Backyard adventures, community commentary and essays. No deep philosophy, no pandering to partisan views, just plain talk.

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12/15/2003 Entry: "DEER DON'T HAVE TOP FRONT TEETH!"

DEER DON'T HAVE TOP FRONT TEETH!

Things guy deer hunters don't know that female deer hunters do know. My webmaster told me this; my neighbor Mary knew this!! Women know these things.

Deer are ruminants and have hard palates and DO NOT have upper front teeth. Ruminant is the group (ruminatia) of even-toed hoofed mammals, including chevrotains, camels, deer, giraffes, the prong-buck and cattle, that have more than one stomach and chew the cud. They don't nibble the leaves off of trees like rabbits, they rip them off since they can't nibble.

Deer are born with four teeth on their lower jaw. These four front teeth are called incisors. After a few weeks, sixteen more teeth grow in, giving it eight front incisors, six premolars on the bottom jaw, and six premolars on the upper jaw. When the deer is one year old, six more molars erupt on both the upper and lower jaws. This gives the deer a full set of 32 teeth....but no upper front teeth.

This dawned on me the other night when I was reflecting on what John Bailey told me about his deer being so old it wouldn't have lived through the winter because it had no upper front teeth. He was pulling my chain....or he missed zoology 101. That John!!!! (Smile...)

P.S. That also goes for the county attorney and the county agent. They all were part of this subversive plot of chain pulling...or else they didn't know either. (More smiles)

Actually, the most trustworthy one among the lot regarding the chain is probably Gooch, but he's a minor and related to the defendant so I can't call on him. But I'll be able to tell by the way he grins...that Gooch is a grinner and a savvy kid