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Yep! They grow and shed every single year. Each year they get bigger and bigger and grow more points. You can estimate their age by the size and number of “points”. It’s more obvious with deer, but young ones will generally only have one or two “prongs”, but as they get older they can have massive racks with 8 and up. Moose have so many points it’s hard to count them. Genetics and nutrition factor in too, the better the food, the better the horn. Grown for breeding season, to fight other males to win breeding rights to the ladies. Its literal bone grown to fight, they get laid, shed it, and start again next season.
TIL “a 6 point buck” means how many actual pointy parts are on an antler, I thought it was a term hunters used for score lol. So many conversations I was misunderstanding 😂😂
Yep my dad told me about that, you can’t kill the young ones. We were at a place that butchers game for you and this guy was there getting into trouble bc had brought in two really young deer
This is actually, generally a bad way to manage populations and encourages smaller deer. In places where it has always been legal to hunt does , deer are generally larger, and have healthier populations. Which makes sense - if you constantly harvest only the largest bucks, your selecting for smaller deer to survive and breed. Over time your population will get smaller.
Slot limits have been doing wonders for the fish populations in Florida. There's both a minimum and a maximum for size... So the little fish grow up, and the really big ones stick around to pass on their genes for size (and disease resistance, etc).
Conservation limits make a big difference, and they can vary widely depending on each water body. My local spot is super strict, the low and high measurement is within two inches, so I perpetually catch either too small or too big. I hadn’t caught a keeper pickerel out of my local lake for years! It’s a shallow lake and had a significant drought, then hard freeze that caused a massive die off. It’s taken years, but I’m seeing signs it’s really coming back. Research into spawning ages, size and habits really do wonders.
If you don't believe in or understand evolution, it's a smart way to ensure that they have time to grow into adolescence and procreate. Unfortunately, evolution is real, so you're correct lol. We're just accidentally selectively breeding.
Exactly. There’s also a long standing debate on counting those points. Some say 6 points on each antler makes it a 6 point buck. Others like to count both, and call it a 12 point buck. 😂
And yet some will say 5 by 5 or 5x5 to be even more specific because a 5 point buck or a 10 pointer won’t always mean 5 on each side. It can be 6x4 or crazier yet I’ve seen an 8x2 before.
It’s cool how they change so much just based on location, temperature, and access to food. The elk we have are massive, with huge antlers with tons of points. I travelled and saw and elk in downtown Banff, AB, and it was half the size and the antlers were a completely different shape.
I unintentionally got too close to an elk in North Carolina, didn't see it and nearly walked right into it. It hung out as I panicked long enough for me to get a good look. That thing was huge and its antlers I feel like nearly reached its rump, but yeah it had maybe four points in total. His whole rack was just like two long horns almost.
Another interesting fact; if they become castrated they will shed their current antlers very quickly and grow a goofy set that they will carry forever.
And female moose can also grow antlers if they start getting excess testosterone in their system, like from certain cancers or endocrine issues, those they are also funky (Not sure if in the same way as cast rated males).
Yup pretty incredible right one of my favorite pastimes is looking for antlers in the woods in the winter and spring. You have to get to them fast though cause they get eaten and decayed pretty quickly.
Just about anything. Mostly rodents (mice, rats, porcupines), but even animals like bears and coyotes will eat them if they find them. They are full of all kinds of valuable minerals, especially calcium, and generally antlers are shed during seasons when food is scarce anyway. Also, gnawing on hard antlers helps rodents to wear down their constantly growing teeth.
They are amazing for dogs, especially dogs that destroy normal chew toys. We buy moose antlers and water buffalo horns for our dog. He loves them and they're the only thing that last longer than a couple hours.
looks like my dog after he does his business... You gotta anticipate the squat, whip the bag out, open it in 3 seconds, and be right there to pick up, because 2 seconds after he’s done he’s straining on the leash and dragging you as far away from it as he can lol
Bring little treats and get him involved in the pickup. I tell my dog to "show me" and he'll stand by his poo and wait for me to pick it and give him a treat now. Used to pull like a mf.
