It’s all well and good to laugh and call names but things can get out of hand: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1984582211623
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Rut in the world is going on?
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“It’s time to face your reckoning, Rudolph. You only got the job because you were born with a lightbulb for a nose. But I was supposed to guide Santa’s sleigh. I’ve been playing the reindeer games since you were a fawn. I put in the hours. I suffered the gauntlet. I learned to fly like a proper cervid. But you…you are a mere champion of circumstance, Rudolph. There are some that might say circumstance is what ensures success in this world. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it…or allow it. Here I come…”
-Comet, probably
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Agnostic? I don’t think any Deity played a part in this. Except perhaps to make deer rather dim!
It was interesting to see the cautious moves the real deer made. And it was very funny!
It’s all fun and games until someone looses an eye - or in this case, a model deer 
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Agonistic, not agnostic. From the Oxford English dictionary: agonistic - (of animal behavior) associated with conflict.
Agonistic behaviour includes dominance,submission and conciliation displays which don’t really work when one of the parties is made of plastic with a red light bulb for a nose. Who knows how the flesh and blood buck was interpreting that? I guess we’ll never be able to ask poor Rudolph for his opinion on whether the existence (or otherwise) of a prime mover in the universe is knowable. Maybe @nickcarlson has it right. Or maybe he’s just another celebrity whose star (or nose) has faded to the point where he gets no respect from the younger set.
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The title says, “ agonistic “, which has a different meaning from “agnostic”. The meaning is more akin to “antagonistic”. (Yeah, I had to look it up)
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Sorry about that. I studied animal behaviour at university and it’s a pretty common word in that context. In any other context I guess it’s pretty much nonexistent. Mea culpa.
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I was replying to a comment, not the thread’s title. What’s funny is that the behavior fits either definition.
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Poor Rudolph, still gets bullied.
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Sorry all - I read Agnostic and have never run across agonistic (although, as I type the word I have heard about agonistic breathing, which is not a good thing). Learn something new every day! It’s still a funny clip though!
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Nature related, funny and seasonal. The perfect greeting card for my iNat friends.
Happy Yule y’all.
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Amid warnings of possible tornados sweeping through our area and in a serious thunder storm, I ran across this thread. Thank You Everyone! - The original post, its wonderful nerdy title, the video, and the hilarious comments have made my day.
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I remember the TV special about Rudolph. I was always the kid who didn’t really want to play the organized games grownups wanted me to, and it frustrated me when they would coax and cajole. So when I saw that wannabe drill sergeant of a coach for the Reindeer Games, I was confused: “Why are you upset, Rudolph? You’ve just been handed an escape from that guy. That’s a good thing!”
Guess I was a misfit, too.
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I once experienced a rather similar, or perhaps rather opposite, not necessarily agonistic but rather amorous, interaction between a whitetail stag and what I guess he took to be a female of his own species, him paying little regard to the minor detail that she appeared to be cast in bronze.
Sadly, I do not have video or pictures of the scene. All I can offer is a still of the molded
lady in her post coital glow, calf trotting along behind her.
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Not just cervids, a bear cub got it into it with some Christmas megafauna - Scrooge McBear Attacks Merry Reindeer Decoration in California (adventure-journal.com)
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