Driftwood? Nope. What in the woods could this be?
Answer
A moose antler.
A few years back, game warden Travis Buttle of Shaftsbury, Vermont, received a trouble call about a bull moose with funny antlers that had died in someone’s backyard. It was determined that the moose had died of natural causes – more specifically, meningeal worm, also known as brain worm, a tiny parasite. The antler pictured came off that moose.
Might the brain worm have caused this antler’s strange, driftwood-like appearance? Several scientists I spoke to had doubts. Vince Crichton, a wildlife biologist from Winnipeg, Canada, suggested that liver flukes may be a more likely culprit. He’s studied populations of German roe deer where liver flukes seemed to accompany non-typical antler growth. Another possibility is fibromatosis – a type of skin tumor that some scientists believe can cause antler deformity. Finally, the moose could have simply damaged the antler in velvet.
This week’s contest winner was Nick Fortin