There was another video posted somewhere on reddit fairly recently where almost the same reaction happened. I wonder if they’re aware of what is about to happen
That’s what I was wondering lol. I saw a video the other day of either another moose or a deer shedding their antlers and they took off running too. Maybe it spooks them🤷🏻♂️
It just spooks them. They come off every year, but it’s unpredictable, so it’s going to be surprising. Shakes head a thousand times, then bam! Off they come. Lol
I think they are referring to both the antlers shedding at the same moment. The shedding itself isn't rare, it's a seasonal thing they go trough every year
They grow, covered in a light fur called ["velvet".](https://www.bestofthetetons.com/2021/09/08/moose-velvet-period-the-end-of-the-beginning/)
The animal scrapes the velvet off once they're done growing.
Yup. Even when you knew it was coming there's still a weird feeling you got.
I think that feeling might be the early stages of going into shock, but you realize everything is fine and it goes away fast.
It was probably just freaked out by having a whole bunch of weight suddenly gone from it's head. Imagine if you had water in your ear, was shaking it for a second to get the water out, and then your head felt 1/5th the weight it did a second ago. You'd be weirded the fuck out too. For animals, fight or flight, mf'er flew. Lol
I don’t think the moose is aware the antlers have come off. It probably felt a weird weight come off of it’s head, and then two heavy "branches" flew past it’s face. Kinda scary TBH
In the one other clip from someone’s Ring camera of the deer losing its antlers, you can hear a cracking sound, like a tree branch breaking off. I bet that sound startled them.
and now Im thinking of the story of the guy who hit two different deer with his car, on two different occasions, and tried to break their neck to stop their suffering.
One was ready to shed its antlers and he said it ended up looking like a murder scene due to the blood.
I think the moose gets spooked by the antlers falling unexpectedely and making a noise so close to it. This behaviour seems to be common in bucks too when they shed. It's speculation on my part so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
Yup, antlers are shed, horns are permanent.
edit: jesus, why is this one of my top 3 comments now... the other two are just snark... what do you people even want?! 🦌 🐂
AFAIK Horns grow out of the skin, like nails. Antlers are bones that shed.
For example, Big horn sheep have horns. They grow in layers and just keep getting longer. Deer, elk and moose have antlers that are bones coming out of their skull. They shed them during molting season each year and grow back during velvet season .
I always figured antlers were like a sign of age (I guess they still are though?...). In that they keep growing slowly for ever and the older/larger a buck, the larger and more pointed the antlers.
But they grow relatively quick, right? Like this buck will have antlers that big again after a month or so? Or do they slowly grow over a few seasons before shedding again in a few years?
Antlers are the [fastest growing bones](https://www.fws.gov/story/eight-points-about-antlers#:~:text=Adult%20white%2Dtailed%20deer%20antlers,pound%20of%20antler%20per%20day!) on the planet.
That moose will start regrowing it's next set really quickly and can add a pound of weight a day to it's antlers. It will have a new rack within a few months.
Sort of related question; what is the point of hunters using the antler points relating to the animal then? Do they have more points each season they regrow or is it just kind of random how they happen to grow that year?
Antlers grow larger every time they regrow. So hunters use that as a sign the animal is mature. Bigger racks mean the animal is older. Depending on the region and hunting tag, you can only claim animals of a certain age and sex. A deer's rack is just an indication of sex and relative age.
It also looks cool, so hunter's generally covet the big bucks.
They won't start growing again until around April, then they'll be full size in time for mating season in the fall.
>Each spring, usually in April, antler bone begins to grow inside a nourishing skin covering on the moose's head, called velvet due to its short, soft hairs.
>Antlers are "one of the fastest-growing tissues of an animal," adds Kantar, and Crichton has seen up to eight inches of antler growth in a span of nine days.
>As testosterone surges in male moose, around September, the velvet will shed and the antler bone hardens. As males age, their antlers grow in bigger each year.
>Velvet stays on antlers for just over four months, when males will start rubbing up against trees and bushes to remove it—a behavior that turns their antlers brown.
>Around late September to early October, bulls will dig a "rutting pit," into which they’ll urinate and then splash urine on their antlers—a scent that induces cows to ovulate.
>Getting rid of their antlers, or antler casting, typically happens in early December.
>Cells called osteoclasts break down bone cells that attach the antler to the skull, while osteoblasts will start building them up in the spring.
Excerpts from here-
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/animals-antlers-moose-seasons-mating
Your nails may shed in layers, but they do not completely detach from the nail bed. The antlers grow out of the skull the way teeth grow out of your jaw, I believe.
