Incidence of canine teeth in roe

willie_gunn

Well-Known Member
Morena

How common is it for roe to develop canine teeth? The buck I shot this morning has noticeable upper canines. I can't remember coming across roe with canines before although I know I've read about it somewhere

Is there any research on how often they occur?

I'll post some photos of the teeth later today

willie_gunn
 
Hi willie_gunn,
It has been recorded before but as many photos as possible as unusual but be careful as normally they have short roots and are easily displaced If you could keep the lower jaw without boiling I am working on cementum layers for accurate ageing of deer and would be interested.
Look forward to your post.
morena
 
Morena

How about these.

Here the two canines, as seen initially:

RoeCaninesCloseUp1.jpg


Here the same, but with the upper skin cut back:

RoeCaninesCloseUp2.jpg


Here the front jaw:

RoeCanines-FrontJaw180.jpg


And the rear:

RoeCanines-RearJaw180.jpg


And now the whole jaw:

RoeCanines-WholeJaw180.jpg


There is some interesting tooth wear on the rear teeth:

RoeCanines-TeethWear.jpg


It is quite noticable how the upper tooth has worn hardly at all, whereas the lower tooth is almost worn down.

I see Richard Prior, in his book "The Roe Deer: Conservation of a Native Species", cites research showing that between 2% and 17% of roe may have canines (Chaplin R E and Atkinson J The Occurrence of Upper Canine Teeth in Roe Deer from England and Scotland, 1968)

Rather than carrying on skinning the head I've put it in the freezer. You're more than welcome to the lower jaw - or indeed the whole head if it will help with any research. Just let me know

willie_gunn
 
Good photos, Willie. I shot a buck with a client years ago which had canines almost identical to the ones in your pictures, he was absolutely ancient, and his teeth were worn right down, even his inscisors were worn down to stumps (like and old dog thats been allowed to pick up stones for years). I boiled his jaws and the canines fell out straight away!, there wasnt much of a root on them. (The buck was in south-west scotland).
 
traveler

Thanks for the comments - believe it or not the photos were taken with a Fuji Finepix camera I bought for £2.50 from eBay! The macro mode is remarkable. I bought it after my cocker spaniel broke the old one by snatching it from off of the kitchen table :evil:

Interesting to hear that you shot a roe with canines. I can't say I've looked specifically for them before, but with this buck I noticed them straight away - I'll make a point of checking in the future. Chances are they've been there before but I've lost them when the head was boiled out.

I'd be interested to hear how often other people on the site find them.

willie_gunn
 
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