I was watching the reindeer while trying to get a decent shot of the Red Squirrels.
While I was stood there on a raised platform, the reindeer from the previous post wandered over towards me.
He then proceeded to bash his antlers into to a small bushy tree. As I watched he started ripping off the velvet on his antlers. Within about 20 minutes, he had got rid of most of it from his antlers, leaving bright red bloodied horns.
Shortly after, the keeper came over, and was telling me about the reindeer. We were watching a different animal, and he said that he thought the antlers were nearly fully grown and in a few days they would start getting rid of the velvet. I told him what I had just watched, and that they had started.
I knew they did this but great for you to witness. They look so sore! Clever that they get the urge to do this to produce their antlers. Great capture of nature in the raw....literally!
