My tree has antlers! A few weeks after I started watching my tree, I noticed that there are two young twigs growing out of the main trunk about 7 feet up and 5 feet below the main branches. They look just like antlers!
Now that I know how to look at a twig to see how old it is, I thought I'd see exactly how old these silly tree antlers are.
(Click to see a bigger version.) From counting the rings that mark the terminal bud scars, I'm estimating that this twig antler has been growing for about eight years. Which means that these antlers started to grow around the same year we moved in!
So is anything growing on these antlers?
Yes siree. They have the same buds as the twigs above, only they're a little smaller and a little darker. It looks like that one in the center is just on the brink of opening up though.
Another twiglet off of one of the antlers has even smaller buds, but one of them has definitely opened. I see those purple dots in there!
It'll be interesting to watch these twigs that are so much closer to the ground. How is life different for them down here?
Fun fact: Did you know that you can tell the age of a goat by counting the rings on its horns? A deer's antlers, however, are actually very different from horns and fall off and regrow every year!
Now that I know how to look at a twig to see how old it is, I thought I'd see exactly how old these silly tree antlers are.
(Click to see a bigger version.) From counting the rings that mark the terminal bud scars, I'm estimating that this twig antler has been growing for about eight years. Which means that these antlers started to grow around the same year we moved in!
So is anything growing on these antlers?
Yes siree. They have the same buds as the twigs above, only they're a little smaller and a little darker. It looks like that one in the center is just on the brink of opening up though.
Another twiglet off of one of the antlers has even smaller buds, but one of them has definitely opened. I see those purple dots in there!
It'll be interesting to watch these twigs that are so much closer to the ground. How is life different for them down here?
Fun fact: Did you know that you can tell the age of a goat by counting the rings on its horns? A deer's antlers, however, are actually very different from horns and fall off and regrow every year!
Leave a comment