Deer teeth provide insights into their diet and age. Examining dental structures reveals adaptations that allow deer to thrive as herbivores. Their teeth change throughout their lives, making them indicators of a deer’s history.
Distinctive Features of Deer Teeth
Deer possess a specialized dental arrangement. A notable feature is the absence of upper incisors. Instead, deer have a tough, fibrous dental pad on their upper jaw. Complementing this pad are eight incisor-like teeth on their lower jaw, which include six true incisors and two canines that function similarly. These lower front teeth are long, thin, and sharp.
Further back in the mouth, deer have premolars and molars, known as “cheek teeth.” An adult deer has 32 teeth: 12 molars, 12 premolars, six incisors, and two canines. The molars and premolars feature flat, ridged surfaces. A gap, known as the diastema, separates the front incisors from these cheek teeth.
How Deer Use Their Teeth
The structure of deer teeth enables them to efficiently consume their herbivorous diet. The lower incisors work in conjunction with the upper dental pad to nip or shear off vegetation. This allows them to grasp and tear plant material, such as leaves, stems, and even bark. The dental pad provides a firm surface against which the sharp lower incisors can cut.
Once vegetation is gathered, the premolars and molars at the back of the jaw take over. These cheek teeth are designed for grinding tough plant material into smaller, digestible pieces. Their ridged surfaces rub together with a sweeping, side-to-side motion, which breaks down plant cell walls. This thorough grinding process is important for deer, who often eat quickly to minimize vulnerability to predators.
Estimating Age Through Deer Teeth
The appearance of deer teeth changes predictably throughout their lives, offering a reliable way to estimate their age. For younger deer, tooth eruption patterns are the primary indicator. Fawns have fewer than six cheek teeth. They are born with deciduous “milk teeth,” including three premolars, which are later replaced by permanent ones.
For deer around 1.5 to 2.5 years old, the third premolar, which initially has three cusps, is replaced with a permanent premolar that has two cusps. The molars also erupt sequentially, with the first molar appearing around six to seven months, the second around 13 months, and the third fully by 2.5 years of age. By 2.5 years, a deer will have its full set of six permanent cheek teeth per jaw side.
For deer older than 2.5 years, age is estimated by observing tooth wear patterns. As teeth wear down, the hard, white outer enamel layer erodes, exposing the darker, softer inner material called dentin. The extent and width of this exposed dentin, along with the degree of bluntness in the tooth cusps, are indicators of age. Factors such as diet can influence wear rates, making estimation less precise for deer over 3.5 years old.