Gift to the museum from D.A. Bozhukov - anomalous antlers of a roe deer

The museum expresses deep gratitude to Dmitry Anatolyevich Bozhukov for replenishing the collection of the museum with some interesting exhibits.

Dmitry kindly donated the anomalous antlers of a roe deer, which he had acquired several years ago for his personal collection.

One specimen is roe deer antlers on a medallion with a pronounced anomaly of the left antler, in which the normal symmetry is broken. Another specimen is a single antler, the anomaly of which is the presence of a large number of randomly arranged processes.

Roe deer (Capreolus) is a genus of deer living in the territory of Eurasia. They have a slender physique build and a long neck. Legs are thin and long. Head is small with long and wide ears. Only males have small double-branching antlers, which are rounded in section. Usually at the top the antler ends with three processes. The surface of the antler from the base is covered with many protrusions and bumps. Coloration is dark red in summer and gray-brown in winter with a white spot in the tail area; the tail is very small.

For a long time zoology was dominated by the idea of the genus Capreolus as a monotypic genus, within the range of which several subspecies or geographical races are distinguished. Doubts about the monotypic nature of the genus arose in the 1970s–80s after the discovery of differences in chromosomal sets of European and Siberian roe deers, reproductive barriers of their hybridization and differences in the level of metabolism. These features, along with geographical isolation, made it possible to distinguish the European roe as a separate species. At the same time according to many morphological, immunochemical and genetic indicators, the European roe deer is essentially a reduced copy of the Siberian roe.