Female deer antlers

[Kayleigh]

I was just watching QI and they said female deer have antlers in Dec this is where Rudolf comes from as he is a she..
Is this true...do they really have antlers..

[Farplace]

Yes its true. Female reindeer retain their antlers throughout December. Most will also be pregnant. Therefore "Rudolph" was probably a mum-to-be!!

[Kayleigh]

So when do they grow as I took some pics in Oct the end of the rut and none had them then.
These were taken on 14th Nov..

[Farplace]

We are talking about reindeer (caribou). Female reindeer retain their antlers throughout December.

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by Farplace

We are talking about reindeer (carribu). Female reindeer retain their antlers throughout December.

OK...thanks for that thought it was ALL deer...

[Tringa]

I think the QI were talking specifically about reindeer.

If your photo is of reindeer, Kayleigh, then I am very confused.

Dave

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by Tringa

I think the QI were talking specifically about reindeer.

If your photo is of reindeer, Kayleigh, then I am very confused.

Dave

No...Sorry mine are red deer..

[mbaldw]

QI were almost certainly talking only about Reindeer - antlers do occasionally grow in other deer species (they can be relatively common in old Roe does), but they are rare and typically stunted abnormalities. In Reindeer, however, both sexes grow full antlers and the pedicles (bumps on the skull from which the antlers grow) start growing very early in life - that said, males tend to grow larger and heavier antler sets than females. Both sexes grow their antlers in the summer, but the bulls cast theirs at the start of winter, after the rut, while the cows retain theirs until late spring.

The reason why females grow antlers is probably related to their high gregariousness. In his Deer of the World, Valerius Geist explains:

'As in other specialists from open plains, female caribou appear to mimic the class of males against which they compete within herds. Females must defend their feeding craters, dug at high cost in deer snow, against one- to three-year-old males, for example. In the competition for such craters, dominants pirate the work of subordinates. Although old bulls have lost their antlers by early winter, young bulls have not. Thus the competition with young bulls for forage is the probable reason that females need antlers in winter.'

There are other suggestions as well, including that they help the mother protect her calf from predators. The fact, however, that the antlers are employed to dig in the snow for lichen and observations that barren cows cast their antlers before maternal ones (which have higher energy demands) supports the idea that they evolved from a need to even the playing field when tussling for food with the boys (and presumably other females).

So, Rudolph and the rest of Santa's reindeer were either females or young males!

Cheers,
Marc.

[STYRBJORN]

I reckon someone's been after the Amanita muscarides. Red nosed reindeer indeed.

[wildherbalian85]

Check out these antlers

YouTube - Hunter gets his ass kicked by deer