Visitors wear a funny souvenir tiara with horns, emulating the Nara deer at Tōdai-ji temple in Nara Prefecture, Japan. Nara deer bow their heads in response to human bows, as they await being fed healthy deer crackers. Bowing is a fundamental part of Japanese social etiquette, and the 1200 celebrity Nara deer have adapted to humans for 1000 years — they're considered as messengers of the Shinto gods. Nara deer are sika deer (Cervus nippon, native to much of East Asia), also known as Northern spotted deer or Japanese deer. In nature, deer bow heads to signal the intention to headbutt. When a human "bows" to a deer, the animal may interpret it as a challenge, and likewise nod their head, before possibly charging and attempting to headbutt (both for play and to assert dominance, as do goats).
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