hightail
Comments:- 10 months ago, reesetee said:
And a bonus: thanks to John, I'm adding "hightail it home" to my Mom list. :-) - 10 months ago, chained_bear said:
Yes, that's true! The other animal that was used as an example in whatever the hell it was I was reading about the white-tailed deer, was a mourning dove. They have white streaks on their tail feathers, which, when the birds are startled, spread to make the white highly visible. - 10 months ago, reesetee said:
That's also a sign of danger in the bird world. Birdwatchers are warned not to wear white in the field so as not to scare away all the good birds. - 10 months ago, chained_bear said:
Interestingly, about white-tail deer anyways, it is thought that they evolved white undersides on their tails to function as a warning flag to other deer.
If you're a deer, and you see that white tail, you know the other deer is fleeing something and you ought to consider doing the same. Something like that.
I always thought that was a pretty cool evolutionary tool.
It reminds me of that Gary Larson cartoon of a deer with a target on its chest: "Bummer of a birthmark, Hal." - 10 months ago, John said:
Slang for running away quickly. I presume it comes from the fact that deer hold their tails straight up when they bolt.