Now is the season for sika deer to cast off their antlers, so visitors to Taipei Zoo may spot “unicorn” deer with one antler missing or bucks with no antlers at all. Meanwhile, Bambi, a young deer that was born last year, has recently grown a pair of pilose antlers. The zoo says the bucks with missing antlers will begin to grow new ones in one or two months’ time.
According to the zoo, deer antlers drop off naturally at this time of year and no special care is required, just like when humans lose their baby teeth. However, the base of the antlers may bleed slightly, causing the wound to itch and hurt a bit, so bucks changing their antlers are sometimes seen carefully scratching their antler bases with their hooves.
When they are two years old, bucks begin to grow their first set of antlers, which are covered by a velvety layer of skin with many capillaries and are called pilose antlers. A buck’s antlers, which are shed annually, usually begin to fork in the third year and then grow a new tine each year. A sika deer can have a maximum of four tines on its antlers, after which its newly grown antlers will always have four tines.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Zoo
照片：台北市立動物園提供
(Liberty Times, translated by Tu Yu-an)
現在是梅花鹿換角的季節，遊客來到台北市立動物園可能會看到少了一隻角的「獨角鹿」或完全沒有角的雄鹿，而去年出生的「斑比」則新長出鹿茸。動物園說，約一兩個月後缺角的雄鹿就會開始長出新的鹿角。
動物園說，每年這個時節鹿角會自然脫落，就像人類換牙，不需要特別護理，不過鹿角基座或許會有些微流血，傷口既癢又微痛，所以有時會看到雄鹿用腳小心翼翼地想搔癢。
Photo courtesy of Taipei Zoo
照片：台北市立動物園提供
雄鹿在兩歲時開始長角，此時長出來的鹿角，包覆著毛茸茸而充滿微血管的皮膚，稱為鹿茸；鹿角每年會脫落，通常第三年鹿角會開始分叉，之後每年增加一支分叉，而梅花鹿最多可分到四叉，之後長出的新鹿角永遠都是四叉。(自由時報記者謝佳君)
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