Female deer with antlers found in South Carolina. Here’s what caused this ‘oddity’
The easiest way to tell the gender of an adult deer in the summer and fall is whether they have antlers. At least that’s normally the case.
Sharing a photo of an “antlered” doe, South Carolina wildlife officials said a rare hormonal condition can make female deer grow antlers.
“The oddity is typically caused by elevated testosterone levels, which can promote antler growth in rare cases,” the Department of Natural Resources said.
DNR said this hormonal condition “is one of the reasons why tags are referred to as ‘antlered’ and ‘antlerless,’” instead of “doe” and “buck. “
“If the latter was used, the occasional antlered doe that is harvested could be illegal if the hunter did not have a ‘doe tag’ and identified the deer as a buck based on it having antlers,” DNR said.
A hunter in Missouri just got a 19-point female deer east of Kansas City, according to McClatchy news group.
According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, “As many as one in every 65 or as few as one in 4,437 female white-tailed deer may grow antlers, depending on the region within North America. It’s all a question of hormones.”
“Female deer can grow antlers if they have higher-than-normal testosterone levels,” Missouri deer biologist Emily Flinn said.
“In most cases, does’ testosterone levels are too low for full antler development. They usually are small and poorly formed, and they aren’t completely hardened. They typically are still in velvet when hunting season arrives,” she said.
Other apparently female deer with antlers can be “fully functional males but also possess some female anatomical features” or be “true hermaphrodites, animals with both male and female reproductive organs,” according to Flinn.
This story was originally published December 3, 2019 at 12:00 PM with the headline "Female deer with antlers found in South Carolina. Here’s what caused this ‘oddity’."
