A one-year-old deer was recently found circling a Tennessee suburb with hair covering both eyes, according to the National Deer Association. The bizarre condition is a rare example of corneal dermoids, which occur when tissue of a specific type grows in the wrong place on the body.
Residents first noticed the deer circling Farragut, a suburb of Knoxville, in August 2020, and immediately notified local wildlife authorities. Since the male was bleeding, disoriented and apparently unafraid of humans, animal control officials suspected that he might have been infected with chronic debilitating disease (CWD) and therefore decided to kill the deer to prevent the spread of this fatal prion. disease.
Sterling Daniels of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) sent the animal’s head for testing at the University of Georgia’s Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study (SCWDS) unit, noting that both eyes were covered in hair.
Ultimately, the deer did not have CWD, but was suffering from epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD), which can cause fever and disorientation. This would explain the animal’s strange behavior, but not the furry eyes.
In a formal report, SCWDS representatives, Dr. Nicole Nemeth and Michelle Willis, wrote that the deer had skin discs in place of its cornea, which is the transparent part of the eye that covers the iris and pupil.
“Corneal dermoids, as in the case of this deer, usually contain elements of normal skin, including hair follicles, sweat glands, collagen and fat. The masses are generally benign (non-invasive) and congenital, probably resulting from a defect in embryonic development ”, they wrote.
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In statements to Quality Whitetails, the official magazine of the National Deer Association, Nemeth commented that “we assume that they are congenital (existing at birth), so we assume that they have survived a long time with them”.
“We also assumed that the dermoids developed gradually and that the deer was able to adapt to its decreasing field of view over time.
This means that the deer probably developed the strange condition in the womb, where the corneal tissue did not form properly and instead differentiated into skin tissue. In addition to being covered in fur, the deer’s eyes were anatomically normal.
This is the second time we have seen a deer with corneal dermoids, the first of which was killed by a hunter in Louisiana in 2007.