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Female reindeer grow antlers that are significantly smaller than their male counterparts. Male reindeer grow antlers as long as 50 inches after multiple seasons of shedding.
The sexes can be distinguished from each other by the size and shape of their antlers. Male antlers grow more branching points and measure anywhere between 39 inches and 53 inches in beam length ...
As a result of their fast growth rate, antlers are considered a handicap since there is an immense nutritional demand on deer to re-grow antlers annually, and thus can be honest signals of metabolic efficiency and food gathering capability. [12] Increasing size of antlers year on year in different European game species, 1891 illustration
Antlers grow very quickly every year on the bulls. As the antlers grow, they are covered in thick velvet, filled with blood vessels and spongy in texture. The antler velvet of the barren-ground caribou and the boreal woodland caribou is dark chocolate brown. [126] The velvet that covers growing antlers is a highly vascularised skin.
However, both male and female reindeer grow antlers. There are rare cases in other deer species in which the females grow little antlers, but this is usually a result of abnormal hormone levels.
Antlers typically measure 71 cm (28 in) in total length and weigh 1 kg (2.2 lb), although large ones can grow to 115 cm (45 in) and weigh 5 kg (11 lb). [8] Antlers, which are made of bone, can grow at a rate of 2.5 cm (1 in) a day. [ 11 ]
Unlike other deer species, female reindeer grow antlers. Male antlers can grow to lengths of fifty-one inches, while female antlers are smaller, at twenty inches. So, where do reindeer live?
While an antler is growing it is covered with highly vascular skin called velvet, which supplies oxygen and nutrients to the growing bone. [62] Antlers are considered one of the most exaggerated cases of male secondary sexual traits in the animal kingdom, [63] and grow faster than any other mammal bone. [64]