The Deer of Nara

We had read about the deer of Nara prior to the trip. The deer are a national treasure and are not be harmed or scared. But we were still surprised to find the deer swarming the park, as tame as could be, even aggressive about approaching humans for food.

During our walk on our first night, Maki bought a sweet potato and CJ enjoyed feeding the skin and flesh to the deer. We also bought deer crackers that look to be made of rice that they seemed to really love.

We saw many does, a few bucks and a number of fawns. Many of the males had their horns clipped, presumably to keep them from fighting each other. We spotted one deer fight between two males and noticed that the males were considerably dirtier than the does.

Here's me and CJ feeding the deer sweet potatoes. 

CJ got swarmed by deer once they realized he had food. 

The deer got a little aggressive with CJ and he had to run away!

Hmmm... this camera strap looks interesting. 

We taught MJ to pet the deer nicely. At one point, he was petting a deer on the tush, the deer's butt would wiggle and MJ would shriek with laughter.