A TAXIDERMY MYTHICAL 'ATOLL STAG'

A TAXIDERMY MYTHICAL 'ATOLL STAG'the head of a coral antlered Muntjac, wall mounted,47cm highA deer can sometimes have a ‘Perruque’ (from the French term for wig) head, whereby the antlers have become malformed due to testosterone imbalance, in the case of this mystical Muntjac, the antlers have grown into coral! The exact history of this specimen is sadly unknown, however, it is believed that a small herd of deer became trapped on an exotic atoll, feeding on the algae that grew on shallow water corals, ingesting small parts of the coral itself, after a number of generations of this continued behaviour, the annual shedding of antlers resulted in them starting to grow back into corals!CITESCoral (Pocillopora sp.)Annex B, Appendix 11 (exempt - pre-1975 specimen) Reeves's Muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi)