Elk Antlers Can Grow Two-Thirds of an Inch a Day

A bull elk grows a new set of antlers every year, and quickly. The U.S. National Park Service explains that most bulls in Yellowstone drop their antlers in March and April, and new growth begins soon after. The antler-growing period lasts about 90 days for yearling bulls and about 140 days for healthy, mature bulls. Most of the work comes at the end. Roughly 70 percent of the antler growth takes place in the last half of the period, when the antlers of a mature bull grow two-thirds of an inch each day. Growing antlers are covered in a fuzzy skin called velvet, and blood flowing in that skin deposits the calcium that makes the antler. The result is substantial. A typical healthy bull’s antlers are 55 to 60 inches long, just under six feet wide, and weigh about 30 pounds per pair.