The antler of the deer is not a keratinous horn like that of chamois, but a bone protuberance that grows and renews itself every year.

Only males are equipped with it, and it appears at the end of the first winter of the specimen's life, nourished by a layer of highly vascularized skin, called "velvet". The maximum development of the stage is reached during the summer, when the velvet then falls leaving the bone in plain sight, ready for the fighting of the autumn mating season.

During the winter, with the drop in testosterone levels, the base of the stage descales, becoming fragile, and at the slightest impact the antler detaches and falls, and then grows again during the following spring and summer. Each year the antler grows larger and the number of branches increases - although the number of points is not an exact index for determining the age of the animal.

So between January and March, wandering through woods and clearings, you can come across these curious finds: deer antlers that even exceed the meter in length and weighing up to a few kilos!

Pay attention this season