Page 47 - The World of Animals

DEER: FAMOUS FOR

THEIR ANTLERS

Have you ever touched an animal with antlers? If you did, you
would surely be very astonished, because the antlers emerging from

the animal's hairy, soft skin are stony. You can compare an antler to

your nails. The hard nails coming out of your soft skin and the way
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they grow so neatly probably astonish you. The way animals' antlers
grow is similar to the way our nails grow, yet they are much thicker,

harder and bigger.

Except for the reindeer, in general only male deer have antlers.
Once the mating season is over, these antlers drop off and are
renewed by others growing from

beneath them.

While antlers grow, they are covered
by a thin, velvet-like layer of skin.
Once the antler is fully-grown, the

veins are cut and thus can no longer

feed the skin. At this stage, the deer
abrades the skin by rubbing its antlers
against hard surfaces causing the bony