So who can explain this picture? I understand very little about this. Do they loose all there antelers every year? Do they grow a aditional "bit" every year?
Its bone not fingernail like rhino?
Does it hurt the animal? If so how did that get through evoloution???
Yes, the cervids' antlers are made of bone material and they lose them every year. The antlers usually grow a bit bigger every year and get more tines up to a particular age when they don't grow bigger anymore. Reindeers is the only one of the cervids where both the male and the female carries antlers.
Yes, the cervids' antlers are made of bone material and they lose them every year. The antlers usually grow a bit bigger every year and get more tines up to a particular age when they don't grow bigger anymore. Reindeers is the only one of the cervids where both the male and the female carries antlers.
The skin that covers the antler while it's growing (I assume that is what you call felt. Sorry, I'm not familiar with the english terms in this case. Correct me if I'm wrong) is shedded when the antlers is full-grown in the autumn. That's what is happening on this picture. Later they lose the whole antlers, in the reindeers case, the male lose his during the winter. The females lose theirs later in the spring and if a female is pregnant she doesn't lose them until after the birth.
So yes, the bone regrowth must be quite rapidly as they have new full-grown antlers a couple of months later (the next autumn).
The females lose theirs later in the spring and if a female is pregnant she doesn't lose them until after the birth.
So yes, the bone regrowth must be quite rapidly as they have new full-grown antlers a couple of months later (the next autumn).
The skin that covers the antler while it's growing (I assume that is what you call felt. Sorry, I'm not familiar with the english terms in this case. Correct me if I'm wrong) is shedded when the antlers is full-grown in the autumn. That's what is happening on this picture. Later they lose the whole antlers, in the reindeers case, the male lose his during the winter. The females lose theirs later in the spring and if a female is pregnant she doesn't lose them until after the birth.
So yes, the bone regrowth must be quite rapidly as they have new full-grown antlers a couple of months later (the next autumn).
