🐇 MEET THE LOCALS: Get to know a personality.
Princess Xena & Homer
Sibling Rules at the Feeding Rock.
If you spend enough time watching wildlife, certain visitors begin to stand out. And sometimes, relationships start to reveal themselves. That's how we came to know Princess Xena and Homer.
We're fairly certain these two young deer are siblings. They appear together regularly, and their interactions have all the hallmarks of a brother-and-sister relationship—complete with affection, tolerance, and a very clear disagreement about who gets first dibs at dinner.
Princess Xena earned her name honestly. She's young, confident and decidedly in charge—with a willingness to do battle when the occasion calls for it. When she and Homer arrive at the Feeding Rock, Xena frequently makes it clear that the food belongs to her. A well-placed kick—or, lately, a headbutt—is sometimes all it takes to send Homer stepping away. Homer, meanwhile, seems to take it all in stride. He's the more submissive of the two, but he's persistent. We've watched him cautiously work his way back toward the food—and even try to sneak in a friendly face lick as though a little brotherly charm might improve his chances.
Sometimes it works.
Sometimes it most definitely does not.
But then we caught a brief interaction that showed us another side of Princess Xena.
A larger six-point buck appeared to challenge Homer. Suddenly, the little sister who has no problem kicking her own brother away from dinner ran the bigger buck off.
And just like that, we understood the rules.
Princess Xena may essentially have an: “I can beat up my brother, but you better not touch him” mentality.
We can't know exactly what motivates wild animals or what they're thinking, of course. But observing the same visitors over time gives us glimpses into their relationships, routines and individual behaviors—and Xena and Homer keep giving us reasons to watch.
One night they're squabbling over dinner. Another night Homer is trying his luck again. And every once in a while, Princess Xena reminds us that being the bossy sister and being the protective sister aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.
Some sibling relationships may be more universal than we realized.
🐇 Every regular has a story.
