What are deer and antelope classified under?
Deer and antelope both belong to the order Artiodactyla, but different families – deer belong to the family Cervidae, and antelope to the family Bovidae (the same family as cattle, sheep, goats, etc.). You can therefore refer to deer as cervine, and antelope as bovine. One of the main differences between these two families is that cervids have antlers, whilst bovids have horns. Antlers are branched structures made entirely of bone (though they are covered in skin called velvet whilst growing), which are shed and regrown every year. Only males have them in all species except the reindeer, the only deer species in which both sexes have antlers (though the males’ are larger and more elaborate). Horns are unbranched structures made of bone with a keratin sheath, which are permanent (they are never shed). In some species, such as buffalo and wildebeest, both sexes have horns, whilst in others, such as impala and kudu, only males have them.