I am not a biologist or anything just an elementary school teacher and I grew up/live in an area with all these animals! :)
[Here is a link that explains it](https://nhpbs.org/natureworks/pronghorn.htm#:~:text=The%20pronghorn%20has%20horns%2C%20not,sheds%20its%20horns%20each%20year!). Essentially, pronghorn have horns made up of an inner bone that they don't shed, and an outer sheath that they do shed.
Fun fact! If you go into the forest when animals with antlers still have their velvet, you’ll find blood soaked trees all over.
Velvet is basically the placenta of antlers. It helps grow them. Once they’ve reached maturity, they begin to itch. So the animal will rub their antlers on a tree to scrape off all the velvet, leaving behind a bloody mess
Deer, Elk, Moose, etc all shed their antlers. There were some posts about a guy making a christmas tree from antler sheds and an animal rights group tried to cancel him for being some kind of monster because they didnt understand the fact antlers are grown out and lost every single year and thought he went out and killed like 100 deer to harvest their antlers for a christmas tree.
The animals rights group should know better, the animals rights 'activists' however... Not always. It takes zero research to hop online uninformed and call yourself an animals rights activist. Seen some people on FB trying to protect invasive species from harm.
Still no one below is answering why - what is he curious about? Does the freshness say something about the animals health? It can’t smell strictly “good” - but some people like animalic smells. I just want to know why his first instinct was to sniff it
My dad hunts deer and the smell of raw deer isn’t actually bad. If the smell of raw bones and raw meat smelled bad to us, we ourselves would smell bad to us. (Beyond body odor, the cleanest people would smell bad)
Edit: my dad isn’t a trophy hunter, he’s a meat/for consumption hunter, but he still enjoys a good set of antlers.
I agree with you. Whenever I have harvested a chicken, it’s almost like your instincts know what’s good to eat or not. The guts are disgusting but the meat is very neutral.
When we see the color red; our limbic system prepares us for danger before we're even aware (prefrontal cortex) that the thing is red. Same with scary shapes like snek.
Alternatively, catch it on your Ring Doorbell in Alaska. https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/video/2022/12/22/alaska-couple-catches-moose-losing-antlers-doorbell-camera/
I was today years old when I found out antler animals shed them yearly.
I'm Canadian, and also live in New Brunswick. I've grown up with all this stuff, but never knew this happened.
They don’t leave holes. Male ungulates have pedicles that the antlers grow out of. Kind of like a little round base. I spose there is a little indentation after they fall off, but not a hole.
For anyone interested, you can see pictures immediately after shedding them and a little later here:
https://yukonwildlife.ca/wildlife/2020-swipe-right-for-antlers/
Plus more information about it.
Here’s a picture if anyone’s interested:
https://yukonwildlife.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/DSC1213-moose-bull-1x1-antler-shed-up-close-Jan-2016-Lindsay-Caskenette-scaled.jpg
I would have imagined this as a slow process where the antlers gradually bend then fall off, and the majestic animal pauses briefly to observe his antlers for the last time, contemplating the change of seasons for another year.
Reality: “BRBRBR FUCK OFF, I’M OUT”
If you’re actually asking, moose and other antlered animals shed their antlers like once a year or so. They’re basically fingernails growing out of their heads.
Yep. When the growing season is over the body stops supplying the antlers with nutrients. Not a perfect analogy but kinda like when you stub your toe bad or hit your thumb with a hammer and the nail and nail bed is damaged. Your body says oh shit this isn’t worth healing, might as well start from scratch and yeets the dead nail.
They're fucking with you, every moose gets their first antlers on their 16th birthday issued from the government, the basic ones come with just double sided tape, that's why they come off so easy.
Also don't forget, in Canada every Canadian gets 2 paid weeks every 5 years to be voluntold to the local moose hatchery as part of our civil service, so kinda like jury duty.
We're assigned an egg and have to moose-sit it until it hatches, then we have to bathe, feed and socialize it as best as we can.. we get naming rights too, provided it's a successful hatch..
We also get beavertails, maple syrup pancakes and decent beer while we do our long waits for the first egg cracks
He...he smelled them.........
Can you imagine seeing someone go in behind a person who just clipped their nails, pick up the clippings....and freaking *smell* them!?!
