History ArtisticLicenseBiology / Bambi

* Bambi's anatomy is mostly accurate to how a white-tailed deer looks and moves even when taking cartoon exaggeration into account, but there are more than a few liberties taken with his species biology and behavior:

* Many animals of various species are unrealistically shown collectively celebrating the birth of Bambi — something they would never do in real life, considering their innate fear and avoidance of each other. In reality, generally placid deer are territoriality intolerant of intruders and can be downright vicious to each other. Compare this to the opening scene of the book, where Bambi's birth is treated as a mundane event and only one other animal--an obnoxious magpie--is present.

* One of the most notorious misconceptions spread by both films is that Bambi, when several months to a year old, is still so young that he ''needs'' a parental figure to keep caring for him, which is not true at all for real life deer. In fact, evidence exists that a button buck orphaned by six months of age would actually have a ''better'' chance at surviving in the wild than one that's still with its mother. Fawns are always weaned by four months of age and capable of caring for themselves before hunting season, and surviving on their own without needing to nurse off their mother when as young as three (in some cases even ''two'') months old (although they'll still stick with them and even nurse off them for several months)--in fact, this is exactly ''why'' hunting seasons are scheduled as they are. This issue has caused no shortage of grief for real life hunters, wildlife conservationalists and the deer themselves, as regulated hunting is necessary and even beneficial for deer populations due to them often lacking a common predator, and the unfairly bad stigma given to hunters over this (particularly the ethical concerns over shooting a doe that still has its fawn(s) with it, which the first film had a huge hand in raising) has often caused many overpopulation problems (i.e. starvation, spreading illnesses like Chronic Wasting Disease, causing property damage and car collisions in dense areas, deforestation due to an overpopulated herd eating all of the forage available, etc.) for real life deer herds. And even if a doe and its fawn(s) aren't separated by outside means, they usually spend less than a year together anyway [[note]]there are cases of a buck fawn staying with its mother for at least two years, but these are far from common [[/note]], as a doe separates from her older fawns (bucks go or are forced off to live on their own--does sometimes stay in their mothers' territory and form herds with them, but have been known to be forced away too) to give birth to new fawns the following year.

** Also in the midquel (and pictured above), Bambi is depicted having upper front teeth to clench with, which is something real life white-tailed deer do not have--they have teeth on the upper jaw around (but not at) that area, hence why they chew their cuds side to side. [[EnforcedTrope Presumably, this liberty was taken to make it easier to get expressions out of him.]]

[[folder:Subversions]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thumper_artistic_licesense_biology.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Who mistook a rabbit for a cat?[[note]]Unlike dogs and cats, rabbits don't have paw pads or hairless noses.[[/note]]]]

->'''Wildlife Expert''': "Why in Bambi, the buck steps into the clearing ahead of the doe and fawn to be sure there are no hunters there. Actually, bucks hang back and have even been seen kicking the does out of the brush ahead of them. And the picture wasn't true to life in so many other respects, either."

* The film deliberately sacrifices a piece of the novel's accuracy for the purpose of humanizing Bambi's mother and to make her death all that more devastating. The novel shows her [[ToughLove actively weaning Bambi and leaving him to fend for himself when he's only a few months old,]] ([[TruthInTelevision which is accurate to how real life does raise buck fawns.]]) Real does also, after several weeks, allow their fawns to choose their own bedding site some distance from them. Here, she keeps Bambi with her all the way from spring (the film implies it's as early as April) to late winter, far longer than any real life doe would raise a buck before forcing them to become independent. This has had devastating consequences on how people see deer in real life, as it has indirectly caused hundreds of uninformed people each year to believe a lone, resting or hiding fawn has been abandoned by its mom, [[RealityIsUnrealistic even though this is perfectly natural behavior for deer]],[[note]]A doe keeps her infant fawns, which usually stay perfectly still out of instinct and as a defense mechanism or spend most of their time sleeping, hiding and cleaned of scent for their first few weeks until they're strong enough to follow her around regularly, and they go off regularly to graze (usually within hearing distance of their fawns' cry) so they can nurse their fawns later. Does also rarely directly confront someone who gets near or touches their fawn, either out of fear or because they instinctively keep their distance nearby to try and draw predators away from the fawn with her sight and scent. It's also quite rare for a doe to abandon the fawn, and it usually only happens to fawns that have injuries or deformities that prevent them from nursing or keeping up with the doe[[/note]] and it often results in them being illegally fawnnapped from the does and, in worst cases, a scenario where a stolen fawn cannot be returned to its mother in time. This is often because the people don't bother delivering the fawns to a rehab, and [[PetBabyWildAnimal try to raise them themselves]] and are either ill-equipped to do so[[note]]For starters, it's usually illegal to keep a wild animal as a pet except in special circumstances (i.e. the deer is physically incapable of surviving in the wild due to a deformity or injury, or was domesticated from birth and imprinted on humans and thus lacks the necessary survival instincts needed to survive in the wild, the owner runs an authorized wildlife rehab clinic, etc.) and even states that allow this require permits and regular inspection, and some states even require by law that orphaned or non-releaseable fawns have to be euthanized. Second, fawns are ''not'' easy to care for or ideal pets—-they're a high-maintenance animal that require expensive, frequent (they can guzzle half a dozen bottles of expensive formula in just a day) and specialized feeding due to their very sensitive stomachs (even one feeding of the wrong formula, like cow milk or baby formula, can seriously mess up their digestive system or even kill them) can carry parasites and diseases, require constant cleaning to stimulate their bowels, need lots of open space to move around in, and being instinct-driven prey animals that are alert 24/7, their biology makes it so that they're high stress animals that are very easily scared and can actually die from reckless self-inflicted injuries by repeatedly ramming themselves into things blocking their path like fences, or even worse, die from capture myopathy induced by fear or extremely stressful situations. And, they grow up very fast and can become dangerous to be around during rutting season (especially if it's a buck)[[/note]] or rear them in a way that makes them lose their wild instincts [[note]]being herd animals by nature that learn best in groups of their own, it is difficult, but not impossible, to rear a lone fawn while keeping it wild and not imprinted on humans[[/note]] and thus harder or even impossible for them to safely return to the wild--which is something the original novel [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped strongly advocated against]] with the tragic story of Faline's brother Gobo.

