Beijing News (reporter Zhang Yu) The ancients divided the summer solstice into "three waits", of which "one waits for the antler solution, the second waits for the cicada to start singing, and the third wait for the half summer life", and the ancient text "Li Ji" clearly records that "the summer solstice arrives, the antler solution, the cicada starts to sound, the half summer life, and the hibiscus is rong". But today, as the first thing the summer solstice comes, the antlers fall off completely inconsistent with the facts. The Beijing News rural channel went to the deer farm, found that when it was midsummer, the antlers had not yet formed, and it was also in the winter that it was "falling off", and now it was not the antlers but the antlers that "fell off". In this regard, Peng Lin, a professor at Tsinghua University, told the Beijing News reporter that some scholars in previous academic research have also questioned this, and in the era of the "Book of Rites", the climate was very different from now, and it was difficult to verify whether the antlers would fall off on the summer solstice at that time.
Deer antler velvet in summer comes off first and the antlers fall off in winter
Antler velvet refers to the unboned and furry young horns of a sika deer or red deer. After undergoing the ossification stage, the antler hairs slowly fall off, forming hard antlers.
If you really want to "wait for the antler solution" on the summer solstice, you will definitely not be able to wait. The reporter learned from the Science Popularization Department of the China Wildlife Conservation Association that the shedding time of antlers is generally in winter, and summer is only the beginning of deer antlers beginning to ossify into antlers. In the winter, after the antlers fall off with the bottom "antler disc", the antlers will also begin to grow again in the spring of the new year.
Velvet. Courtesy of respondents
For the ancient text of "summer solstice, deer antlers solution" statement, Tsinghua University professor Peng Lin said in an interview with the Beijing News reporter that in the previous academic research, some scholars have questioned this, but the era recorded in the ancient text is a long time ago, why there is this statement, the academic community is still inconclusive. "Including the Book of Rites, the Book of Yizhou and other ancient texts have the reference to the summer solstice antler solution, the current possibility is that more than 2,000 years ago, the climatic conditions were very different from now, under the climatic conditions at that time, the antlers in some areas may also fall off during the summer solstice." Peng Lin said that this situation is just ordinary speculation, and it is difficult to find evidence for examination.
That is to say, to this day, when summer comes, we can't see the deer antlers falling off at all. But during this period, for captive deer, cutting antler velvet became the busiest thing.
Around the summer solstice, when deer antler velvet is cut in the deer farm
In the Deer World Theme Park in Yangsong Town, Huairou District, Beijing, there are more than 300 deer, including more than 100 male deer and nearly 200 female deer, and the varieties are mainly sika deer and red deer.
Every year from June to August, farm staff cut antler velvets. According to the staff, the work of cutting deer antler velvet this year has begun, and as of the day of the summer solstice, 60% of the male deer in the farm have completed the work of cutting deer antler velvet. It is expected that it will be completed by the end of July.
Deer after cutting antler velvet. Courtesy of respondents
It is understood that the object of deer antler velvet is only the male deer, the reason is that the female deer in most deer breeds do not grow horns, and the majestic horns are the main tool for the male deer to defend and show their strength in the group. "Of course, the doe in the reindeer will grow horns, but because the medicinal value is not large, the antler is generally not cut."
Yao Wenna, the relevant person in charge of the deer world theme park in Huairou Yangsong Town, told reporters that it generally takes nearly half a year from the growth of deer antlers to the ossification of deer antlers into antlers. Every year in the spring, the flower disc on the head of the male deer falls off and begins to breed new antler velvets. Through anesthesia, harvesting, and hemostasis, the bottom of the antler velvet will slowly scab. When the wound is healed, the area will still be ossified and form the root of the antlers, which is the "deer flower disc".
Chinese has always recognized the medicinal value of deer antler velvet, and the current market price is generally about 5 yuan a gram. Yao Wenna introduced that an adult male deer in the Deer World Park weighs about 4 kilograms of antler velvet cut once a year. Calculate it, it is 20,000 yuan. In addition to natural deer antler velvet, deer antler pieces made after air drying are also an important form of current sales.
Preventing "injuries" to people and deer in breeding
As the newborn horns of deer, the harvesting of deer antlers may seem cruel, but it is an indispensable part of artificial breeding activities. From the perspective of breeding, the presence of antlers is a fatal threat to the male deer.
Yao Wenna said that every year from September to December, the deer will enter the estrus period, the male deer will fight for the "deer king", in the fight, mainly with the hard horns on the head to bump against each other, attack, "because the antlers are very hard and sharp, assuming that in the attack, scratched to the stomach, the fatality rate can reach 30%. ”
Antlers that look hard and sharp. Courtesy of respondents
Under such circumstances, it is difficult for farmers to enter the farm for sanitary cleaning work. Hard, sharp antlers are also a great threat to staff.
Compared with the fight of the male deer in the wild environment, in the artificial breeding behavior, cutting the antler velvet avoids the formation of antlers, Yao Wenna also mentioned, "From the antler to the antler process, the fur itself needs to be removed, it will also be accompanied by broken skin, bleeding, and many times, the male deer need to use external forces to rub it off, the process is actually very painful." ”
Beijing News reporter Zhang Yu Editor Tang Zheng Proofreader Wang Xin