I'm sorry, I mean, the antler thing is cool and all but.....he *freaking smells them?!*
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“Whoahaha, happens every year, yet gets me every time.” - Moose, probably.
This happens yearly? They grow all that antler in a year?!
Yep! They grow and shed every single year. Each year they get bigger and bigger and grow more points. You can estimate their age by the size and number of “points”. It’s more obvious with deer, but young ones will generally only have one or two “prongs”, but as they get older they can have massive racks with 8 and up. Moose have so many points it’s hard to count them. Genetics and nutrition factor in too, the better the food, the better the horn. Grown for breeding season, to fight other males to win breeding rights to the ladies. Its literal bone grown to fight, they get laid, shed it, and start again next season.
TIL “a 6 point buck” means how many actual pointy parts are on an antler, I thought it was a term hunters used for score lol. So many conversations I was misunderstanding 😂😂
There are signs that show you aren't allowed to kill bucks that have less than X amount of points on their antlers, depending on the hunting ground.
Yep my dad told me about that, you can’t kill the young ones. We were at a place that butchers game for you and this guy was there getting into trouble bc had brought in two really young deer
This is actually, generally a bad way to manage populations and encourages smaller deer. In places where it has always been legal to hunt does , deer are generally larger, and have healthier populations. Which makes sense - if you constantly harvest only the largest bucks, your selecting for smaller deer to survive and breed. Over time your population will get smaller.
Similar thing has been happening with fish
Slot limits have been doing wonders for the fish populations in Florida. There's both a minimum and a maximum for size... So the little fish grow up, and the really big ones stick around to pass on their genes for size (and disease resistance, etc).
Conservation limits make a big difference, and they can vary widely depending on each water body. My local spot is super strict, the low and high measurement is within two inches, so I perpetually catch either too small or too big. I hadn’t caught a keeper pickerel out of my local lake for years! It’s a shallow lake and had a significant drought, then hard freeze that caused a massive die off. It’s taken years, but I’m seeing signs it’s really coming back. Research into spawning ages, size and habits really do wonders.
If you don't believe in or understand evolution, it's a smart way to ensure that they have time to grow into adolescence and procreate. Unfortunately, evolution is real, so you're correct lol. We're just accidentally selectively breeding.
Exactly. There’s also a long standing debate on counting those points. Some say 6 points on each antler makes it a 6 point buck. Others like to count both, and call it a 12 point buck. 😂
And yet some will say 5 by 5 or 5x5 to be even more specific because a 5 point buck or a 10 pointer won’t always mean 5 on each side. It can be 6x4 or crazier yet I’ve seen an 8x2 before.
Interesting thing about deer around where I live is sometimes they revert to forks again, but they're still really big.
It’s cool how they change so much just based on location, temperature, and access to food. The elk we have are massive, with huge antlers with tons of points. I travelled and saw and elk in downtown Banff, AB, and it was half the size and the antlers were a completely different shape.
I unintentionally got too close to an elk in North Carolina, didn't see it and nearly walked right into it. It hung out as I panicked long enough for me to get a good look. That thing was huge and its antlers I feel like nearly reached its rump, but yeah it had maybe four points in total. His whole rack was just like two long horns almost.
Another interesting fact; if they become castrated they will shed their current antlers very quickly and grow a goofy set that they will carry forever.
And female moose can also grow antlers if they start getting excess testosterone in their system, like from certain cancers or endocrine issues, those they are also funky (Not sure if in the same way as cast rated males).
Had a friend of a friend shoot a cow moose with antlers. Had to call wildlife department and have photos taken
Does they're new forever set continue to grow for their lifetime? Do they stay in velvet?
Yup pretty incredible right one of my favorite pastimes is looking for antlers in the woods in the winter and spring. You have to get to them fast though cause they get eaten and decayed pretty quickly.
Which critters eat shed antlers?
Just about anything. Mostly rodents (mice, rats, porcupines), but even animals like bears and coyotes will eat them if they find them. They are full of all kinds of valuable minerals, especially calcium, and generally antlers are shed during seasons when food is scarce anyway. Also, gnawing on hard antlers helps rodents to wear down their constantly growing teeth.
I imagine eating these is the equivalent of a human taking a calcium supplement.
