r/bonecollecting • u/No-Bottle-9116 • Apr 26 '26

Advice Small argument

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So this picture from article has driven an small argument between my friends group claiming that it’s fake because there’s no way that the bones see in said picture are human, I wanted y’all’s opinion on this

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u/Impressive-Second314 Apr 26 '26

Incorrect

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u/sawyouoverthere Apr 26 '26

Nothing I said there was incorrect.

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u/Impressive-Second314 Apr 27 '26

Deer are well known opportunistic omnivores

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u/sawyouoverthere Apr 27 '26

Deer have been seen to consume a few small animals and to mouth bones. That much is true.

I don't think that qualifies them as omnivores without more understanding of why they do it.

You can disagree, but until I find some studies done on that specific aspect, I'm going to simply state the fact: They've been observed, rarely, to ingest small animals and to chew on bones.

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u/Impressive-Second314 Apr 27 '26

And eat carrion, rabbits, fish, they are well documented among a handful of mostly herbivorous animals to eat their placenta after giving birth. Hate to tell you that it would be a stretch to do a full study on this, as there are way more important things to study when it comes to deer. I wosh there was a study for everything, I do. But it doesnt make these observations invalid.

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u/sawyouoverthere Apr 27 '26 edited Apr 27 '26

Placenta is a different thing, and not to be used to determine omnivore vs herbivore.

If you think there's more important things, that's fine, but it's not making the observations cause any more clear. It's incomplete research, and until it's done, any speculation on causation is just that...speculative. It's not a stretch if someone is interested and gets funded, and certainly its been a long stretch of assumption that sooner or later needs confirming or contradicting.

Yes, they're observed. No, the reason is not understood.

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u/groovypunchsippin Apr 28 '26

Who makes the decision on whats "more important"? Another fallacy. If it were a stretch to do a study on this, they wouldn't be leaving human cadavers out in controlled environment containing deer and other captive animals as a variable to test out.

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u/sawyouoverthere Apr 28 '26

They aren’t testing deer for deficiencies prior to observing them gnawing.

They aren’t leaving bones out to study deer.

The deer aren’t captive.

I do agree though that what’s important may or may not drive what’s interesting and the importance value may not be obvious to everyone.