Fallow floppy ears?

[Woodsy]

I saw a fallow doe this morning with floppy ears. They were both hanging down like wilted leaves. Not over her eyes, still above her head but both ears were curled over forward. The other dozen or so deer with her all had the usual pointy, pricked up ears of alert deer. She looked physically in good health otherwise, but I was not able to get close enough for a really good look and she was only visible for a few minutes before they all moved away out of sight.

Has anyone else seen this with fallow (or any other deer?). My first thought was that it could be a sign of illness, but I’ve never heard of or seen this before, so I then wondered if it could be something to do with the cartilage in the ear not having developed for some reason. Any thoughts?

 

[sh1kar]

What’s Wrong With That Buck?

From gouged eyes to mystery tumors, these 13 images give a glimpse into the tough lives of whitetails

www.realtree.com

see no 8

 

[DamDama]

I saw a fallow doe this morning with floppy ears. They were both hanging down like wilted leaves. Not over her eyes, still above her head but both ears were curled over forward. The other dozen or so deer with her all had the usual pointy, pricked up ears of alert deer. She looked physically in good health otherwise, but I was not able to get close enough for a really good look and she was only visible for a few minutes before they all moved away out of sight.

Has anyone else seen this with fallow (or any other deer?). My first thought was that it could be a sign of illness, but I’ve never heard of or seen this before, so I then wondered if it could be something to do with the cartilage in the ear not having developed for some reason. Any thoughts?

Woodsy
Yes, I saw it in a Fallow doe many years ago. Don’t know the cause or reason and didn’t see her again. I don’t think it is a genetic thing as I have seen none since. It was a mature doe with a fawn at foot that was normal.
DD

 

[Buchan]

It could be a genetic defect to the cartilage of the ear, just a singel oddity mutation. I've recenlty seen a picture of a horse in Zimbabwe with "tick ear" - infestation of ticks so severe, that the cartilage is damaged and the ear droops. Cats get severe rabbit fleas on teh ear margins, so maybe it grazed in a particulalry ticky bit of ground?

 

[Paul 600]

I've seen it 3 times all in Fallow. No other abnormalities. Very weird.

 

[Woodsy]

Very interesting, thanks for the suggestions. From the info Shi1kar posted (no.8), which is from an American website referring to whitetail deer, drooping ears can be caused by congenital defects or because the cartilage has been damaged from a blow, (unlikely in this case, because both ears were drooping the same way). It can also be caused by infection in the outer ear or ear canal, (presumably the tick infestation Buchan mentioned could be a cause of this).

More worryingly it does say that drooping ears can be a sign of Chronic Wasting Disease and Epizzzotic Hemorrhagic Disease. The doe I saw this morning certainly didn’t ring any alarm bells in either her overall appearance or her behaviour, so I wouldn’t have any concerns that in her case she might be suffering either of those diseases. But drooping ears being one possible indication of these diseases is not something I had previously known about. Every day is a school day.

Paul 600 - were the three you’ve seen all in a relatively close time span or spread over a number of years? And we’re they all in the same area or over different areas?

 

[Paul 600]

They were in the same area in the same season. If my memory serves me correctly I think it was about 3% of the cull that year.

 

[Woodsy]

As an interesting additional comment/observation to this topic (not sure why this hadn’t occurred to me earlier), when I first got this particular permission the farmers wife asked me specifically not to shoot any white fallow or - and this is the possibly interesting bit - a particular roe doe which she’s seen over a few years which has ‘one ear up and one ear down’. Apparently this roe doe would tolerate her getting fairly close and she liked to see her around. I’ve been shooting there now for about three years and have never seen the doe she’s mentioned, even though there are a few roe about and I’ve been looking very carefully for the one ear up/one ear down doe. I wonder now if as Buchan says there may be some kind of flea or similar parasite in that area which causes an infection in the ear which then affects the cartilage...

 

[Paul 600]

Very few ticks on that ground.

 

[geoffw]

Here's one on a trail cam from this year...