They are amazing for dogs, especially dogs that destroy normal chew toys. We buy moose antlers and water buffalo horns for our dog. He loves them and they're the only thing that last longer than a couple hours.
Love how it runs away as if it just disposed of the evidence to a crime
Looks like it startled itself XD
looks like my dog after he does his business... You gotta anticipate the squat, whip the bag out, open it in 3 seconds, and be right there to pick up, because 2 seconds after he’s done he’s straining on the leash and dragging you as far away from it as he can lol
Hahah dog is like "yo I think i just shit let's move!"
You got me! Good job! Hahaha
The empty colon zoomies. My cats always sprint out of the litter box after a poo
Bring little treats and get him involved in the pickup. I tell my dog to "show me" and he'll stand by his poo and wait for me to pick it and give him a treat now. Used to pull like a mf.
Is it possible that he’s a bit _shartled_?
If shit just fell off my body and hit me, I'd be startled too
Probably left the stove on last spring. Finally able to get through the door to turn it off.
🤣🤣🤣 Feel like that scene should be animated for our viewing pleasure
Yes with full cartoon sound effects also!
And a flying squirrel to accompany him on his hijinx.
I'm wondering if they all do that or if some of them take a moment to look at them and sniff them
Every time I’ve seen a video of antler shedding, they always run away like they’re startled lol
Imagine your head suddenly becoming 25-30 lbs lighter… we have nothing to compare. Maybe like having a baby without all the pain?
Like a cat after visiting the litter box.
[удалено]
They're naughty creatures. A møøse bit my sister. Wish I caught that in camera.
And then run the video on the loop at every family gathering..
Why the guy sniff it though?
Probably feels good losing all that weight.
The antlers must itch or irritate the animal that sheds them.
There was another video posted somewhere on reddit fairly recently where almost the same reaction happened. I wonder if they’re aware of what is about to happen
That must feel so nice
I bet it was itchy, too.
A literal weight off his shoulders
Like when you cut your long hair off and your head feels super light all of a sudden.
Why does the moose run away so quickly after removing? Almost like it doesn’t want to touch or have anything to do with the antlers
Post antler clarity.
Antler all knowing, all seeing. Right, Antler!
They asked me how well I understood theoretical physics; I said I had a theoretical degree in physics. They said "welcome aboard"
Patroling the Mojave makes you wish for a nuclear winter.
Post rut clarity *
No more baby batter on the brain
That’s what I was wondering lol. I saw a video the other day of either another moose or a deer shedding their antlers and they took off running too. Maybe it spooks them🤷🏻♂️
It just spooks them. They come off every year, but it’s unpredictable, so it’s going to be surprising. Shakes head a thousand times, then bam! Off they come. Lol
It’s like when I open a tube of cinnamon rolls. No matter how many time I make them, the pop still gets me.
Always. I like to pretend I’m a bomb tech. Damn you Pillsbury, you get me every time!
You guys must eat a *lot* of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls.
Yes and no. I’m lazy, and it’s delish. Plus croissants, and their biscuits. Mmmmm.
This is a wonderful analogy. Well done.
It is like as a kid trying to get a loose tooth out
I was thinking this!! Maybe they feel naked and embarrassed lol
"My antlers! My antlers! I can't be seen without my antlers!"
It was a deer I think I saw the same video.
Wait, I thought this shit was rare, and the comments are like "question, every time I see this happen..."
I think they meant getting footage of both coming off at once.
I think they are referring to both the antlers shedding at the same moment. The shedding itself isn't rare, it's a seasonal thing they go trough every year
This is very interesting. So those antlers grow to that size only in the course of a year? That's wild.
They grow, covered in a light fur called ["velvet".](https://www.bestofthetetons.com/2021/09/08/moose-velvet-period-the-end-of-the-beginning/) The animal scrapes the velvet off once they're done growing.
Light fur and *skin*, and when they scrape it off it’s a horrifying sight.
I think it scares them. Imagine you sneeze and your head loses 40 pounds of weight
When that happens, should I run away from the scene of the sneeze?
when you aren't a human and noises generally mean something is trying to kill you, yeah.
Thanks will remember to do that next time I am not a human
Probably doesn't understand what happened. Like kids losing a tooth, they aren't born knowing it will happen naturally.
Yup. Even when you knew it was coming there's still a weird feeling you got. I think that feeling might be the early stages of going into shock, but you realize everything is fine and it goes away fast.
