Posted on 02/16/2019 3:55:17 AM PST by LibWhacker
Vikings hunting reindeer in Norway were once confounded by "reindeer cyclones"; a threatened herd would literally run circles around the fierce hunters, making it nearly impossible to target a single animal.
Filmmakers recently captured incredible aerial footage of one of these reindeer cyclones, which aired Feb. 13 on PBS in the documentary "Wild Way of the Vikings," a program about Vikings and the wilderness they inhabited around A.D. 1000. [Photos: Ancient Arrows from Reindeer Hunters Found in Norway]
One of the documentary's most striking scenes shows a re-enactment of a Viking hunt interspersed with real footage of reindeer herds. Reindeer were important to the Vikings for their meat, hides, antlers and bones, according to the film.
In the cyclone scene, a lone hunter (an actor playing a Viking) approaches the herd; he notches and releases an arrow. The footage that follows shows an actual herd of reindeer running in circles. As the swirling mass of bodies thunders along a circular path, an overhead camera reveals that the herd's momentum follows a spiral shape, drawing tightly toward the cyclone's "eye" at the center.
Faced with this spinning reindeer stampede, any predator — wolf, bear or human — would have a very tough time targeting and overpowering a single reindeer, making this a formidable defense strategy...
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
I am making another donation to this site and Jim because of your fascinating post!
We’ve actually seen live reindeer upclose in Norway’s tundra, and later we had a farm raised reindeer steak in Oslo.
It was The Best meat I had ever eaten!
Thank you fellow FReepers for ongoing education!
Frightened liberals trying to get away from an angry crowd of conservatives that has them surrounded?
“Wow. I bet the buffalo would have liked to have known this trick”
The buffalo might have used this, but it would have been ineffective against buffalo hunters with long range rifles.
Notice how the the article even manages to throw in a Gorebull warming slant;
“However, archaeologists know little about the details of their hunting techniques, as Vikings crafted tools primarily from organic materials such as wood, rope and hide, which don’t preserve well.
But in recent years, many of these ancient relics have emerged from melting ice and permafrost. This is particularly true in Norway, where ice patches — regions of long-frozen snow — are rapidly disappearing, providing archaeologists with access to Viking objects that were preserved in ice for more than a millennium, Pálsdóttir said.”
How did these finds get under the ice and age old snow? You can bet it was because at one time the ice and snow wasn’t there.
Thank YOU! :-)
Have you ever seen a reindeer cyclone? I looked elsewhere on the web and one website said even a small number of reindeer will sometimes exhibit that behavior in a confined space like a corral.
Liberals have been observed over time exhibiting similar behaviours.
Glad deer don't know this trick.
You’re welcome.
No never heard of herd behavior like that.
Fluid animal group movement reminds me of how fish schools, and bird flock swarm behavior.
I share your fascination of how the collective behavior became programmed within each creature.
There is so much we do not know about everything.
I wish I could clone my younger self and send copies of “me” thru different natural studies career.
“Well - you first. How much money do you have in the bank!?”
They both laughed as my old man realized his faux pa.
My Norwegian grandfather was very dark skinned, black hair, dark brown eyes. My dad always figured some viking had captured a young gal from the Mediterranean. But then he took the trip up to his Laplander relatives!
Admittedly, I wouldn't want to be the one to first test that theory...but I'm not big on "gamey"-tasting meat, either.
Ah! The only movie where Gary Sinise is a bad guy..........
Ever see old Westerns and wagons?
Yeah I thought evolution provided all these improved things for animals and taught them all they needed to know.
That video is creepy.
Up to that point, traditional slaughterhouses had straight chutes they forced the steers down with a bath they had to swim through (to remove parasites and other things) with slatted fencing on the sides, manned by men who had to prod the cattle with prods, and occasionally having to lasso and fish out cattle that were panicked and drowned in the bath...hugely labor intensive and dangerous, never mind losing the cattle that couldn't be resuscitated.
She designed one that went in gentle curves (and convinced someone to build it) didn't have slats where the alternating light and dark seemed (to her) to agitate them, and made the bath a thing they could calmly walk into and through. It really worked saving time and money, which added up.
A great movie...unknown to many. Without fail, every single person I have shown the movie to raved about it. One of my favorites!
My dog is a reindeer chihuahua and he is pretty mean also.
Being herd animals, they like to follow each other. Just like the ancient plains Indians would get buffalo to stampede off a cliff, it is probably an accident the reindeer just happen to end up in an "infinite loop" following each other.
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