What can a deer shed, but a deceived husband cannot? Horns and their purpose

Recently, representatives of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (USA) published a photograph of a deer with bloody antlers. You might think that the animal is suffering from a serious illness, has become a victim of poachers, or has even attacked a defenseless person. But in fact, deer's bloody antlers are a natural phenomenon that even benefits them. In some photographs you can see that the animals are happily licking their own blood. Many temperate deer species shed their antlers and grow them back every year because they help them obtain food and reproduce. And this important process is accompanied by rupture of soft tissues, which are penetrated by blood vessels and nerves. But this is a very brief explanation of a phenomenon that is terrible at first glance, so I propose to consider it in more detail.

Deer with bloody antlers in the Great Smoky Mountains Park

Why do deer need antlers?

As a rule, only male deer grow antlers. Female reindeer also have such bone formations, but they are always smaller in size. Reindeer use their antlers to dig through snow as they hunt for moss, a lichen on which they feed. But most often, antlers are used by deer to eliminate rivals and attract the attention of females.

Antlers are commonly used by deer during fights.

Deer antlers constantly grow and, after reaching their maximum size, fall off. To get rid of old antlers, deer make sudden jumps. The rate of growth of horns directly depends on the metabolic processes in the animals’ bodies - the better they eat, the faster the horns grow. Individuals living in warm regions (closer to the equator) renew them every few years, while inhabitants of the temperate zone do this every year.

Antlers are an important part of the moose's hearing system.

Interesting fact: moose are the largest representatives of deer. They have poor eyesight, but a very developed sense of smell and hearing. It is believed that their huge horns are an important part of their hearing system.

Life of moose in their natural habitat

Moose lead an interesting lifestyle in terms of contact with each other. Thus, females unite in small groups and try to stay together, while males, on the contrary, prefer solitude, meeting females and other males only during the rutting period.

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It’s hard to imagine without seeing it with your own eyes, but large, heavy moose can swim beautifully. Moreover, they spend a significant part of their lives in water, thus escaping mosquitoes and other blood-sucking insects. That is why animals prefer to settle in swampy areas, near water bodies.

From late summer to mid-autumn, moose go through the rut (“mating” period). At this time, it is better for a person not to come across the eyes of animals overwhelmed with feelings, as they become aggressive, less fearful and may well attack first. Competing with each other and attracting the attention of females, males make loud sounds like a roar and noisily break tree branches with their horns. It also happens that two males fight among themselves for a female, clashing their horns.

Moose cows bear their offspring for 8 months. As a rule, they give birth to 1-2 cubs, which they feed with milk for up to three months. On rich mother's milk, moose calves grow quickly and within a couple of weeks after birth they run after the herd, keeping up.

How are deer antlers renewed?

After shedding old antlers, deer begin to grow new ones. During the growth period they are called antlers and are covered with velvety skin. This layer is permeated with vessels and nerves, and its main task is to provide the horns with nutrients. At a certain point, deer begin to rub their new antlers against trees to tear the tissue covering them. If this is not done, the antlers will not be able to harden, but their strength directly affects the chances of defeating rivals and attracting the attention of females. When the skin tears, blood from the vessels begins to flow down the deer's antlers, which looks very scary from the outside. Some photos show deer licking this blood - in reality, they are simply eating the nutrient-rich skin. Don't let the goodness go to waste!

Some deer eat their own bloody flesh to obtain nutrients

Where does moose live?

Moose are common in the Northern Hemisphere. By the 19th century, the now numerous moose population was completely destroyed in Europe, excluding Russia, and only as a result of conservation measures taken at the beginning of the 20th century, these animals again settled in Northern and Eastern Europe. Now on the European continent, moose live in the countries of the Scandinavian Peninsula (Finland, Norway), in the north of Ukraine, in Belarus, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, the Baltic countries (Latvia, Estonia), in Russia: from the Kola Peninsula in the north to the southern steppes. In Asia, they occupy the taiga zone of Siberia, reaching the forest-tundra, as well as the Far East, northeast China, and northern Mongolia. In North America, moose live in Canada, Alaska and the northeastern United States.

Diversification

The diversity of antlers, body sizes, and tusks has been greatly influenced by changes in habitat and behavior (fighting and mating).[13]

Capreoinae

• Porcupine caribou
• A mule is a deer with relatively large antlers
• White-tailed deer
• Pudu

Cervinae

• Irish elk are now extinct
• Young red deer, with velvet
• Doe
• American moose, or wapiti
• Sambar deer with thick forked beams instead of antlers.
• Read

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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). Cyclopædia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences

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