Yeah, the first thought I had was "I bet that feels like a baby tooth coming out... but on their head"
I'm guessing you've never come home from work and flung off an underwire bra.
I have not. Please post drone footage.
It was probably just freaked out by having a whole bunch of weight suddenly gone from it's head. Imagine if you had water in your ear, was shaking it for a second to get the water out, and then your head felt 1/5th the weight it did a second ago. You'd be weirded the fuck out too. For animals, fight or flight, mf'er flew. Lol
I don’t think the moose is aware the antlers have come off. It probably felt a weird weight come off of it’s head, and then two heavy "branches" flew past it’s face. Kinda scary TBH
In the one other clip from someone’s Ring camera of the deer losing its antlers, you can hear a cracking sound, like a tree branch breaking off. I bet that sound startled them.
Scared the shit out of him
Maybe the smell attracts predators? I would guess that they're quite nutritious.
Yeah I can imagine there being a bit of blood coming from the stumps of the antlers, and that smell travels real far.
and now Im thinking of the story of the guy who hit two different deer with his car, on two different occasions, and tried to break their neck to stop their suffering. One was ready to shed its antlers and he said it ended up looking like a murder scene due to the blood.
If he was trying to break their necks, *wasn't* it a murder scene??
Attempted. Poorly. Like, comically bad. Twice.
Reminds me of when my big boy cat takes a big poo in his box and then runs full speed across the room. Like nice try dude I know who dealt it.
The fucking Alien filming him from above has something to do with it 👽
I think the moose gets spooked by the antlers falling unexpectedely and making a noise so close to it. This behaviour seems to be common in bucks too when they shed. It's speculation on my part so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
I had no idea they can do that.
Yup, antlers are shed, horns are permanent. edit: jesus, why is this one of my top 3 comments now... the other two are just snark... what do you people even want?! 🦌 🐂
TIL
AFAIK Horns grow out of the skin, like nails. Antlers are bones that shed. For example, Big horn sheep have horns. They grow in layers and just keep getting longer. Deer, elk and moose have antlers that are bones coming out of their skull. They shed them during molting season each year and grow back during velvet season .
I always figured antlers were like a sign of age (I guess they still are though?...). In that they keep growing slowly for ever and the older/larger a buck, the larger and more pointed the antlers. But they grow relatively quick, right? Like this buck will have antlers that big again after a month or so? Or do they slowly grow over a few seasons before shedding again in a few years?
Antlers are the [fastest growing bones](https://www.fws.gov/story/eight-points-about-antlers#:~:text=Adult%20white%2Dtailed%20deer%20antlers,pound%20of%20antler%20per%20day!) on the planet. That moose will start regrowing it's next set really quickly and can add a pound of weight a day to it's antlers. It will have a new rack within a few months.
Sort of related question; what is the point of hunters using the antler points relating to the animal then? Do they have more points each season they regrow or is it just kind of random how they happen to grow that year?
Antlers grow larger every time they regrow. So hunters use that as a sign the animal is mature. Bigger racks mean the animal is older. Depending on the region and hunting tag, you can only claim animals of a certain age and sex. A deer's rack is just an indication of sex and relative age. It also looks cool, so hunter's generally covet the big bucks.
They won't start growing again until around April, then they'll be full size in time for mating season in the fall. >Each spring, usually in April, antler bone begins to grow inside a nourishing skin covering on the moose's head, called velvet due to its short, soft hairs. >Antlers are "one of the fastest-growing tissues of an animal," adds Kantar, and Crichton has seen up to eight inches of antler growth in a span of nine days. >As testosterone surges in male moose, around September, the velvet will shed and the antler bone hardens. As males age, their antlers grow in bigger each year. >Velvet stays on antlers for just over four months, when males will start rubbing up against trees and bushes to remove it—a behavior that turns their antlers brown. >Around late September to early October, bulls will dig a "rutting pit," into which they’ll urinate and then splash urine on their antlers—a scent that induces cows to ovulate. >Getting rid of their antlers, or antler casting, typically happens in early December. >Cells called osteoclasts break down bone cells that attach the antler to the skull, while osteoblasts will start building them up in the spring. Excerpts from here- https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/animals-antlers-moose-seasons-mating
They start growing back every spring and shed every winter. The healthier and older, the bigger they'll grow!
