Monday, June 11, 2007

Falling antlers

In 2006 the bucks had their antlers sawed off when they were tested by federal government inspectors. So we really didn't witness the natural shedding process or the order in which it happened. This year we kept track of the events. Our research indicates that the oldest or most respected bucks shed their antlers first, and the youngest last. We guess that is because Mother Nature needs more time to re-grow the largest antlers and perhaps that the older bucks can handle the indignity of being vulnerable a bit better than the youngest. Who knows?

    1. Gulliver, April 8, 2007
    2. Max, April 10, 2007
    3. Mike, April 12, 2007
    4. Dandy, April 12, 2007
    5. Bash, April 18, 2007
    6. Murph, April 20, 2007
    7. Koko, April 20 and April 24, 2007
    8. George, April 22, 2007
    9. Buddy, April 23, 2007
    10. EGee, April 24, 2007
    11. Ty, April 28 and April 30, 2007
    12. Spike, May 5 and May 7, 2007
    13. Moki, May 5 and May 7, 2007

Those listed with two dates did not lose both antlers on the same day. KoKo has the record for walking around with one antler for the longest period, 4 days!

If you have a theory on the "why" of antler shedding order, please let us know.

Posted by at

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello dear deer keepers!

I have never come across a clear answer to the "why" of "order" of shedding, but I've read a lot of theories since I started volunteering with the Fallow Deer Reserve.

For dominant bucks, many articles I've read cite nutritional stress on the most dominant bucks as the cause when combined with the high energy cost of maintaining larger & heavier antlers & stress of "dominance". Thus, decreased nutrition combined with increased hormonal changes (lower testosterone levels which trigger shedding) are suggested to be responsible.

The difficulty is that some of the material I've read wasn't clear if the deer were "penned", were "wild", with or without females, etc.

There are also some ecological survival theories, such as dominant bucks shedding early to appear to their prey as a healthy female and not as a weakened dominant male who may be more vulnerable. Interesting.

The closest explanation I've come across that makes sense to me personally is that Fallow deer antlers are top heavy & possibly the reason why dominant males shed sooner is simply because of gravity -- they have the largest antlers and are more top heavey, so they fall off sooner due to being bumped by trees, bush, as the blood suppliy will be cut off sooner, etc. That makes sense to me! :-)

I think it is terrific that you folks are keeping track and you might very well be able to shed light on this very interesting question! I will stay tuned for updates on this and on other questions.

Andy and I would like to get out now that they have settled more & bring apples & carrots... we will give you wonderful folks a call.

Sincerely, Trish

1:55 p.m.
Jane McDonald said...

Hey Trish,

Interesting information about the dominant bucks wanting to appear like a female. Gulliver was the first to lose his antlers and we all thought that somehow a female had found her way into the enclosure. The appearance of the bucks changes radically without antlers.

We look forward to giving you a tour of the new reserve. We are there almost every day so just call us to find out when.

Cheers,

Jane & Allan
Deerkeepers

11:29 a.m.

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)