this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2025
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Mildly Interesting

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In 2016, over 300 wild reindeer were killed by a single lightning strike on the Hardangervidda plateau in Norway (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 days ago by ickplant@lemmy.world to c/mildlyinteresting@lemmy.world
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[–] protist@mander.xyz 37 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

This Practical Engineering video explains the concepts behind how this happened

TLDR: The electricity is trying to flow through the Earth, but a reindeer is a better conductor, so it flows up into the nearest leg and down out the furthest leg. If they were standing on one foot they might've been ok

[–] jnod4@lemmy.ca 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Don't they have four legs? The day I see a reindeer sitting on one leg I'm getting glasses

[–] protist@mander.xyz 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yes, a reindeer standing on one leg would be unusual, and it's the only way they could've survived this 😂

[–] turtlesareneat@discuss.online 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Also if it were hovering

[–] Obi@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 day ago

If only they all jumped right at the same time.