At the beginning of this year, a roebuck walked in front of the lens twice on the wildlife camera of Onze Nature fan Kitty. The first time without antlers worthy of the name, two weeks later with short stubs. Because Kitty wonders whether both photos can be of the same animal, we find out at what speed such deer antlers shoot out of the rosettes.
Most cervids don’t grow their impressive antlers until spring, but deer are an exception to that rule. Reeboks grow ‘baby buds’ in the fall in their first year of life. They shed those starter antlers shortly after the turn of the year to be able to start on a decent set of antlers right away.
The antlers of adult roe deer grow from December. In April or May, growth stops and the males begin to shed their bark. That’s the velvety skin around the new branches with which blood full of nutrients is supplied. Fully grown antlers do not need any extra nutrition, so the blood supply stops. As a result, the branches start to itch enormously. Bye bye bark, welcome ‘naked’ antlers – bring on the females!
Deer antler growth rate
But how fast do those antlers grow exactly? This varies per individual and probably has to do with the available food, the age of the animal and its genetic predisposition. In captivity, researchers found an average growth rate of 3.3 mm per day, a rate at which the antlers became fully grown in 60 days. Another study in wild roe deer yielded an average of 2.8 mm per day, with peaks of 5.6 mm.
If we continue to calculate with an average of three millimeters, you can expect a growth of 4.2 cm after two weeks. So it is quite possible that the billy goat in Kitty’s photos is the same twice, but you can’t be completely sure.
