NATURE’S Incredible CROWN

To put it mildly, the growth of antlers is a unique phenomenon. Only grown by members of the deer family, Cervidae, antlers are the only mammalian appendages that annually replace themselves, and their astounding growth rate even surpasses that of dreaded cancer cells.

As noted by the late antler expert Richard Goss, “The most fundamental of living things is that they can repair themselves. However, true regeneration is the replacement of missing parts of the adult organism. The annual regrowth of antlers is a special case of this general phenomenon.”

Antlers are two structures in one: the antler itself and the pedicle, or stump on the ends of which the antler develops. Antlers drop off and are replaced; pedicles are permanently attached to the buck’s head.

THE PEDICLE

Before any deer can grow antlers, it must first grow pedicles. These structures first show as a pair of cowlicks on the forehead of very young fawns, where they can be felt as small, bony lumps beneath the skin.

In the absence of the male hormone testosterone or the presence of the female hormone estrogen, no pedicles form, and antlers fail to develop later. In Northern range, buck fawns born late in the season or those poorly nourished during summer and autumn tend to grow small pedicles