Deer | Cervidae

Hertachtigen | Cérvidos

An antler is not horn but bone, and it is made anew each year. It grows from a permanent stump on the forehead, under a skin of finely haired velvet that supplies it with blood; when growth is complete the blood supply is cut off, the velvet dies and is rubbed away against bushes, after which the dead bone is carried through the rut and afterwards shed. The growth costs a great deal of calcium and follows the length of the day. Only the males carry antlers, the reindeer excepted; in one species now established in Europe antlers are absent altogether and the males carry long projecting canines instead. Beyond that they are ruminants without upper incisors, with long legs and a springing, bounding gait, and with scent glands in front of the eyes, on the legs and between the hooves. In most species the rut goes with calling, thrashing and fighting. The calf is spotted and lies motionless in cover for its first weeks.