Ask The Biologist

It’s no wonder deer hunters are so fascinated with antlers.

QUESTION: What could cause this buck to have three antlers?

ANSWER:There are several possibilities. As a body develops in the womb from a single fertilized egg, individual cells differentiate for specific functions. Some become hair, bone and organs. Bone cells of the pedicle further differentiate to produce antlers each year.

It’s possible that during the development process, some of these cells migrated away from the pedicle area toward the center of the skull, resulting in a third antler or unicorn point. As an aside, some goat breeders have discovered that surgically re-locating bone from horn bases can create a third horn.

Another possibility is the buck in question suffered an injury at some point that resulted in antler growth cells to be re-located to the location of the third antler.

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