Peter Gambino III, age 12, of Somerset, N.J., for his question:
WHY DO DEER HAVE ANTLERS?
Largest deer in a family that includes about 50 different members is called the moose in North America and the elk in Europe and Asia. He's striking not only for his size but also for his palmated antlers. A moose can measure over seven feet at his shoulders and his antlers have been measured at 78 inches in spread. His antlers can weigh 80 pounds.
Male deer, called stags or bucks, have large, branching horns called antlers. These antlers are used as part of the deer's mating game. Bucks fight each other using their sharp antlers, with the strongest buck becoming leader of a herd and controlling many does.
Antlers are bone unlike horns of cows that are actually the hardened outer layer of skin. once each year, usually in fall or early winter, the antlers are shed by being broken off. When this happens, a scar is quickly covered with skin and in a short time a small knob appears which is velvety in texture and full of blood vessels.
Within the knobs a bony structure forms. Growth is rapid and soon the antlers take shape. The velvet covering continues to be filled with blood vessels.
By late summer or early in the fall the center of the antlers hardens and blood leaves the velvet covering. The velvet dries, peels off and leaves a new set of antlers that are hard and firm.
Extending up from the head of the deer is the section of antler called the beam. From the beam grow the branches which are called tines or prongs. Each tine has a name. First out over the forehead is called the brow tine with the next one above called the bez tine. Third section of the antler is called the trez tine with the smaller tines on top called the royals or surroyals. Some deer have all of these tines while others have a more simple set of antlers.
Perhaps the best known deer in the world is the red deer of Western Europe. Also well known is the reindeer of Lapland. In the Northern parts of North America he is called the caribou. They have long hair to protect them from the cold. The milk and flesh is used for food and the skin used for making clothing.
Interesting to note is the smallest variety of deer: He's the pudo found in the Andes of Ecuador and Chile. This little guy measures only 13 inches at the shoulder. His antler isn't a very fancy one. In fact, it is actually only a small spike of bone.