Fully official, undisputed TOP 10 best horns in the animal kingdom.
First of all: you won't find red elk on this list. It's not that the moose isn't a majestic enough animal. It is excluded because elk have specific antlers (they are even better called appendages). Moose antlers are made from dead bone, which is shed and regrows every year. The horns of other animals are extensions of the skull and remain with them for life. Deer and deer's relatives, like moose, have "replaceable antlers"; goats, antelopes and cow relatives have "static horns". This seems like an overly strict distinction, and the difference between static antlers and replaceable appendages may not make for good conversation at a party. But the bottom line is that you should only go to parties where the difference between the horns makes for good conversation.
Now to the horns! Oh yes, these are very good horns.
A buck-horned goat lives in the mountains Central Asia skillfully climbing craggy cliffs with the grace of a mountain goat North America. This is very dangerous, especially since there are only about 2,500 of these animals left in the wild. They are disappearing in part due to hunting for its absurdly spectacular horns, which can grow to more than 1.5 m in length.
Their homeland is the dusty steppes of Kazakhstan, Russia, and sometimes Uzbekistan during migrations. The saiga is a truly absurd and delightful animal. Its fleshy nose is similar to a shotgun and is used to filter dust in its habitat. Its spiral-shaped horns are light, dark pink, with the sheen of jade. The saiga, unfortunately, is also endangered.
The Nubian ibex's giant, curling horns are even more impressive when you realize that it uses them to fight off rival males on mountaintops in North Africa and Arabia. There are several different types mountain goats, and no one is sure if they are the same species or not, so please, alpine goat fans, don't be upset that we've included a Nubian species on the list.
According to authoritative sources, these rams are known as blue because of the shade of their fur. In the interests of objectivity, we spent quite a bit of time researching their photos online and are sad to say that these rams are not, in fact, blue. But! They have very good horns. Rams' horns are wider and smoother than the narrow, clumsy horns of goats.
The addax is also known as the screw-horned antelope. And this is the perfect name. See, it's an antelope, and it has horns, and the horns have sharp curves, like a screw. Good job, whoever named this animal. "Addax" is a cool name too. They are mostly extinct in their native Sahara, but live surprisingly well in captivity, so they have become common in zoos.
The mouflon is believed to be the ancestor of the modern, very familiar domestic sheep. Sometime during the domestication process, the mouflon lost its absolutely stunning horns - large, stiff, curved loops.
Garna roams and leaps in the wild of India. Because of its excellent antlers and cool coat pattern, it was a favorite target for very wealthy hunters until someone noticed that there were almost no animals left.
The Saharan oryx is a buffalo native to North Africa. It used to be widespread and roamed the savannah in huge herds. They were hunted (more for their horns than their meat) and disappeared. The oryx is extinct in the wild and exists only in zoos. It is not a huge animal, but its horns can reach 1.2 m.
Native to central Africa, the western eland is the largest antelope in the world. But she's on this list not because of her long beard, but because of her beautiful horns: thicker at the head and straighter towards the tips. Very stylish.
Ha ha! Nice trick! You expected to see another goat, sheep or antelope, right? Jackson's chameleons, although originally from the mountains of East Africa, can now be found throughout the islands of Hawaii. This is probably due to the exotic pet trade. The horns on their head are real living bone horns, just like those on the addax, buckeye, or western eland. And he uses them for the same purpose - fighting other males during the breeding season.
Let us remind you that Aggeek previously wrote about poachers.
