurassic Park reference.
  • Dr3w, on 11/10/2009, -1/+4Well they can't exactly have the lions get off the feeding program they have them on. These lions are taught to wait for nice steaks to be thumped in front of them before their instincts kick in and feel driven to go hunt. If they had been allowed to eat the deer, they might start realizing there are tasty things over that wall.
  • NetworkNed, on 11/10/2009, -0/+3Ray
  • Kaegro, on 11/10/2009, -2/+5instead of a carapace, the deer has speed and agility. Evolution is a give and take deal. Kinda like alchemy in Full Metal Alchemist.
  • Laughingman42, on 11/10/2009, -0/+2I seriously doubt events involving wandering into a zoo exert a strong selection pressure on the deer population. Roadways are much more relevent to the deer gene pool. Think about this: how often will a gene mutation make a deer more like to avoid a situation where it otherwise would have died by jumping into a lion's den at the zoo? We already know that this cause of death is very rare, so... probably never. Furthermore I can't think of any general case it falls under except "avoid all human activity" which is not only increasingly inmpossbile, it is also not a good trade (seeking human activity earns many deer food handouts).
  • RAAFStupot, on 11/10/2009, -1/+3They are called national parks.
  • darkcrystal, on 11/10/2009, -0/+1its a trap!
  • securesystems, on 11/10/2009, -0/+2This is the kind of thing lion dreams are made of! They will be telling this story over and over at the watering hole for years! Of course they will say that they killed it, then fought off the zookeepers who tried to take it away from them, and it was the most tender and delicious deer there ever was.
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