Warum das Hirschgeweih jedes Jahr abfällt

What’s the difference between “Geweih” and “Horn” in German?

German keeps antlers and horns apart with two different words. Geweih is what a deer like Tom grows: solid bone that sheds every year and regrows from scratch, which is exactly what this clip captures happening on his head. Horn, on the animal that carries it — cattle, goats, sheep — never falls off; it’s a keratin sheath the animal keeps for life.

The clip’s sugar-loaf demonstration mirrors what actually happens inside a real antler: instead of water dissolving sugar, enzymes from special cells dissolve the bone right where the antler meets the skull, so it drops off cleanly with no scars or splinters. Geweih itself comes from an Old High German word for “branch” or “twig” — fitting, since a full-grown antler really does branch like one.