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Antler comes from the Old French antoillier (see present French : "Andouiller", from ant-, meaning before, oeil, meaning eye and-ier, a suffix indicating an action or state of being) [3] [4] possibly from some form of an unattested Latin word *anteocularis, "before the eye" [5] (and applied to the word for "branch" or "horn" [4]).
A pair of horns on a male impala Anatomy of an animal's horn. A horn is a permanent pointed projection on the head of various animals that consists of a covering of keratin and other proteins surrounding a core of live bone. Horns are distinct from antlers, which are not permanent.
Horns develop in the periosteum over the frontal bone, and can be curved or straight. [4] Surface features on the keratin sheath (e.g., ridges or twists) are thought to be caused by differential rates of growth around the bone core. [4] Antlers are bony structures that are shed and replaced each year in members of the family Cervidae.
True horns are found mainly among: Ruminant artiodactyls. Antilocapridae ; Bovidae (cattle, goats, antelopes etc.). Giraffidae: Giraffids have a pair of skin covered bony bumps on their heads, called ossicones. Cervidae: Most deer have antlers, which are not true horns due to lacking a bone core and made of keratin.
Ossicones are horn-like (or antler-like) protuberances found on the heads of giraffes and male okapis. They are similar to the horns of antelopes and cattle save that they are derived from ossified cartilage, [66] and that the ossicones remain covered in skin and fur rather than horn. Pronghorn cranial appendages are unique. Each "horn" of the ...
Similar to species with horns or antlers, male giraffes use their ossicones as weapons during combat, where they use their heads as clubs: the ossicones add weight and concentrate the force of impact onto a small area, allowing it to deliver heavier blows with higher contact pressure. [4]
Antlers, complex and unique weapons that are an extension of an animal's skull, are found only among male deer, ungulates who are even-toed ruminants. [6] Rhinoceroses are even-toed ungulates which have horns made of keratin; both sexes use these horns in contests with other individuals of the same species. [7]
Four families of even-toed ungulates have cranial appendages. These Pecora (with the exception of the musk deer), have one of four types of cranial appendages: true horns, antlers, ossicones, or pronghorns. [30] True horns have a bone core that is covered in a permanent sheath of keratin, and are found only in the bovids.