Noun

antlers

1. Plural form of antler.

Antlers are the usually large and complex bony appendages on the heads of most deer species, mostly on males; only caribou and reindeer have antlers on the females, and these are normally smaller than those of the males. Nevertheless, fertile does from other species of deer have the capacity to produce antlers on occasion, usually due to increased testosterone levels. Each antler grows from an attachment point on the skull called a pedicle. While an antler is growing, it is covered with highly vascular skin called velvet, which supplies oxygen and nutrients to the growing bone; once the antler has achieved its full size, the velvet is lost and the antler's bone dies. This dead bone structure is the mature antler, which is itself shed after each mating season.

An advancer is a term used by hunters for one of the starts or branches of a buck's attire between the back antler and the "palm" (the flattened part of the antlers). In other words, the advancer is the second branch of a buck's horn.

Antlers appear to act as large hearing aids. This effect was discovered by researchers George and Peter Bubenik and published the findings in the European Journal of Wildlife in March 2008. Moose with antlers have far more sensitive hearing than moose without. The Bubeniks then studied trophy antlers with an artificial ear, confirming that the antler behaves like a parabolic reflector.