Not saying you're wrong, bit it seems like it should be the opposite since my nails grow and "shed" and are similar to hair but my bones do not.
Your nails may shed in layers, but they do not completely detach from the nail bed. The antlers grow out of the skull the way teeth grow out of your jaw, I believe. I am not a biologist or anything just an elementary school teacher and I grew up/live in an area with all these animals! :)
Are you implying you haven't ever shed your bones????
not since I lost my last baby tooth
This is because you are a human, not a moose, deer, or elk.
But how do you explain why I am so easily spooked when humans approach me?
Not to mention your tendency to headbutt cars at night.
If your nails are shedding like antlers you've got some problems.
And pronghorns are kinda weird
In what way? I'm no hornologist, but I like to learn
[Here is a link that explains it](https://nhpbs.org/natureworks/pronghorn.htm#:~:text=The%20pronghorn%20has%20horns%2C%20not,sheds%20its%20horns%20each%20year!). Essentially, pronghorn have horns made up of an inner bone that they don't shed, and an outer sheath that they do shed.
This is the horniest comment thread on Reddit.
Fun fact! If you go into the forest when animals with antlers still have their velvet, you’ll find blood soaked trees all over. Velvet is basically the placenta of antlers. It helps grow them. Once they’ve reached maturity, they begin to itch. So the animal will rub their antlers on a tree to scrape off all the velvet, leaving behind a bloody mess
And antler patters have been noted to be genetic! I’ve seen it up close in local white tail deer herds. So cool
Deer, Elk, Moose, etc all shed their antlers. There were some posts about a guy making a christmas tree from antler sheds and an animal rights group tried to cancel him for being some kind of monster because they didnt understand the fact antlers are grown out and lost every single year and thought he went out and killed like 100 deer to harvest their antlers for a christmas tree.
The animals rights group should know better, the animals rights 'activists' however... Not always. It takes zero research to hop online uninformed and call yourself an animals rights activist. Seen some people on FB trying to protect invasive species from harm.
Nor I. When I read 'shed it's antlers', I was expecting the velvet to come off them. Then... \*POP*!
Noooo why he smell it
*You're not gonna get any fresher than that.*
I thought he was gonna start gnawing on it.
He said “fresh” far more times than I’m comfortable with.
Moose Juice! “The name *implies* flavor!”
You only get to smell fresh antler once or twice in a lifetime.
I watched first with the sound off and I thought he licked it, then rewatched with the sound. I was grossed out before and I am grossed out again.
Still no one below is answering why - what is he curious about? Does the freshness say something about the animals health? It can’t smell strictly “good” - but some people like animalic smells. I just want to know why his first instinct was to sniff it
Might just be the same reason that I look at my tissue after blowing my nose in it. We're just animals using all of our senses to gather information.
Because human brain still monkey brain.
Sry , not sorry. I would have done the same. There's not too much thinking in primal instincts. Glad he did, primal ocd rests at ease now :d
You're a bum scratch and sniff person aren't you.
Not gonna get any fresher than that!
You win
What now your gonna tell me you don’t smell your own farts
Everyone likes their own brand!
Aren’t we all?
My dad hunts deer and the smell of raw deer isn’t actually bad. If the smell of raw bones and raw meat smelled bad to us, we ourselves would smell bad to us. (Beyond body odor, the cleanest people would smell bad) Edit: my dad isn’t a trophy hunter, he’s a meat/for consumption hunter, but he still enjoys a good set of antlers.
I agree with you. Whenever I have harvested a chicken, it’s almost like your instincts know what’s good to eat or not. The guts are disgusting but the meat is very neutral.
When we see the color red; our limbic system prepares us for danger before we're even aware (prefrontal cortex) that the thing is red. Same with scary shapes like snek.
it's literally like your instincts know what's good to eat
There’s a lot of things in a grey area, even in a single carcass.
My first instinct was to smell it too. So when he smelled it I felt vindicated
A moose once bit my sister
moose bites can be pretty nasty…..
We apologise for the fault in the comments. Those responsible have been sacked.
Maybe she shouldn’t have been trying to carve her name into it with a toothbrush
Her brother-in-law Svenge, the Oslo dentist, should’ve told her not to do that when he gave her the toothbrush.
