Why Do Female Caribou Have Antlers? Maybe Because They Eat Them For Calcium

 Scientists Think Female Caribou May Shed Antlers So They Can Eat Them After Giving Birth 

Caribou in fall. (Photo to the Journal, by Kevin Hamel)

Scientists in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge report that 80% of 1,500 caribou antlers they examined,  lying out on the tundra,  have been nibbled by caribou. 

A Scientific American story reports a scientists from the University of Cincinnati say that the animals "are just really going after the antlers. They are highly selective." 

Researchers say there's a possibility that gnawing on antlers, which are full of nutrients, allows female caribou to get the "protein, calcium and phosphorous" they need after birthing their calves. 

Caribou – and reindeer, a close domesticated relative – are the only deer whose females grow antlers. The female caribou shed their antlers a few days before giving birth in the spring.

Male caribou also have antlers, but they shed them in November or December, after the rut.