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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.
Antlers are considered one of the most exaggerated cases of male secondary sexual traits in the animal kingdom, [63] and grow faster than any other mammal bone. [64] Growth occurs at the tip, initially as cartilage that is then mineralized to become bone. Once the antler has achieved its full size, the velvet is lost and the antler's bone dies.
Its antlers are strong enough to dig the earth for food like moss and lichen. It also uses its hoofs to break through and shovel through the snow. Little wonder its second name, caribou, means ...
The impala uses horns to compete for resources. In biology, a weapon is a specialized physical trait that is used by animals to compete with other individuals for resources. [1] Most commonly, the term refers to structures that males use to fight other males off for access to mates. [2]
Most modern pecorans (with the exception of the Moschidae) have one of four types of cranial appendages: horns, antlers, ossicones, or pronghorns. [6] True horns have a bone core that is covered in a permanent sheath of keratin. They are indicative of Bovidae. Horns develop in the periosteum over the frontal bone, and can be curved or straight. [4]
Antlers of all deer are made of bone, but they aren't permanent. At some point during the year, a reindeer will shed its antlers and grow new ones to take their place.
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]