The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex . lled herby a single lateral thrust with his immense horns. Thegiraffe uses his short hair-covered horns, which arerather longer in the male than in the female, in acurious manner; for w^ith his long neck he swings hishead to either side, almost upside down, with suchforce, that I have seen a hard plank deeply indentedby a single blow. i» M. E. M. Bailly, sur Iusage des Comes, &c., Annal. des torn. ii. 1824, p. 369. Chap. XVII. LAW OF BATTLE. 251 With antelopes it is sometimes difficult to imaginehow they can possibly use their curi
The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex . lled herby a single lateral thrust with his immense horns. Thegiraffe uses his short hair-covered horns, which arerather longer in the male than in the female, in acurious manner; for w^ith his long neck he swings hishead to either side, almost upside down, with suchforce, that I have seen a hard plank deeply indentedby a single blow. i» M. E. M. Bailly, sur Iusage des Comes, &c., Annal. des torn. ii. 1824, p. 369. Chap. XVII. LAW OF BATTLE. 251 With antelopes it is sometimes difficult to imaginehow they can possibly use their curiously-shaped horns;thus the spring-boc (Ant. euchore) has rather short up-right horns, with the sharp points bent inwards almostat a right angle, so as to face each other; Mr. Bartlettdoes not know how they are used, but suggests thatthey would inflict a fearful wound down each side ofthe face of an antagonist. The slightly-curved horns ofthe Oryx leucoryx (fig. 61) are directed backwards, andare of such length that their points reach beyond the. ^.^i^^yiiv<i|^;,;vj^;^W^i^l^, Fig. 61. Oryx leucoryx, male (from the Knowsley Menagerie). middle of the back, over which they stand in an almostparallel line. Thus they seem singularly ill-fitted forfighting; but Mr. Bartlett informs me that when twoof these animals prepare for battle, they kneel down,with their heads between their front legs, and in thisattitude the horns stand nearly parallel and close tothe ground, with ihe points directed forwards and alittle upwards. The combatants then gradually ap-proach each other and endeavour to get the upturnedpoints under each others bodies; if one succeeds in 252 SEXUAL SELECTION : MAMMALS. Part H. doing this, lie suddenly springs up, throwing up hishead at the same time, anl can thus wound or perhapseven transfix his antagonist. Both animals always kneeldown so as to guard as far as possible against tiiismanoeuvre. It has been recorded that one of theseantelopes has used his horns wit
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectnaturalselection
