looduskalender.ee

 

 

Is it a young buck? The young bucks-to-be that were born last summer still wear the pencil-like stick antlers that started to grow in October. They drop these in February but some already walk around with just one pencil. Proper antlers begin to grow in early March.

 

The last of the older bucks left their antlers in the forest in December and for a short while had to walk around ”naked” but now antler knobs are already visible. The "male pride" will achieve its full dimensions in March-April for the older individuals, for the younger in early May at the latest. The antlers are covered with special skin, the velvet,  during their growth: a unique tissue containing a great number of blood vessels in order to feed the growth of the horns; the velvet is in no way like the proper skin of the buck

 

The development of the antlers is governed by two hormones: sexual and growth hormones.