THE DEEK FAMILY ' 
119 
Many persons find it difficult to believe that 
the antlers of all these creatures drop off close 
to the skull, every year, and are completely re- 
newed in about four months; but such is the 
fact. It is Nature’s special plan to absorb the 
seems incredible — unless watched from week to 
week — that the enormous antlers of full-grown 
moose or elk can be dropped and completely re- 
newed again in as short a period as four months; 
but it is true. 
!f| 
“ DO ELK SHED THEIR ANTLERS ? ” 
An answer from the New York Zoological Park. 
1. March 21. 
3. April 30. 
surplus strength of the males, and render them 
weak and inoffensive during the period in which 
the mothers are rearing their young, when both 
the does and their fawns would be defenceless 
against savage males with perfect antlers. It 
2. April S. 
4. May 15. 
The antlers of North American deer are usu- 
ally dropped in March, but occasionally in Feb- 
ruary. Sometimes a day or two passes between 
the fall of the first antler and the loss of the 
second. The root, or pedicle, exposed is a rough 
