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Unicorns may only exist in fairy tales, but a deer with a single antler must have looked pretty convincing from a distance.
The roe deer had a rare antler deformity that caused it to have a single cone-shaped bone protruding from the centre of its head.
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National Geograhic reports that’s not necessary unusual because the loss of a horn can sometimes lead to a similar growth.
Researcher Boštjan Pokorny told National Geographic, “in this species, only males grow antlers.” Those are usually separate but “in the case of this very untypical and interesting buck, both pedicles, which should be separated, grew up together in one large pedicle.”
The animal was found to be “quite old and was a little pudgy,” allowing them to theorize his deformity didn’t slow him down.
KULR reported another hunter bagged a similar deer last month in the US.
Amy Calkins bagged hers in Washngton state in October. The difference here, her trophy turned out to be a doe.
The Mississippi State University Deer Lab studied that case, finding it “difficult to identify the particular cause of a particular buck’s (or doe’s) abnormality without a detailed dissection or necropsy.”
All of this comes six years after a “unicorn deer,” was seen in Italy and a fanged deer was found in Afghanistan.
Agencies/Canadajournal
