It’s simply another case of a female’s testosterone level being a little too high

You may not be able to swallow this one, so just try chewing on it.

Many will recall reading the account of the white peahen who, due to a hormonal change, assumed the brilliant plumage of a cock. That, alone, was enough to boggle the mind, but it appears we ain’t seen nuthin’ yet. Dolly, a resident whitetail doe, is beginning to behave buckishly.

Dolly was approximately 4 months old when she was brought in by a warden who had taken her from a sporting camp where she was being kept as an illegal pet. She arrived in the cab of the warden’s pickup truck — peering through the windshield like a tame dog.

When the warden stepped from the truck and said, “Come on!” Dolly obediently followed him into the shelter. No doubt, her extremely friendly attitude stemmed from the attention she had received from the sports at the hunting camp. Her bony, bloated body and rough pelt suggested she had been fed too many treats — such as potato chips and sweets.

Dolly is now a 9-year-old beauty. She’s acquired a velvety winter coat and, at certain times of the year, has weighed more than 200 pounds. But, as it has been with several of our wildlife residents, something is askew.

Dolly has always sported button antlers. Three years ago, the right button developed into a three-inch spike which she promptly broke off when she ran into something. The veterinarian gave her a mild tranquilizer, cut off the dangling spike and sewed up her forehead. This summer, both buttons developed into spikes and, again, she broke off the right one.

As it was with the first broken spike, the skin didn’t tear so the break bled under the hide. The hard, swollen blob has people asking if the doe has a tumor on her forehead.

During her nine years, Dolly has never been interested in bucks nor they in her. She has always been the last one out of the shelter and the first one in. On those occasions when she was free to roam the premises, she remained close to the shelter.

Dolly has been tame to the point of being a nuisance. She pokes her nose into buckets and bins when I’m trying to feed the shelter occupants. She unloads trash cans and slips into the peacock pen where she loads up on turkey pellets. Fascinated by bright objects, she has pulled eyeglasses, wristwatches, earrings and necklaces from visitors. And, she’s embarrassed many a male by yanking zippers down on trousers.

Lately, Dolly hasn’t been her easy-going self. She’s started to paw scrapes like the rutting bucks and she frequently lowers her head to prod us out of her way. She’s behaving as bewildered as the bucks when they shed their velvet and the testosterone starts coursing through their bodies. She stays in the outdoor pen more than usual and often has spells when she paces restlessly.

Jerry Lavigne, Fish and Wildlife deer research biologist, advised that some antlered does assume the characteristics of bucks as they grow older. To date, the only changes in Dolly have been the button antlers developing into spikes — and, of course, her suddenly-buckish behavior.

First, the white peahen transformed into a colorful peacock. Now, Dolly’s hormones are becoming scrambled. So? So, if you should wander this way in the near-distant future and call my name, don’t be surprised if a little old man in a white beard answers!

Jerry Elwell is a free-lance nature writer who lives in Sherman Station.