characteristic for the stags is the formation of antlerses. Only two today living types of this family don't develop any forehead-arms: Musk deer and water-deer. Only with the reindeer, both sexes carry an antlers, with all other antlers-bearers, the forehead-weapon is limited normally on male animals.
Antlers-development The antlers refines from the "rose-sticks", that is up and about few-y bone-taps. From each rosebush, an antlers-pole grows. The growing antlers is surrounded from bast. The bast is a together with-nicely hairy one, strongly supplied with blood and touch-sensitive skin, that nourishes the growing antlers and protects. After the antlers-growth is finished, the blood supply is interrupted. The bast drying up through it is "swept" through shredders and palpitation at bushes and trees until the bone antlers-pole is bald. The swept antlers has a surface with furrows and button-good rises, the so-called "Perlung." At the reason of the antlers-pole, the protuberances unite to a collar, for which "rose" is called. The rose is missing at the Erstlingsgeweih.
The formation of cavities of the rose finally causes the approximately simultaneous throw of the two antlers-poles. The bone surface of the rose-sticks exposed through the loss of the poles becomes überwallt from the edges from through the bast-skin again forming itself directly. The growth of the new antlers begins with it. In the normal case, the antlers-change occurs once per year.
Stags require a considerable quantity for the construction of the antlers lime-substance. The size of the antlers is dependent on the mineral-material-offer in the Wohnareal of a stag. Lime-reserves in the body, especially in the skeleton, make the construction of the antlers possible within few months. In mineral-material-poor areas, stags consume the newly thrown off antlers-poles.
Variety of the antlers-forms In the course of its life, a stag pushes a new antlers annually. From year to year, the antlers takes at mass and possibly at end-number to. After a climax of the development was gained, end-number and mass decrease again, the stag "puts back. A major stag gained the climax of its antlers-development. With the red-stag, this culmination with the 10 steps.-12. Year of life one.
The simplest antlers is a skewer. This development-step is not exceeded with the South American Pudus (dwarf-stags) and Mazamas (skewer-stags).
The next development-step forms a simple fork. The Asian Muntjakhirsche and the Andes-stags reach this stage.
A continuation of the Vergabelung leads to the Sechsendergeweih. Examples for this development-step are deer, Axishirsch and pig-stag.
The repeated fork-y branching leads antlerses to many-finish. Approximately equally strong formation of the fork-ends can occur on that occasion, as with the South American swamp-stag or the extinct Schomburgkhirsch Südostasiens.
The fork-ends are unevenly strongly developed in most cases. The rungs can be directional mainly to the front (red-stag, elk) or to the back (David-stag, Virginia-stag, Damhirsch). The level of the Vergabelung and the inflection of the antlers-poles are variable. With elk and Damhirsch, a shovel-good widening of the rungs occurs.
Tack the antlerses The antlerses play an important role at rival-fights. By the rung-formation, it is reached that the antlerses are gotten caught in one another at fights and injuries are avoided by it largely. The Brunftkämpfe are excretory-duels, with which it depends mainly on strength and skill.
The antlers-poles have a swung form, that derives the pressure of the opponent on the deepest and break-surest point of the Vergabelung.
Hormonal influences on the antlers-growth The antlers of the stags (with exception of the reindeer) develops under the influence the in the testicle of produced male sexual-hormone Testosteron. In the youth castrated stags don't form any antlers. If the castration takes place during the antlers-growth, the formation of a wig-antlers, an abnormally grown one, of bast of coated duration-antlers occurs. Such deformities became known from deer-bucks, with whom the testicles had been hurt by shot.
The antlers-formation becomes besides from the Testosteron also from paramount hormones of the Hypophysenvorderlappens and influences the Thyroxin of the thyroid gland. These hormones steer the growth, growth-halt, drying up of the bast and throwing off of the antlers in interaction. Simultaneously, the stimulation of the seed-formation of the testicle takes place, whose climax coincides with the calcification of the antlers-poles after the sweeping the bast (bolt the bone-skin).
Denture The denture of the stags shows a cuspid in the upper jaw of jederseits. With musk deer, water-deer and Muntjak, the upper jaw-teeth are so big that they protrude from the mouth like tusks. With other stags, these teeth are smaller. These "Grandeln" are popular with the hunters as jewelry or trophies. The upper cuspids can also be missing.
Hair-dress Only with the reindeer, sub-wool is developed in the fur. The blanket of the other stag-types is therefore not processed to fur-work. The hair-change, besides with tropical types, takes place in the spring and autumns. Differ summer and winter-fur not only regarding its length and density but also in coloring and drawing. Numerous stag-types have a mirror, one through light coloring and possibly dark Umrahmung of accentuated part in the area of the tail-root. Stags often point in the youth, in the summer-dress or all-year a stain-drawing on. The Fleckung of the stags is regarded as original characteristic, that was receded in the course of the tribal-development.
Glands Stags possess inter-claw-glands at front and hind legs. Furthermore, glands occur at the rear of the rear-run of most types. Except for the musk deer, all stags have also a pre-eye-gland. All stags lack a gall bladder, only the musk deer does an exception here.
Utilization of the human being Stags are a sought-after hunt-loot. they deliver effective trophies (antlers, Grandeln) on the one hand, on the other hand meat, fur, leather and the antlers-substance (buttons) are utilized. Elks and a race of the white-duster-stag living in Mexico were used as pets in restricted scope. One tries the Damhirsch to hold as a meat-supplier.
In the northern Asia, stags are held to the Pantengewinnung in farms. Panten is the dried and pulverized bast-antlers. The antlers-poles are sawed off the living stag as long as they are still coated by a supplied with blood bast-skin. The growing antlers is especially rich in sexual-hormones. It depends with the Pantengewinnung on these. The Pantenjagd led to the extermination of the Dybowskihirsches in the wild. The "stag-horn-salt" stands also with us, today only a popular name for Ammoniumcarbonat, to injustice in the reputation of an aphrodisiac - maybe a memory of a former Panten-Gewinnung also in Europe.
System Since the individual subfamilies have only scientific meaning, the affiliated stags, that have own articles, are individually presented here:
1. Subfamily musk-stags (Moschinae) musk deer;
2. Subfamily Muntjakhirsche (Muntiacinae));
3. Subfamily real-stags (Cervinae) Damhirsche, Axishirsch, pig-stag, Sambarhirsche, Barasingha, lyre-stag, Sikahirsch, red-stag as well as David-stag;
4. Subfamily water-stags (Hydropotinae) water-deer;
5. Subfamily Trughirsche (Odocoileinae) deer, white and black-duster-stag, swamp-stag, pampas-stag, Andes-stags, skewer-stags as well as Pudus;
6. Subfamily elk-stags (Alcinae) elk;
7. Subfamily reindeer-stags (Rangiferinae) reindeer.
Scientific name: