They serve as sexual ornament and weapons and are used to determine dominance among males – and to guard females from other males during the mating season. Antlers are usually branched and sometimes palmate. Blood supply stops once full growth is reached, and the velvet dries out and comes off. While growing, antlers are covered by a furry skin (velvet) and nourished by blood vessels. Females do not grow antlers, except in caribou/reindeer, or the occasional freak in other species. They are shed and regrown annually, increasing in size and complexity each year until the animal reaches its prime, after which they decline. All cervids lack a gallbladder.Ĭervids differ from other ruminants in that males (except in water deer) grow antlers of solid, dead bone. The following external glands may be present, depending on the species: preorbital (in front of the eye), tarsal (inner surface of the hind legs at the hock), metatarsal (outer surface of hind legs between hock and hoof), and interdigital (between the hoofs). Upper canines are present in caribou and reindeer and may (or may not) be present in brocket deer. Most deer have 32 teeth however, upper canines are present in red deer, wapiti, sika, sambar, rusa, Pére David, muntjac, tufted deer and water deer for a total of 34. (Ruminants have the ability to take in a large quantity of rough forage in a short time then retire to a safe hiding place to chew it thoroughly.) As in other ruminants, deer lack upper incisor teeth (most lack upper canines as well), biting off their food between the lower incisors and a hard pad on the upper gum, then grinding the cud with the premolars and molars. Deer have a four-chambered stomach, one of which (the rumen) stores undigested food that is later passed back into the mouth, where it is chewed and swallowed a second time. The last bone of each toe is encased by a thickened, hard-edged hoof of keratinous material. The two middle toes are well-developed and support all or most of the weight of the body, while the two small lateral toes (the so-called false hoofs or dew claws) do not usually touch the ground. Deer (or cervids) belong to the order Artiodactyla, the hoofed mammals with an even number of toes on each foot, and the suborder Ruminanti, the cud-chewing plant-eaters.
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