Antler Combat in Red Deer (Cervus elaphus)

    Antlers are a secondary sex characteristic of male deer (Cervidae). The exception is that both male and female caribou (Rangifer tarandus) have antlers. Antlers in several species of deer are used in agonistic displays that establish social dominance among males that provide access to females.

    Contrary to what is often taught, deer first evolved in colder regions of the Old World as large-bodied animals with large antlers (cf. Irish Elk (Megaloceros), Moose (Alces alces), and Caribou (Rangifer tarandus)). Upon migration to the New World over the Bering land bridge and movement southward to more temperate and tropical areas, antlers became reduced in size, in several species of miniature South American deer as 'spikes'. The one species of antlerless deer (Capreolus) is a derived form, rather than a model for the ancestor of all deer.