It’s a matter of horns

Some beetles, lizards... have horn-like structures, but mammals have the most diverse horns without doubt. Are all horns the same? What are they used for? Do they have economic value? Find out more in the following post.

WHAT ARE HORNS?

Bulls, deer, rhinos… all of them have structures on their heads that we call horns, but they are not all the same. Strictly horns are two bony structures that emerge from the frontal bones of the skull, they are permanent (never fall off) and unbranched. In some species they grow throughout life.

Watusi (Bos taurus watusii), the bovid with the biggest horns in the world. Photo: Marina Calvo

They are made up of a bony nucleus and an outer coating of keratin (the same protein from our hair and nails).

Horns have different shapes and sizes depending on the species: straight, curved or spiral; flipped, bent or flat; short or wide. All of them have sharp ends.

Horns’ diversity of Bovidae. Source

All bovids (bulls, goats, sheep, antelopes…) have horns, including the females in many species. However, in general, females have thinner horns while in males they are wider and can withstand more force.

HORN GROWTH

When the horns begin to grow, they do not do it directly from the bone, but from the connective tissue. When growth is complete the horn nucleus ossifies and fuses with the frontal bones of the skull.

Goat skull showing the bony interior of the horn and the keratinous covering. Source

AN EXCEPTION

The pronghorn has different horns than the bovids: they are branched and the keratinized covers change annually, whereas in bovids are permanent.

Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana). Source

WHAT ARE ANTLERS?

Antlers are two bony structures that come out of the frontal bones, but they are seasonal (they change every year) and branched .

Antlers only exist in males of the Cervidae family, except for the caribou or reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), in which both males and most of females have antlers.

GROWTH OF THE ANTLERS

Unlike horns, antlers do grow out of bony structures (pedicle) found on the side of the frontal bones.

Growth begins in spring (April or May in the Northern Hemisphere), due to hormonal changes and the gradual increase in light hours. The growth of the antlers has several phases:

• Initial phase: antlers are covered with skin and velvet, so they also have blood vessels and nerves.
• Intermediate phase: the exterior of spongy bone is replaced by compact bone. The interior is filled with spongy laminar bone.
• Final phase: the velvet dies and it is removed. To help this removing the animals rub against the trunks and vegetation, leaving the antlers polished and brown.

  

  A, B, C: 1, 15 y 30 days of growht. D, E: 3 and 5 months later. F: loss of the velvet. Photos: A-E, Steve Demarais, F, Dave Hewitt

After the reproductive period the hormonal levels fall and the photoperiod decrease, which causes the pedicle to lose calcium, it weakens the union between itself and the horn and the horn ends up falling. The cycle will be repeated the following spring, and will appear one more branch, so the most an antler is branched, the older is the individual.

Reindeer losing its velvet. Source

USES OF HORNS AND ANTLERS

As we know, mainly antlers and horns are used by males during the breeding season to compete for females, in fights and exhibitions. Usually the animals collide their horns/antlers together to demonstrate their body strength. Horns, often sharp, are also used as a defense against predator attacks.

Check out this spectacular dispute between two Canadian mouflons:

There are species with small antlers but highly developed tusks, despite being herbivores. This is because they also use them during fights. In contrast, species with larger antlers do not have these developed tusks.

Siberian musk deer (Moschus moschiferus) -it does not belong to the family Cervidae-, Muntjac (Muntiacus sp.) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). Source

For humans, horns and antlers shouldn’t have significance. Unfortunately, its carriers are objective of hunters, for the mere achievement of their “trophy.” In Spain there are more than one million people with a hunting license. According to Fecaza, the hunting business generates 3.6 billion euros a year in Spain.

Stolen hunting trophies seized by the Guardi Civil. Its value could amount to 300,000 euros. Source

Spain is also the second importing country of hunting trophies. Thousands of euros are paid (from 2,000 to 80,000) to make hunting safaris in Africa, for example, where the most valuable animal is the one with the largest horns. This results in the elimination of the best breeding males and in the decrease of specimens in general.

AND THE RHINOCEROS HORN?

Ironically, since their horns have led and are leading to extinction many species, rhinos do not actually have real horns, as they do not have a bony nucleus or a cover. They are an accumulation of corneous fibers, resembling a thick hair, although they are not true hairs. In addition, the horn is placed above the nasal bones, not  in frontal position as in the case of antlers and true horns. Only in species with two horns, the second one rests on the frontal bones.

In females, the horn would help to protect the young, whereas in males to face their rivals.

Fraction of a rhinoceros horn under ultraviolet light. The nasal cartilage, the bone, the dermis and how the horn settle in above the dermis can be seen. Source

As we have discussed, due to the alleged magical powers of rhinoceros horns in the traditional medicine, we are extinguishing rhinoceroses just like with are doing with the pangolin… for a handful of keratin. On the black market, a kilo of rhinoceros horn can cost from $ 60,000 to $ 100,000, more than gold.

Rhinoceros with its horn amputated. Photo: A. Steirn

HAVE YOU NOTICED GIRAFFE’S HORNS?

As you may assume at this point, no, giraffes do not have true horns, but they also have two structures in the head, males, females and newborns. They are called ossicones. They are permanent, not branched and they are always covered with hair and skin. In fact, they already appear in the fetus as cartilaginous structures and do not merge into the skull until the age of 4, between the frontal and parietal bones.

Female giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis). Source

We can tell age and sex of a giraffe by its ossicones: if they are thin and ended up in a tuft of hair they are young ones or females, while males do not usually have hair on its top. Males also have a protrusion in front of the ossicones more sharp than females. At an older age, this protuberance is bigger, since calcium is deposited over time.

