![]() Whereas horns are permanent structures that continue to grow throughout an animal’s lifetime, antlers are shed and regrown annually. Horns Vs Antlers A moose’s antlers are not horns. These include the four-horned antelope, Tetracerus quadricornis, a small antelope found in India and Nepal, and the Jacob sheep – a British breed of domestic sheep. Raju Kasambe, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsĪlthough nearly all horned animals have just a single pair of horns, a very small number of animals have two pairs of horns. Which Animal Has The Most Horns? Four-Horned Antelope (the front pair of horns are barely visible). The conservation status of the royal antelope is Least Concern. Its horns, which are short, backwards-curving spikes, reach a maximum length of just 3 cm / 1.18 inches. This species, which is also the world’s smallest antelope, is found in the Upper Guinean forests of West Africa. The animal with the shortest horns is the royal antelope, Neotragus pygmaeus. ( Source) Which Animal Has The Shortest Horns? Royal Antelope The conservation status of the wild water buffalo is Endangered. Its horns can reach an amazing 2 m / 6.5 ft in length (when measured along the outside edge), and the maximum recorded tip-to-tip length of both horns is 4.24 m / 13.9 ft. Also known as the Asian buffalo, this species is found in several southern and Southeast Asian countries. The animal with the longest horns is the wild water buffalo, Bubalus arnee. Which Animal Has The Longest Horns? Wild Water Buffalo You can see examples of other horned animals in a list further down the page. A rhino’s horn, for example, lacks the bony center of a true horn. Many other animals have horn-like structures which, despite being called “horns”, are not the “true” horns such as those found in bovids. Other Horned Animals A rhino’s horns lack a bony core. Therefore, over time, males evolve bigger horns. Fighting establishes dominance within a herd, and success can increase a male animal’s likelihood of mating. This is because the males of many species of horned animal use their horns to fight rival males of the same species. Only in around half of all bovid genera do females have horns.Įven in species in which both sexes have horns, those of the male are often larger and sturdier than those of the female. Horns are more often found on male animals. Usually, however, true horns are seen as a mammalian characteristic.įurther down the page is a list of animals with horns. The horns of reptiles such as horned lizards also fulfil the above criteria, and could be regarded as “true” horns. The family Antilocapridae contains only one living species: the pronghorn. The family Bovidae, whose members are known as “bovids”, contains all antelopes, cattle, bison, buffalo and goat-antelopes (animals such as sheep, goats, muskoxen and ibexes, etc.). “True” horns, that is, structures with a bony core surrounded by a keratinized sheath, are found only on hooved animals in the families Bovidae and Antilocapridae. What Animals Have Horns? Horns are found on bovids such as this desert bighorn sheep. Body parts such as nails, hair, feathers and hooves – as well as the outer layer of horns – are made of keratin.Īn animal’s horn begins to grow soon after it is born, and continues to grow throughout the animal’s life. Keratin is a tough, flexible, naturally-occurring substance found in many animals (including humans). Horns are permanent growths that have a central core made of bone, which is surrounded by a keratin sheaf. Horns are hard, pointed structures that grow in pairs on the heads of many hooved animals. ![]() Jackson’s Chameleon / Three-Horned Chameleon.Wild Water Buffalo / Asian Water BuffaloĪnimals With “Horns” That Aren’t “True” Horns!. ![]() On this page you’ll find information on animal horns, followed by a list of animals with horns – which includes pictures of some of the most amazing horns in the entire animal kingdom! Page Index All animals with true horns belong to the family Bovidae.Īnimals with features that resemble horns, but which aren’t “true” horns, include other hooved animals such as rhinos and giraffes, and species from unrelated groups, such as horned lizards, chameleons and horned vipers. Animals with horns include the American and European bison, Asian water buffalo, African buffalo antelopes such as the springbok, blackbuck, saiga, impala, gazelles, dik-diks, oryxes and wildebeest the yak, gaur, ibexes, muskox and domestic cattle, sheep and goats.
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