How do roe deer antlers grow?
In their first year, young Roe Deer bucks develop a knob or button on top of their pedicle, which is shed in early spring to make way for the first antler.
Unusually among deer species, the older Roe Deer bucks shed and re-grow their antlers between October and December, when food is relatively scarce, and new growth begins immediately.
The growing antlers are covered with ‘velvet’, a soft, blood-filled, bone-forming tissue which is very sensitive. The antlers are usually fully developed by April, when testosterone levels cause the blood supply to the new antlers to be cut off. The velvet then dries out and the bucks rub their antlers against trees and saplings to remove the shredded covering, thereby causing the bone underneath to become stained dark by tree resin.
Macro Mondays - retake
Stone rhyming zone
Bone
How do roe deer antlers grow?
In their first year, young Roe Deer bucks develop a knob or button on top of their pedicle, which is shed in early spring to make way for the first antler.
Unusually among deer species, the older Roe Deer bucks shed and re-grow their antlers between October and December, when food is relatively scarce, and new growth begins immediately.
The growing antlers are covered with ‘velvet’, a soft, blood-filled, bone-forming tissue which is very sensitive. The antlers are usually fully developed by April, when testosterone levels cause the blood supply to the new antlers to be cut off. The velvet then dries out and the bucks rub their antlers against trees and saplings to remove the shredded covering, thereby causing the bone underneath to become stained dark by tree resin.
Macro Mondays - retake
Stone rhyming zone
Bone