Giraffe ossicones are used by males during their confrontations. Surely they played a more important role in its ancestors like the Sivatherium, the largest giraffid that has ever existed. It is possible that they also have some function in thermoregulation.

REFERENCES

• Clutton-Brock, Juliet et al.  2002. Animal. Pearson Educación
• Horns and antlers
• Rinoceronte negro
• El rinoceronte negro de África se ha extinguido
• Safaris africanos y el negocio de los trofeos en España
• Antlers
• Questions and answers: deer
• Cover image

The Arctic: who cares?

The global change is the main threat to the Arctic, due to the increasing temperature is melting their ice coverage. What will be the consequences of this for its fragile ecosystem? Who cares about it?

THE ARCTIC AND ITS IMPORTANCE

The Arctic, one of the few unspoiled areas of the planet, is located in the north pole. Low temperatures in the region (an average of -35°C in winter and 0ºC in summer) are explained by the low insolation due to the inclination of the globe.

Before the industrial age, the permanent ice of the Arctic occupied about 7 million square kilometers (doubling its size in winter), but it is increasingly difficult to maintain that ice in summer. The ice may reach a thickness of 50 meters in winter, dropping to 2 meters in summer.

Before you start, you can enjoy this video with stunning images of the Arctic:

LIFE IN THE ARCTIC

The Arctic offers a wide variety of different environments: ocean, ice sheets, the coastal area, the tundra and some coniferous forests.

The tundra is most notable terrestrial biome in the Arctic (Picture: Biomas).

This allows the livelihood of many plant and animal species. Only in the Arctic Ocean, it has been described more than 5,000 animal species, some of which are endemic to this area. An estimated 400 species live only in the Arctic region.

Among the best known animals, we find the bowhead whale (Balaenoa mysticetus), a large animal that can live more than 100 years, and the narwhal (Monodon monoceros), cetacean in which males have a very long tusk, used during courtship.

Bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) is an endemic animal of the Arctic (Picture: Clarín).

On ice and snow, polar bear (Ursus maritimus), walrus (Odobenus rosmarus), the Arctic wolf (Canis lupus arctos) and the reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) are present.

Arctic wolf (Canis lupus arctos) is endangered (Picture: Deanimalia).

The Arctic is also home to over 80 species of birds, including the Brünnich’s guillemoth or the king eider; and more than 400 fish.

But undoubtedly, the group that takes the cake are arthropods, with more than 1,500 documented species, although there are also representatives of almost all existing animal phyla.

This copepod (Euaugaptilus hyperboreus) is part of Arctic zooplankton  (Picture: Poetic Monkey).

THE ARCTIC IS ESSENTIAL TO CLIMATE

The Arctic, along with Antarctica, is like a natural air conditioner on the planet. Therefore, malfunction further enhances the effects of climate change.

The ice cover is responsible for a high percentage of albedo. Albedo is the effect by which a surface reflects part of the solar radiation back into the atmosphere, thus maintaining a lower temperature. Without this effect, the temperatures will be increasingly high.

Ice is the key element of albedo in Earth surface (Picture: US Satellite).

The physical processes taking place in the Arctic affect ocean circulation worldwide: during the formation of sea ice, water crystals exclude salt, so that water is increasingly salty. The increase of salinity, along with the low water temperatures, cause the formation of a very dense water mass that sinks to the ocean floor and is transported southward through the thermohaline circulation, responsible for regulating the global climate. Without ice, the thermohaline circulation may be interrupted or weakened, with the consequences that would follow.

The thermohaline circulation is responsible of worldwide climate (Picture: Blog de recursos de Cpmc).

ARCTIC AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Due to the increase in temperature on a global level, the ice covering the Arctic has been reducing. Several reports indicate that this reduction was  about 30% in just two decades. Also, if this trend continues, in twenty years might disappear all Arctic ice, at least during summer. Without ice, many species will have serious problems to survive, such as the polar bear, seals and other pinnipeds.

(Picture: India Today).

As we have seen, no ice, no albedo; but also if the permanent ice melts, it will cause the release of large amounts of greenhouse gases that are trapped in either the ice or in the frozen Arctic soil (permafrost); providing a positive feedback to climate change.

Some studies suggest that, if the entire Greenland ice melt the average sea level will rise 7 meters.

In addition, increasingly massive algal blooms occur, which sink and cause eutrophication of the ecosystem. The ice thickness reduction allows increasing carbon dioxide in water to penetrate, causing water acidification, which can cause bleaching of coral and shells malformations in animals.

There are many companies that see the melting of the Arctic as a commercial possibility:

• Obtaining energy resources such as natural gas and oil (for only 3 years, according to experts).
• Exploitation of mineral resources such as manganese, gold, lead and diamonds.
• New fishing grounds.
• New trade routes for shipping and tourism.

Thus, the Arctic is a very fragile ecosystem that we must protect together. Acting locally, we are acting globally.

REFERENCES

• Broecker, WS (2005). The role of the ocean in climate: Yesterday, today and tomorrow. Eldigio Press
• El mar a fondo: El agua de mar y las corrientes oceánicas (Guía didáctica).
• McIntyre, A (2010). Life in the World’s Oceans. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
• Greenpeace (2013). El Ártico y los efectos del cambio climático en España. Salvar el Ártico es salvar mucho más. Greenpeace.
• Hutchinson, S & Hawkins, LE (2004). Océanos. Libros Cúpula. Coleccion Biblioteca visual
• Palacín, B (2010). La creciente importancia el Ártico. Revista Española de Defensa
• Perrin, WF; Würsig, B & Thewissen, JGM (2009). Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals. Academic Press (2 ed)
• Cover picture: Kerstin Langenberger