/

home

Antlers and Horns

by Mark Walker

Horns and Antlers have one main purpose, to be used as weapons. Although horns and antlers may appear similar in structure they are made differently. Horns are permanant structures which grow throughout the life of an animal. While antlers are regrown each year in a regular cycle. Only males normally possess antlers in deer. But in horned species it is more common for both sexes to possess horns. Antlers Antlers are only found on deer species. The pattern of antler growth is the same for all deer which possess them, but the timing can be slightly different. Normally antlers are lost in early spring or summer, then regrown again in time for the autumn rut. Antlers are bony growths but while they grow they are covered in a layer of skin known as velvet. This surrounds the antlers and has a rich blood supply allowing the antlers to grow. The velvet is lost when the antlers become fully grown and is scraped or rubbed off by the deer. In some species the age of the animal influences the size of the antlers or the number of tines they have. The older an animal the more tines or larger the antlers are. It is possible to estimate an animals age by looking at the antlers.

The Antler Cycle ( this is for fallow deer ) Late May - Antlers are lost Mid June- New antlers begin to grow July - Branches begin to show and tines appear. August - Growth finished. Velvet begins to be lost and rubbed off. September - Antlers ready for use.

the extinct Irish Elk had enormous antlers

Antlers look different in different species. Fallow deer have very broad antlers wheareas Red deer have antlers with many tines. Muntjac have only very small antlers. Reindeer are unusual in that the females possess antlers as well as the males, but this is because they are important in scraping snow away so the Reindeer can find food. The purpose of antlers becomes clear at the annual rutting time when males compete for access to females. Stags will occasionaly fight by clashing their antlers together and having 'pushing' trials of strength. The extinct Irish Elk possessed the largest antlers ever. They were upto 6 feet in length. However the purpose of these was not to fight. It is unlikely they could be used in this way as they were too big. These massive antlers seem to have evolved because of runaway sexual selection. Females prefered males with larger and larger antlers, so the antlers got bigger and bigger......

Horns Antelope, buffalo, sheep, cattle, and goats have horns rather than antlers. A horn has a bony core which is covered by hard tissue like the kerratin found in our nails. Horns grow each year as an animal ages. Horns can be impressive. In the Greater Kudu the horns are long and spiral. In Ibex the horns can be over a metre long. However there is one animal which does not keep its horn all the time. The Pronghorn sheds its outer layers of its horn each year, however the core remains in palce. Like antlers horns are mainly used by competing males, but can also be used for a variety of purposes, such as to scare predators away from young.

this Ibex has long horns

home