Rudolph, Why His Nose Was Red

Reindeer are often plagued by botflies. Botflies are parasites that deposit larvae inside the noses of their hosts. The larvae burrow into the flesh of their nasal passages, causing pain, redness, breathing trouble, and other serious problems.

The deer have elaborate behaviors to avoid the flies. When they see or hear a botfly, they’ll sneeze to try to blow the fly away. Then they’ll thrust their heads down to press their noses into the snow or a clump of grass, looking cautiously around to be sure the fly is gone before raising their heads.

BUT the flies have sneakier ways to get at their hosts. Two different species of botfly use opposite attack strategies.

One species uses stealth. These flies are able to fly and hover silently. They approach deer slowly from behind, staying low to the ground. Then they position themselves just below the deer’s nose. From this “blind-spot” in front of the deer, a fly can dart up and squirt a batch of larvae into the deer’s nostril before the reindeer has a chance to react.

The other botflie species deliberately makes it’s presence known. It exploits the deer’s natural curiosity. These flies buzz conspicuously and land on a deer’s hindquarters. When the deer turns to investigate the disturbance, it has to stretch its neck out at an awkward and extreme angle. Deer in this position find it hard to evade a fly when it rushes in to deposit larvae; the deer can’t move their noses quickly enough.

The Boreh provides every living creature exactly with what it needs, even it’s own strategies and what appears to be saichal (it IS the Ribbono Shel Olam’s saichal, not the saichal of a fly with a brain smaller than a poppyseed) all in harmony with all the other creatures of the Boreh’s world to provide Parnassah from the Aomeba to the blue whale, to his dear Yiddishe children.