Watch This Deer Awkwardly Tumble Down an Entire Waterfall

Key Points:

• Warning — The video below shows an animal death in detail: a female elk’s fatal fall down a waterfall. (Prior to that, a mature male elk survives its tumble about 50 feet.)
• Generally, deer are excellent swimmers and can travel long distances through water.
• Swimming is an important survival strategy for many deer species, allowing them to escape predators and travel between habitats.

While nature can be a brutal place to live, humans have become rather adept at avoiding many of those brutalities. A recent TikTok video gone viral shows just how brutal that reality can sometimes be. In the clip, we witness an elk tumble down an entire waterfall to its demise. Incredibly, the entire thing was caught on camera. Beware: this video doesn’t hide much and shows the brutal reality of making a mistake as a wild animal in nature!

Watch the Full Video Below

The video may be disturbing for some viewers.

The clip begins with a mature male elk doing its best to walk across a slick river. The elk is clearly struggling, and the risk is immense. Although the location is beautiful, the crossing is extremely dangerous, especially for creatures with hooves. The man filming is a few hundred feet downriver but has a great view of the elk as it crosses.

Slowly testing its footing, the male elk makes its way across the slick rocks. Eventually, it makes it across to the other side … only to slip right at the end! Tumbling down the natural waterslide, the massive animal travels maybe 50 feet before hitting a mossy hill and stopping. Although the fall was far, it didn’t seem to hurt the creature all that much.

Once the male elk finished its near-deadly crossing, however, it was time for the female elk to try. Sadly, the female didn’t make it as far as the male did. We can see the second elk start in the same spot that the male did, only it is clearly struggling more with the crossing than its partner was.

Only making it a quarter of the way across, the female elk tries to step across a bit of moving water, only to step directly into it. The rush of water pushes the elk’s feet to the side, sending her sliding down. At first, it seems like the female is going to recover in the same way that the male did, but she instead just keeps speeding up.

Finally, the female elk slid past any hope of safety and hits the point of no return — a natural ramp ending in a jagged rock ledge. In seconds, the elk barrels down the rocks and shoots into the air. With a smash, it slams down into the rocks, instantly dying.

The audio makes things worse, as the sounds of the elk’s body hitting repeatedly hitting the rocks on the way down are unmistakable. Sadly, it’s evident that the animal died on impact. Although it’s unfortunate, it’s a much easier way to go than to be injured for the next few days.

For the man filming, it was quite a shock. When you go out for a hike, you generally expect to enjoy nature, but never like this! As the many expletives (bleeped out) used in the video might show, the man filming was still amazing that he got the entire thing on camera.

Is it Normal for Deer to Swim?

While it may seem surprising, deer are actually excellent swimmers and can travel long distances through water. In fact, swimming is an important survival strategy for many deer species, allowing them to escape predators and travel between habitats.

Deer have several adaptations that make them well-suited for swimming. Their bodies are streamlined and relatively lightweight, allowing them to move quickly and efficiently through the water. They also have powerful legs and hooves, which can be used for both swimming and walking on the bottom of shallow water.

While not all deer species are equally skilled at swimming, many are capable of traveling long distances through water. For example, the white-tailed deer, which is found throughout much of North America, is known to swim across rivers and lakes when necessary. In some areas, deer have even been observed swimming in the ocean, although this is relatively uncommon.

Deer typically only swim when necessary, such as to escape predators or reach new habitat. However, some species may also swim for fun or to cool off on hot days. Swimming can be a great form of exercise for deer, helping to improve their physical fitness and overall health. Unfortunately for the elk in the below video, it was not given the chance to swim in the waterfall’s water.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Mirjam Claus/Shutterstock.com