Re: horns and defense

[tonyf@ucmp1.Berkeley.EDU (Tony Fiorillo)]

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>I'm not sure about his argument - don't deer and buffalo use their horns
>as defense against wolves, as well as for rutting?  Anyone know anything
>about horns used against significantly larger predators? (like maybe
>antelope or gazelle versus big cats?)

Indeed, most horned mammals do use their equipment in interspecific defense
as well as intraspecific rivalry (there's the old classic Disney footage of
a white-tailed deer charging a puma).  The presence of horns in and of
themselves are useful for defense against predators; the different shapes
of horns are mostly related to species-specific (redundant!) behaviors.
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For those interested, Mech (1966), in his classic work on the wolf-moose
interactions on Isle Royale, noted that healthy moose that stood and fought
attacking wolves faired much better than those moose that fled.  Of the 
moose that stood and fought, the principle defense weapons used were the
hooves.  The hooves are apparently so effective that the wolves had a 
learned behavior of taking care to avoid the feet during the attack.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
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Tony Fiorillo                                Museum Scientist
Museum of Paleontology                          (510)642-9964 
University of California
Berkeley, CA  94720                  tonyf@ucmp1.berkeley.edu
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