In Farragut, Tennessee, hairy whistling deer suffer from a rare, strange condition known as corneal dermoid. ScienceAlert report that each eye of the deer has hair protruding from the fleshy discs that cover the prominent part of the eye that covers the magazine and the pupil, known as the cornea.
According to the National Deer Association Quality Whitetails iris, only one deer in Tennessee is registered with this condition.
By definition, a dermoid is a type of inflammatory tumor that usually occurs in other parts of the body. However, in the case of deer, the skin material that is complete with the hair follicle is suspended in whitetail deer cornea.
Deer hairy deer develop as a result of a rare, strange condition https://t.co/NZgN5Tq0sM pic.twitter.com/I9tBYIUOS3
– JamesS (@greenleukocyte) February 21, 2021
Hairy deer suffer a strange, strange situation
Wildlife biologist Sterling Daniels at Tennessee Wildlife Resources Association (TWRA) told Quality Whitetails that the deer with eyes could tell the difference between night and day but it would be difficult for them to see where they were going.
“I would compare it to covering your eyes with laundry. You could tell day and night, but that’s about it,” Daniels said.
According to the Cornell Wildlife Health Laboratory, the deer was also diagnosed with epizootic hemorrhagic fever (EHD), which causes fever, severe slam, and loss of human fear. This may explain the disorderly behavior of deer that strayed into a suburban street in late August 2020 that appeared to be unaware of human presence.
But that doesn’t explain the condition of a deer’s eyes.
Associate professor Dr. Nicole Nemeth from the University of Georgia’s Department of Pathology at the Southeastern Collaborative Wildlife Disease Research Unit (SCWDS) said the skin hair fragments appear to have been formed during the early development of deer .
The cornea formed hair follicles instead of successfully developing into a clear cornea. But under every hair is the complete anatomy of the eye.
Surprisingly, the deer with hairy eyes were able to survive more than a year and grow the first set of antlers before they tested positive for the untreated EHD. Nemeth said the corneal dermoid may have developed a gradual dermoid, which allowed the animal to adapt to the diminishing field of vision over time.
WHO CAN: Rare Bird has semi-female and half male physical features
People can also have dermoids
According to Living Science, humans can also develop dermoid in the eyes. But it is so rare that a medical doctor may only come across this issue for one or two cases of the entire life cycle.
The limbal dermoid is called a dermoid in humans, characterized by hard hair lesions and located at the lower temporal limbus of the eye. It includes the cellular elements of skin from the ectoderm, mesoderm, sebaceous and sweat glands, ectopic lacrimal gland, cartilage, and even the hair follicle. According to Columbia University’s Department of Pathology, limbal dermoid is often associated with congenital ocular disorders and other related disorders.
Limbal dermoid management involves removal of hard tissue and tumor excision to remove the mass from the eye.
LOVE THEME: Meet the ‘Co-Pig’: The Mutant Pig with 2 Heads and 3 Eyes born through the pandemic
Check out more Animal News news and information on the Science Times.