Anybody Come Across This Oddity Before??

[Harley469]

I was just wondering if any of you have ever come across this before. My brother in law took a nice buck this past week and decided to do a European mount. When he cut the skin from the skull he found two "fangs". I did the research on this, and what I found stated that this is a genetic thing that goes back to evolution. These are canine teeth that have faded out after thousands of years, but some deer still have the genetics for the trait apparently. Pic of the buck and the skinned skull are attached.

 

[03mossy]

That’s really cool! I’ve read about it before but just thought it was just a freak thing in one deer. Never knew it was a gene that some still carry.

 

[JeffB1961]

evoultion is real ........

 

[deermanok]

Vampire deer.

 

[jd24.5.48]

I've never seen or heard of this before! Was there 2 fangs or just the one? That's pretty wild looking!

 

[MrTom]

Boy, that's weird.

I shot a large-bodied white-tail years ago that had a regular antler on one side and a regular mulie antler on the other side. When I was removing the hide and flesh from the skull cap to mount the rack, I found a two-inch piece of antler broken off in the deer's skull about 1/2" below the pedicle where the antler growth starts. It's certainly a weird. Like what you're showing. I still have the antlers somewhere in the garage. If I can find them I'll get a picture. Deer was shot on November 3rd, 1973.

 

[Harley469]

Boy, that's weird.

I shot a large-bodied white-tail years ago that had a regular antler on one side and a regular mulie antler on the other side. When I was removing the hide and flesh from the skull cap to mount the rack, I found a two-inch piece of antler broken off in the deer's skull about 1/2" below the pedicle where the antler growth starts. It's certainly a weird. Like what you're showing. I still have the antlers somewhere in the garage. If I can find them I'll get a picture. Deer was shot on November 3rd, 1973.

Wow, 1973- that was the year I was born. Hope it was a good year for you

 

[4stringdude]

A genetic throwback. Those genes are still present and something activated them. I will have to check my deer in the future. I have never noticed fangs, but I don't usually look in a deer's mouth. You have me thinking about it now.

 

[ElDiablo]

Pretty cool! Uncommon but not unheard of.

https://www.wideopenspaces.com/have-you-ever-seen-a-deer-with-upper-canine-teeth/

 

[Harley469]

I've never seen or heard of this before! Was there 2 fangs or just the one? That's pretty wild looking!

There were two but when he was skinning it the other fell out.

 

[GM54-120]

Vampire deer

There is such a thing too
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_deer

 

[BuffaloSoldier]

You'll have a great story to tell for many years!!

 

[JIMYJAC]

Vampire deer.

That`s it! vampires exist.

 

[deermanok]

That`s it! vampires exist.

They're probably imported from Transylvania.

 

[white eagle]

That is amazing never would have thought
kinda like elk ivories I guess

 

[a cloud of smoke]

wild boar must have had a go on a doe one day..lol...a hybrid deer...

 

[MrTom]

I'm just happy it's inside a fence.

 

[Harley469]

My son is in the army, stationed in S Korea and he has seen the "vampire" deer in the wild.

 

[Hausser1]

Wow, 1973- that was the year I was born. Hope it was a good year for you

1973 huh? Kids.

 

[jbs27572]

I think that may qualify as an atavistic trait. Evolution never takes anything away, it only adds. We still have all the genes for all the traits of our evolutionary ancestors. Genes for these traits are still there but are turned off. every so often, some biochemical error leads to one of these "throwback" genes being turned on and an animal is born with the throwback trait. Humans have genes for a tail; it is just turned off. There have been humans born with atavistic tails where that gene was turned on for some reason. I remember reading a paper about an experiment where the researchers were able to turn on the gene for teeth in a chicken embryo and you can see carnivorous looking teeth develop in the embryo. This was taken as evidence in support of the theory that birds evolved from therapod dinosaurs.