* The film deliberately sacrifices a piece of the novel's accuracy for the purpose of making Bambi's mother more empathetic and to make her death all that more devastating. Unlike the novel, which shows her [[ToughLove actively weaning Bambi and leaving him to fend for himself when he's only a few months old]] ([[TruthInTelevision which is accurate to how real life does raise buck fawns]]), and real does who, after several weeks, allow their fawns to choose their own bedding site some distance from them, she keeps Bambi with her all the way from spring (the film implies it's as early as April) to late winter, far longer than any real life doe would raise a buck before forcing them to become independent. This has had devastating consequences on how people see deer in real life, as it has indirectly caused hundreds of uninformed people each year to believe a lone, resting or hiding fawn has been abandoned by its mom, [[RealityIsUnrealistic even though this is perfectly natural behavior for deer]],[[note]]A doe keeps her infant fawns, which usually stay perfectly still out of instinct and as a defense mechanism or spend most of their time sleeping, hiding and cleaned of scent for their first few weeks until they're strong enough to follow her around regularly, and they go off regularly to graze (usually within hearing distance of their fawns cry) so they can nurse their fawns later. Does also rarely directly confront someone who gets near or touches their fawn, either out of fear or because they instinctively keep their distance nearby to try and draw predators away from the fawn with her sight and scent. It's also quite rare for a doe to abandon the fawn, and it usually only happens to fawns that have injuries or deformities that prevent them from nursing or keeping up with the doe[[/note]] and it often results in them being illegally fawnnapped from the does and, in worst cases, a scenario where a stolen fawn cannot be returned to its mother in time. This is often because the people don't bother delivering the fawns to a rehab, and [[PetBabyWildAnimal try to raise them themselves]] and are either ill-equipped to do so[[note]]For starters, it's usually illegal to keep a wild animal as a pet except in special circumstances (i.e. the deer is physically incapable of surviving in the wild due to a deformity or injury, or was domesticated from birth and imprinted on humans and thus lacks the necessary survival instincts needed to survive in the wild, the owner runs an authorized wildlife rehab clinic, etc.) and even states that allow this require permits and regular inspection, and some states even require by law that orphaned or non-releaseable fawns have to be euthanized. Second, fawns are ''not'' easy to care for or ideal pets—-they're a high-maintenance animal that require expensive, frequent (they can guzzle half a dozen bottles of expensive formula in just a day) and specialized feeding due to their very sensitive stomachs (even one feeding of the wrong formula, like cow milk or baby formula, can seriously mess up their digestive system or even kill them) can carry parasites and diseases, require constant cleaning to stimulate their bowels, need lots of open space to move around in, and being instinct-driven prey animals that are alert 24/7, their biology makes it so that they're high stress animals that are very easily scared and can actually die from reckless self-inflicted injuries by repeatedly ramming themselves into things blocking their path like fences, or even worse, die from capture myopathy induced by fear or extremely stressful situations. And, they grow up very fast and can become dangerous to be around during rutting season (especially if it's a buck)[[/note]] or rear them in a way that makes them lose their wild instincts [[note]]being herd animals by nature that learn best in groups of their own, it is difficult, but not impossible, to rear a lone fawn while keeping it wild and not imprinted on humans[[/note]] and thus harder or even impossible for them to safely return to the wild--which is something the original novel [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped strongly advocated against]] with the tragic story of Faline's brother Gobo.

