TRANSCRIPT:
Hello this is Dr. Tom Mullikin with SCDNR for Into the Wild.
A buck's antlers may look permanent, but they are part of a yearly cycle of growth, hardening, and release. After old antlers are shed in winter, new growth begins again.
Through spring and summer, the developing antlers are covered in velvet, a living tissue rich with blood vessels. Nutrition and overall health help determine how well they grow. By late summer or early fall, the bone hardens and the velvet is rubbed away on shrubs and trees.
After the breeding season, changes in daylight and hormones eventually cause the antlers to loosen and fall. Somewhere in the woods, a rack that took months to grow may disappear into leaves overnight. The cycle is a reminder that even the strongest-looking structures in nature are temporary.