344 R. J. Goss 



fibrocelliilar connective tissue, with the aid of dermal connective 

 tissue at the periphery, holds the antler to the pedicle for an unde- 

 termined length of time between the final dissolution of the osseous 

 antler-pedicle connections and the eventual shedding of the antler. 

 How fibrous connective tissues can hold a heavv antler so rigidlv 

 attached to the skull is left to the intuition of the reader. It was 

 further contended that the blood clot forms before the antler is shed, 

 a statement which is obviously incompatible with the usuallv im- 

 maculate condition of the antler base after shedding. Having had 

 the good fortune to witness the shedding of several antlers, I can 

 testifv to the fact that bleeding does not normallv precede shedding. 

 The fresh wound on the pedicle exposes a pink layer of tissue which 

 within a few moments becomes obscured by blood ( Fig. 1 ) . 



A final misconception in the otherwise laudable investigations of 

 Waldo and Wislocki ( 1951 ) is the assumption that shedding even- 

 tually occurs, not as a combined result of the weight of the antler 

 and its weakened bony attachments to the pedicle, but because of 

 the upward pressure exerted by the growing pedicle skin on the 

 flangelike burr around the base of the antler. It is true that the distal 

 pedicle skin becomes somewhat tumescent prior to shedding, an 

 indication that incipient regeneration has been initiated, but there 

 is no reason to consider that this plays a mechanical role in detach- 

 ment of the antler. Examinations by the author of the swollen pedi- 

 cle skin in sika deer just prior to shedding revealed no indications of 

 pressure being exerted on the burr above. Indeed, circumcision of 

 the distal centimeter of skin from the right pedicles of two sika 

 bucks on March 28 was followed in one case by loss of the operated 

 antler in about 4 days and the contralateral one a few days later. In 

 the other deer, both antlers were shed 3 weeks later, on April 18. It 

 must be concluded, therefore, that the pedicle skin, which is so inti- 

 mately associated with the histogenesis of the new antler, cannot 

 be directly involved in the shedding mechanism. Inasmuch as the 

 burr is sometimes absent from the very small first antlers of yearling 

 bucks, which are nevertheless shed normally, the role of this struc- 

 ture cannot be to act as a rim against which pressure is exerted. 

 Rather, it has probably evolved as a protective ridge by which the 

 pedicle skin is shielded from injury. 