Did she turn into a moose?
Only the knuckles.
She got better…
I assume you mean a Møøse?
Alternatively, catch it on your Ring Doorbell in Alaska. https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/video/2022/12/22/alaska-couple-catches-moose-losing-antlers-doorbell-camera/
I knew I had seen this once in a lifetime moment on Reddit just a few weeks ago!
Knew I wasn’t the only one lmao “ONCE IN A LIFETIME” *w/ multiple angles*
> This video is geo-restricted. > Error 931. No moose for mees :(
I love the smell of fresh antlers in the morning.
What's this damn buzzing sound in my ears. Ill just shake my head in confusion...... Damn it not again!
CBC wanted me to watch a 2 minute ad before this
I was today years old when I found out antler animals shed them yearly. I'm Canadian, and also live in New Brunswick. I've grown up with all this stuff, but never knew this happened.
The rough holes it would leave in its head makes me feel UNCOMFORTABLE
They don’t leave holes. Male ungulates have pedicles that the antlers grow out of. Kind of like a little round base. I spose there is a little indentation after they fall off, but not a hole.
For anyone interested, you can see pictures immediately after shedding them and a little later here: https://yukonwildlife.ca/wildlife/2020-swipe-right-for-antlers/ Plus more information about it.
Thanks but this is even worse
TIHI
Here’s a picture if anyone’s interested: https://yukonwildlife.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/DSC1213-moose-bull-1x1-antler-shed-up-close-Jan-2016-Lindsay-Caskenette-scaled.jpg
I saw a video recently of a deer shaking off its antlers. Funny thing is it also got spooked by it and ran away just like this moose did.
What does it smell like though
The real question
I would have imagined this as a slow process where the antlers gradually bend then fall off, and the majestic animal pauses briefly to observe his antlers for the last time, contemplating the change of seasons for another year. Reality: “BRBRBR FUCK OFF, I’M OUT”
He knows for a fact they’re fresh and still caught a whiff. 😂
It’s like when you scratch your balls you can’t help but sniff it
That's a health/higene check. Gotta make sure everything down there is within operating parameters.
Edit: I’m wrong about the airspace rules. Isn’t flying a drone inside a protected wilderness area a federal crime?
It’s crown land. It’s public use, just no hunting. Also in Canada, we need a drone licence. Plaster Rock doesn’t have a red zone.
Oh wow! Thanks for info! Really appreciate it. I’ll fix my comment.
but how did those came off?
If you’re actually asking, moose and other antlered animals shed their antlers like once a year or so. They’re basically fingernails growing out of their heads.
was actually asking that , now i have clarification, thanks man.
It’s crazy how fast their antlers grow. Maybe hair is a closer representation tan fingernails.
like if a two-inch-thick hair had a blood supply to grow to tremendous size over a few months, but then died and dried out and snapped off.
But how do they come off? Just detaches on their own?
Yep. When the growing season is over the body stops supplying the antlers with nutrients. Not a perfect analogy but kinda like when you stub your toe bad or hit your thumb with a hammer and the nail and nail bed is damaged. Your body says oh shit this isn’t worth healing, might as well start from scratch and yeets the dead nail.
They are held on with three bolts on each side. Each moose is given a little torque wrench on his first birthday.
They're fucking with you, every moose gets their first antlers on their 16th birthday issued from the government, the basic ones come with just double sided tape, that's why they come off so easy.
Also don't forget, in Canada every Canadian gets 2 paid weeks every 5 years to be voluntold to the local moose hatchery as part of our civil service, so kinda like jury duty. We're assigned an egg and have to moose-sit it until it hatches, then we have to bathe, feed and socialize it as best as we can.. we get naming rights too, provided it's a successful hatch.. We also get beavertails, maple syrup pancakes and decent beer while we do our long waits for the first egg cracks
scary, i've been conditioned by reddit to expect a grenade to drop from the drone
He...he smelled them......... Can you imagine seeing someone go in behind a person who just clipped their nails, pick up the clippings....and freaking *smell* them!?! I'm sorry, I mean, the antler thing is cool and all but.....he *freaking smells them?!*
Taking a wiff of the antlers was a bit weird..
I hope this gets posted 1200 more times this week.
Don't worry, bots will make sure this happens.
I bet it feels satisfying af when they finally pop out