Etymology Īntler comes from the Old French antoillier (see present French : 'Andouiller', from ant-, meaning before, oeil, meaning eye and -ier, a suffix indicating an action or state of being) possibly from some form of an unattested Latin word *anteocularis, 'before the eye' (and applied to the word for 'branch' or ' horn' ). Antlers are shed and regrown each year and function primarily as objects of sexual attraction and as weapons. They are generally found only on males, with the exception of reindeer/caribou. Antlers are a single structure composed of bone, cartilage, fibrous tissue, skin, nerves, and blood vessels.
Mature red deer stag, Denmark Red deer at the beginning of the growing seasonĪntlers are extensions of an animal's skull found in members of the Cervidae (deer) family. For other uses, see Antler (disambiguation). This article is about the antlers of deer and related species.
