Post by Bobcat on Jan 31, 2004 7:56:45 GMT -5
Ron Henry Strait: Deer fangs are more than just 'whispers'
San Antonio Express-News
Web Posted : 01/30/2004 12:00 AM
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the woods, word comes that some white-tailed deer have fangs.
The fangs are very small and very rare in whitetails, but the tiny teeth are out there, lurking in the upper gums in a few deer.
Reader Richard Manna saw the little teeth on a deer killed last season near Big Foot, and he e-mailed to ask what I knew about them. Manna said someone told him the teeth are called "whispers."
I had never heard of deer fangs, or whisper teeth, and sought information from books.
Nada, but, apparently, I checked the wrong books because there is information out there.
Anyway, after a quick look for written information, I called Terry Jahns at Eddie's Taxidermy.
"Oh, yes. They're up front, under the nose," Jahns said. "I've only seen it once in the last eight years. I saw it on a European mount I did three or four years ago."
The European, or bleached-skull, mount is about the only way to see the tiny teeth. Traditional whitetail shoulder mounts use only the hide, skullcap and antlers of the deer. The remainder of the upper jaw and skull would be discarded — along with the fangs and soft tissues — sight unseen.
In the last eight years, Jahns' shop has worked on several thousand European mounts, and he vividly recalls the skull and telling the hunter how rare the teeth are.
That's about all Jahns remembers of the deer, except that the teeth are seen in elk and are sometimes called "whistlers."
Pretty close to "whispers."
On Monday morning, during a conversation with a wildlife biologist, I happened to ask, "By the way, have you ever heard of deer fangs, or 'whispers?'"
His specialty is migratory birds and his answer was no, but he suggested that I call the deer biologists at the Kerr Wildlife Management Area near Mountain Home where Texas Parks & Wildlife Department biologist Eugene Fuchs was familiar with deer fangs, sort of.
Fuchs knows about the tiny teeth that occur in cervids, which is the scientific family that includes white-tailed deer.
He has heard the teeth called "ivory" and "bugling teeth."
"They're a holdover trait from a long time ago," Fuchs said, referring to fossilized remains of deer ancestors. "They occur — or can occur — in all cervids."
In fact, he said, he had seen the teeth in the jaw of a whitetail killed earlier this month in the Hill Country.
"They're about as big as the lead on a sharp No. 2 pencil," he said.
Fuchs said he has seen ivory in yearlings, and assumes the deer are born with the teeth, that they don't appear at some later stage in the animal's life.
Bull and cow elk have the teeth, Fuchs said, and they also occur in male animals of the deer family that never grow antlers, such as Chinese water deer.
"But if you want to see (ivory)," Fuchs said, "look at a sika deer. They always have ivory."
The sika deer, a native to the Far East, is a staple of the Texas exotics hunting industry.
Sikas are fairly common in the Hill Country.
I've been in the woods with sika deer. It wasn't that scary.
San Antonio Express-News
Web Posted : 01/30/2004 12:00 AM
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the woods, word comes that some white-tailed deer have fangs.
The fangs are very small and very rare in whitetails, but the tiny teeth are out there, lurking in the upper gums in a few deer.
Reader Richard Manna saw the little teeth on a deer killed last season near Big Foot, and he e-mailed to ask what I knew about them. Manna said someone told him the teeth are called "whispers."
I had never heard of deer fangs, or whisper teeth, and sought information from books.
Nada, but, apparently, I checked the wrong books because there is information out there.
Anyway, after a quick look for written information, I called Terry Jahns at Eddie's Taxidermy.
"Oh, yes. They're up front, under the nose," Jahns said. "I've only seen it once in the last eight years. I saw it on a European mount I did three or four years ago."
The European, or bleached-skull, mount is about the only way to see the tiny teeth. Traditional whitetail shoulder mounts use only the hide, skullcap and antlers of the deer. The remainder of the upper jaw and skull would be discarded — along with the fangs and soft tissues — sight unseen.
In the last eight years, Jahns' shop has worked on several thousand European mounts, and he vividly recalls the skull and telling the hunter how rare the teeth are.
That's about all Jahns remembers of the deer, except that the teeth are seen in elk and are sometimes called "whistlers."
Pretty close to "whispers."
On Monday morning, during a conversation with a wildlife biologist, I happened to ask, "By the way, have you ever heard of deer fangs, or 'whispers?'"
His specialty is migratory birds and his answer was no, but he suggested that I call the deer biologists at the Kerr Wildlife Management Area near Mountain Home where Texas Parks & Wildlife Department biologist Eugene Fuchs was familiar with deer fangs, sort of.
Fuchs knows about the tiny teeth that occur in cervids, which is the scientific family that includes white-tailed deer.
He has heard the teeth called "ivory" and "bugling teeth."
"They're a holdover trait from a long time ago," Fuchs said, referring to fossilized remains of deer ancestors. "They occur — or can occur — in all cervids."
In fact, he said, he had seen the teeth in the jaw of a whitetail killed earlier this month in the Hill Country.
"They're about as big as the lead on a sharp No. 2 pencil," he said.
Fuchs said he has seen ivory in yearlings, and assumes the deer are born with the teeth, that they don't appear at some later stage in the animal's life.
Bull and cow elk have the teeth, Fuchs said, and they also occur in male animals of the deer family that never grow antlers, such as Chinese water deer.
"But if you want to see (ivory)," Fuchs said, "look at a sika deer. They always have ivory."
The sika deer, a native to the Far East, is a staple of the Texas exotics hunting industry.
Sikas are fairly common in the Hill Country.
I've been in the woods with sika deer. It wasn't that scary.
