Red Deer Stags with their growing antlers covered in 'velvet' skin, grazing in fields along the Claunie Water and river Dee past Braemar in the Cairngorms National Park, Aberdeenshire, Scotland on 28th May 2023. A deer’s antlers start as small lumps of tissue at the tip of the pedicle, but as they grow, they are covered with a soft fur-like covering, described as being ‘velvet’. Red Deer stag’s antlers can grow at the rate of one inch per day, but will break off after the rutting season finishes

German hunters locked horns in a contest trying to imitate the red deer’s very particular rutting sound. Stag or deer-calling is a centuries-old tradition used by hunters to lure animals out into the open. | Reuters

14K views · 541 reactions | From antlers adorned with foliage, to a chilling roar that can be heard over a mile away, to covering their bodies with their own urine–the mating ritual of red deer stags are on a different level of intensity. Don't miss Carpathian Predators: Realm of the Wolf - it premieres tonight at 8 PM. | Smithsonian Channel | Facebook