*** ScienceMarchesOn and it turns out many predators and prey hunt that are capable of hunting at night do so only because of human disturbance. In the absence of Anthropogenic influence, many predators will hunt in the day which would cause Prey animals to be more active in the daytime.

** Bambi gets "twitterpated" in the spring when he's a yearling, but the mating season of a white-tailed deer is in the autumn.
** Also in the midquel (and pictured above), Bambi is depicted having upper front teeth to clench with, which is something real life white-tailed deer do not have--they have teeth on the upper jaw around (but not at) that area, hence why they chew their cuds side to side. [[JustifiedTrope Presumably, this liberty was taken to make it easier to get expressions out of him.]]

** Both films imply that Bambi and his family have roughly the same sleeping patterns as humans and go into deep sleep, and always sleep with their eyes closed and their ears down, which is totally inaccurate. Deer, being prey animals, are ''always'' on alert, and their sleep cycles vary from the length of a cat nap to a mere half hour. Their ears are always raised to detect a threat, even while sleeping, and real deer sleep with their eyes wide open far more often than with them closed. Also, real deer are more active at night than they are in the daytime, which is a period where they tend to hide and rest more, but the films show the exact opposite happening.
* The film deliberately sacrifices a piece of the novel's accuracy for the purpose of making Bambi's mother more empathetic and to make her death all that more devastating. Unlike the novel, which shows her [[ToughLove actively weaning Bambi and leaving him to fend for himself when he's only a few months old]] ([[TruthInTelevision which is accurate to how real life does raise buck fawns]]), and real does who, after several weeks, allow their fawns to choose their own bedding site some distance from them, she keeps Bambi with her all the way from spring (the film implies it's as early as April) to late winter, far longer than any real life doe would raise a buck before forcing them to become independent. This has had devastating consequences on how people see deer in real life, as it has indirectly caused hundreds of uninformed people each year to believe a lone, resting or hiding fawn has been abandoned by its mom, [[RealityIsUnrealistic even though this is perfectly natural behavior for deer]],[[note]]A doe keeps their infant fawns, which usually stay perfectly still out of instinct and as a defense mechanism or spend most of their time sleeping, hiding and cleaned of scent for their first few weeks until they're strong enough to follow her around regularly, and they go off regularly to graze (usually within hearing distance of their fawns cry) so they can nurse their fawns later. Does also rarely directly confront someone who gets near or touches their fawn, either out of fear or because they instinctively keep their distance nearby to try and draw predators away from the fawn with her sight and scent. It's also quite rare for a doe to abandon the fawn, and it usually only happens to fawns that have injuries or deformities that prevent them from nursing or keeping up with the doe[[/note]] and it often results in them being illegally fawnnapped from the does and, in worst cases, a scenario where a stolen fawn cannot be returned to its mother in time. This is often because the people don't bother delivering the fawns to a rehab, and try to raise them themselves and are either ill-equipped to do so[[note]]For starters, it's usually illegal to keep a wild animal as a pet except in special circumstances (i.e. the deer is physically incapable of surviving in the wild due to a deformity or injury, or was domesticated from birth and imprinted on humans and thus lacks the necessary survival instincts needed to survive in the wild, the owner runs an authorized wildlife rehab clinic, etc.) and even states that allow this require permits and regular inspection, and some states even require by law that orphaned or non-releaseable fawns have to be euthanized. Second, fawns are ''not'' easy to care for or ideal pets—-they're a high-maintenance animal that require expensive, frequent (they can guzzle half a dozen bottles of expensive formula in just a day) and specialized feeding due to their very sensitive stomachs (even one feeding of the wrong formula, like cow milk or baby formula, can seriously mess up their digestive system or even kill them) can carry parasites and diseases, require constant cleaning to stimulate their bowels, need lots of open space to move around in, and being instinct-driven prey animals that are alert 24/7, their biology makes it so that they're high stress animals that are very easily scared and can actually die from reckless self-inflicted injuries by repeatedly ramming themselves into things blocking their path like fences, or even worse, die from capture myopathy induced by fear or extremely stressful situations. And, they grow up very fast and can become dangerous to be around during rutting season (especially if it's a buck)[[/note]] or rear them in a way that makes them lose their wild instincts [[note]]being herd animals by nature that learn best in groups of their own, it is difficult, but not impossible, to rear a lone fawn while keeping it wild and not imprinted on humans[[/note]] and thus harder or even impossible for them to safely return to the wild--which is something the original novel [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped strongly advocated against]] with the tragic story of Faline's brother Gobo.

