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Why do caribou cows have antlers and females of other members off the deer family do not?

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Why do caribou cows have antlers and females of other members off the deer family do not?

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A guess is that cows with large antlers can defend winter feeding places from most of those with smaller antlers. Caribou must dig for lichens through the snow. Once they have spent energy digging for food, they want to defend that spot. Do all caribou have antlers? No. Some cows have no antlers and many have just one antler. Do you know if it is a cow or a bull by the appearance of the antlers? Yes and no. Caribou with big antlers are bulls. The antlers of males one and a half to two years old are similar in size and weight to those of cows. Can you tell the age of a caribou by its antlers? It certainly helps. Those with the largest antlers in the fall are bulls older than five years. A bull with large antlers in January-March is likely to be two and a half to three years old. Cows with large antlers are likely to be older than five years. The average weight of two antlers in females increases with age as shown below. Don Thomas is a Canadian Wildlife Service caribou biologist and a m

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