It’s not uncommon for pictures of hunter-killed buck deer to show up in my email inbox; what was strange about this case was the title of the email: antlered doe. As you can see from the picture at left, this was an exceptional whitetail, killed by Henry Marsh near Lyme, NH on Thanksgiving Day. The deer weighed 195 pounds field dressed (lower viscera removed). A game warden reportedly estimated the age at 7 ½ years. The non-typical horns are highly polished, indicating a testosterone-frenzied alpha male. All indications point to the buck of a lifetime, save for one: the fact that the animal had a vagina instead of a penis.
Is this common? Well, no, but some does will grow antlers (scientists estimate the number at 1 in every 1,000 to 6,000, although there is some evidence that certain areas boast abnormally high numbers – one Canadian study block produced 8 antlered does in a population of 516, or 1 in 64). Antler growth in deer begins in April, and is triggered by the interaction of increasing daylight, testosterone, and the hormone prolactin. According to researchers at the Minnesota DNR, female deer can have a testosterone surge at this time, caused by a hormone imbalance, first pregnancy, tumors, or degenerative conditions of the ovaries or adrenal glands. This single surge can cause the growth of antlers in velvet.
What’s strange about Marsh’s buck, err, doe, however, is that the antlers are polished. According to the Minnesota DNR, for an antler to become polished bone, a second surge of testosterone is necessary. Reproductively functional females will not get the second surge. This seems to suggest that the Marsh buck was probably a pseudohermaphrodite, an animal with external female genitalia but internal male reproductive organs (were it a true hermaphrodite, it would have ambiguous external genitals).
The fact that the animal had a live weight of over 200 pounds seems to add credence to this idea. According to Kent Gustafson, deer project leader for the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, the average adult doe in New Hampshire weighs between 110 and 120 pounds. Of the 9,000 does the state has surveyed over the past half century, only 3 have hit 200 pounds, and none recently.
Unfortunately, further examination of the animal will probably not be possible, as the animal’s reproductive tract was never examined before the deer was processed. State conservation officer Tom Dakai did see the deer and verified that it had no external male genitalia. If I learn anything new over the next few weeks, I’ll let you know.
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