Dr. Ted Stankowich

So if you're under, say, a kilogram in size, maybe like small rabbit to squirrel and below, you can usually hide and be cryptic enough to avoid most predators just by your size alone.

If you're above 10 kilograms, large dog and above, then you are too big for the vast majority of predators, especially birds of prey.

If you're in that sweet spot between 1 and 10, you're big enough to want to eat.

It's hard to hide because you're large enough.

And most things can still kill you.

So there's like a danger zone.

If you live in a sort of exposed area and are like intermediate in body size, that's where you're at the greatest amount of risk.

Absolutely.

So deer have antlers and bovids have horns.

So they're two different structures entirely.

Right.

Thank you.

So deer have antlers, which are bony.

There's no keratin sheath on top.

They are shed every year.

The only species where the female has them are reindeer and caribou.

And then in bovids, so your antelope, your goats, your cows, gazelles, that sort of thing, all males have horns and some females, females of some species have horns.

But to answer your question, absolutely, yes, it's a great weapon to have for when you're fighting over mates, which is what the males primarily use them for.

But it's also useful if you have a predator around, you're swinging those around and trying to stab them too.

In fact, we did a study in 2009, and we're following it up now, where we looked at why do female bovids have horns?