Why do deer stare at bright lights?

Answer 1

I've heard a couple different things about why this could be. 1. It's a fight-or-flight reflex. The only "defense" (if you could call it that) that it knows is to stand perfectly still, almost like it's playing dead, except it's usually still standing. 2. It's a challenge. The deer is staring you down, and may attack if approached further. It's a form of "You'd better leave me alone, or I will attack."

Answer 2

White-tailed deer adjust their metabolic rate, home range, and food supply in the winter. During the longer summer days, deer have a higher metabolic rate to take advantage of higher quality and more abundant food supplies. During the shorter days of winter, they lower their metabolic rate and reduce their body temperature. They survive on lower quality food such as white cedar and mountain maple twigs. They need to eat 6-8 pounds of this reduced nutrition food.

Deer also reduce their home range in winter. They often stay in the shelter of a conifer grove, especially at night. Studies have shown that night temperatures in these groves are up to 60 degrees warmer than out in the open. A deer's heavier winter coat, with its hollow hairs, also provides needed insulation against the cold.

Deer also match their reproductive cycle to the change in the seasons. They mate in fall. During the early part of their pregnancy, which occurs during the worst of the winter, the fetus develops very slowly and requires very little from the female. During the last trimester, the spring thaw provides more and higher quality browse for the mother such as aspen, willow, and birch. The fetus then grows rapidly and is born after the snow melts.

Answer 3

Because the bright lights cause the deer to just see white and since they cant see they dont move at all.

Answer 4

It stops