Now I did mention that wolves do break the bones of prey to get at the marrow.

Even though your teeth contain materials that rate a 5, you would never consider chewing on a penny, would you? By way of comparison, a copper penny only rates a 4 on the Moh’s Scale. An antler rates a 5 on the Moh’s Scale as well, but it is a solid mass with no layers and no hollow for a root. The bulk of a dog’s tooth contains Apatite which also rates a 5. That is as strong as iron, but unfortunately, your teeth only have a thin coat of enamel. The outer veneer of tooth enamel, however, rates even higher, at a 5 on the Moh’s Scale. The Dentin in teeth rates between 3 and 4 on the Moh’s Scale. Each layer of the tooth has a different hardness and serves a different purpose. Your dog’s teeth, just like your teeth, are made up of multiple layers and are hollow for the root. That is why rings are made of 10, 12, and 14 karat gold, to add strengthening metals. Pure gold also rates a 2, and if you have ever been fortunate enough to have any pure 24 karat gold, you have noticed how easy it is to mark. For example, your fingernails rate a 2 on the Moh’s Scale. The Moh’s Hardness Scale is the standard used for measuring the hardness of all sorts of things. Just like you shouldn’t open a beer bottle with your teeth because the cap is too strong, your pup shouldn’t chew on antlers.įor a minute, let’s set aside the logic of how nature works and instead look at the science. Those antlers missed by the scavengers will eventually decompose into the ground providing nutrients to the surrounding soil. Even these scavengers don’t actually ‘chew’ on the antlers to break them, but slowly gnaw or scrap them for the calcium. Those forest floor scavengers have the special teeth for gnawing on old antlers.

In nature, the shed antlers become a high calcium feast for forest floor scavengers like porcupines and other rodents that can’t kill the large prey. Antler sheds are used for making coat racks, chandeliers, and other furniture. So what happens to all those old antlers, do they simply litter the forest floor? Today, lots of people hunt for the antlers that elk shed each year as both a recreational activity and for profit. In nature, antlers are not what wolves eat and nor should your dog. Antlers are just too hard, and broken teeth for a wolf can be a death knell. It is a tremendous amount of work to break down antlers, there is little there but calcium and a wolf can’t risk breaking its teeth on them. Only in dire circumstances would a wolf try to eat antlers. After the meat is gone they might move on to the extra work of breaking the soft bones to get at the marrow. The meat represents pure protein and is easily eaten and digested. Do they start dinner by chewing on the antlers? Of course not! The meat is always the number one target. Imagine a pack of wolves bringing down an elk in the forest. Did you know that structurally antlers are harder than your dog’s teeth? It is a romantic idea to give your dog antlers to chew, but many dogs have broken their teeth trying to chew through an antler. If you want to be the dominant elk come mating season, you need the biggest, baddest, toughest set of antlers on the mountain! They are not meant to be soft or flexible, and they are definitely not made for chewing. The antlers need to be extra hard for the violent activities for which nature designed them. Those antlers are made for digging beds in the dirt and rocks, tearing at trees and principally for fighting. Then around April each year, they start to grow a new and bigger set of antlers for the fall rut. The process is sort of like when you were losing your baby teeth, some required fidgeting, some just fell out. Each year around January, they “shed” their antlers, frequently knocking them off against trees or digging them into the ground. Antlers are one of the unique features that identify and distinguish the deer and elk family from animals with horns. A cow, Rocky Mountain Bighorn sheep or an African rhino has a ‘horn’, which is like a glorified fingernail that they retain their whole life. Before you buy that cool looking elk or deer antler as a snack for your four-legged friend, think about why these animals have antlers.

Elk vs deer antlers