I came across an unusual deer rack today and if it is legitimate I think it should be called the Spider Rack. That is the first thing I thought of when I saw it on Rex’s blog.
The thing to keep in mind when you see these photos on any blog is that they could be altered to give them that blog appeal, or they could have already made their round on the blogging circuit months/weeks or years earlier. Here is a larger look at these strange looking antlers from Rex’s site. Visit his site for more details.
The real question is, “What causes non-typical antlers?”
I did some web searching and found an interesting article that suggests that non-typical antlers are the result of various factors. MDC Wildlife Researcher, Lonnie Hansen, says that:
The primary cause of non-typical antler development is injury to the pedicel — the area on the deer’s skull from which the antlers grow. He said this probably is what caused Bax’s deer to grow a spike in the middle of its head. In fact, Hansen said, such injuries sometimes even cause antler development in female deer, which normally don’t sport antlers.
Other causes of non-typical development include hormonal abnormalities and inherited tendencies. Strangely, an injury to a buck’s hind leg also can cause non-typical antler development . . . on the opposite side. If the left hind leg is hurt, the right antler may be deformed.
Another strange fact about non-typical bucks is that their bodies may “remember” the injuries that caused aberrant antler development. An injury one year may cause development of similarly deformed antlers for several years afterwards…
Now that is some information I never knew! If only I could could get a glimpse of any large non-typical bucks on our property. I’m not afraid of spiders.
Bill Anderson
Muskoka Outdoors
I can see you get this linking. Will follow up soon, thanks for the link, wish i could get one like this too.