* The book "Bambi: Friends Of The Forest" has Bambi nearly become the prey of a red fox. Real foxes rarely go after white-tailed fawns, as they are scavengers that usually go after small prey like rodents, and it would be rather difficult for a fox to actually catch and kill a fawn unless it was a newborn and a [[MamaBear doe wasn't around to defend it in time.]][[note]]the novels ''did'' have foxes as active predators, but the deer in them are roe deer (changed to white-tails in the Disney movies) and thus small enough that even a fox can be a threat to them.[[/folder]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/disneymusthaveagooddentist.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:For starters, deer do not have [[{{Pun}} buck teeth.]]]]

* The midpoint of the first film implies that the Great Prince takes care of Bambi on his own after he loses his mother, whereas in real life bucks have absolutely nothing to do with raising their fawns, abandoning their mother after mating and leaving the responsibility of raising their fawn(s) entirely on them. Bucks have pugilistic and hormonal tendencies that preclude domesticity and a participating role as an attendant, defending or mentoring father. On top of that, does generally don't allow bucks to be near their fawns and sometimes will even drive them away if theyre close by. However, the midquel acknowledges this by making it clear that only does care for the fawns and that the Prince is basically rearing Bambi [[ResentfulGuardian out of obligation]] ([[DefrostingIceKing at first]]), and a big plot point is Friend Owl trying to find a stepmother to raise Bambi in Spring, since the harsh winter has made it so that the other does can barely feed themselves.

* The movement of the hunting dogs in the first film was intentionally made inaccurate by basing their movements on that of a panther instead of a dog [[RuleOfScary to make them scarier.]] The midquel does away with this by making their movements more accurate.

* The idea of finding Bambi a stepmother in the midquel seems [[RealityIsUnrealistic a little far-fetched and overtly humanized]], but there have been some cases in real life where a doe will adopt another doe's fawn, but this is seen more with deer in captivity than with deer in the wild, where its much more rare for a doe to do such a thing. This plot point was touched upon in the original novel as well, with an elderly doe similarly looking after Bambi following his mother's death.
* Also in contrast to Bambi's maternal dependency as a fawn in both films, the midquel having Bambi TookALevelInBadass, while elaborate in narrative, is accurate in terms of gaining early physical independence, with him able to fight off another fawn and outrun a pack of hunting dogs (and fend off one with a strong kick). Deer in fact become physically strong even as fawns, with their hooves already sharp as knives.
* In the midquel, Bambi briefly submerges himself in water to hide, and it's very quick and easy to dry himself off in spite of his fur. [[AccidentallyCorrectWriting It's not clear if the fimmakers knew this]], but Deer have oil-producing glands in their skin that help make their fur water repellent, making it very easy for them to stay dry.
* Bambi learning from his father how to "Feel The Forest" in the midquel (that is, feeling the vibrations and hear things from far or closeby) is something real deer can actually do due to their sharp sense of hearing.
* Bambi and Faline having near-identical character designs as fawns is another case of TruthInTelevision, as it is notoriously difficult to determine a fawns gender at a glance, to the extent that even expert methods of determining them aren't always certain to work.
* Ronno's behavior in the first film (trying to rape Faline and kill Bambi for getting in his way) is presented in a bad light, but [[AccidentallyCorrectWriting it's actually quite accurate to real life]] (aside from the period of mating being inaccurate), as bucks become very aggressive and territorial when in rut and will fight each other, sometimes to the death, over the right to sire a doe they've challenged each other over. And as mentioned before, real bucks are attracted to does out of instinct, not love, so the idea of a relationship like Ronno's, while aggressive and wrong in the context of human morality and the humanized morality of the movie's characters, is perfectly normal behavior from actual bucks.
* The movement of the hunting dogs in the first film was intentionally made inaccurate by basing their movements on that of a panther instead of a dog [[RuleOfScary to make them scarier.]] The midquel does away with this by making their movements more accurate to how a hunting dog moves.

** Also, its implied in the midquel that Bambi's Mother was the Great Prince's [[SingleTargetSexuality only mate and that he had a genuine loving relationship with her]], whereas real life bucks [[ReallyGetsAround sire multiple does per season]] and never interact with them outside of mating season, being attracted to them out of instinct rather than by personality or affection. Also note that this is a change from the first novel (concerning Bambi and Faline mating), which more accurately depicted the fast and fleeting relationships of real bucks and does, though the second novel does also contradict this to some degree by similarly showing Bambi, Faline and their young as a closer unit.
* In the first film, bucks are shown travelling in herds in spring. To begin with, bucks are usually territorial and only group together during mating season, and while they can and do form small groups together (particularly when they're spike bucks still learning how to survive), they do not travel in herds. We also see bucks and does in a herd together in winter in both the midpoint of the first film and early in the midquel, which is something they don't do--only does travel in herds together.