. Bulletin. Natural history; Science. "Qi^T The clash—a mrlhsecond before male Nubian ibex mal<e contact in a ritual "battle" for dominance. Viewed from the left. To compensate for this movement, which might if continued breal< the neck, the necl< muscles which insert under the skull and pull it down are particularly enlarged in goats. What seemingly happens here is a reflex contraction of the muscles |ust at the moment of, or a millisecond prior to, horn-to-horn contact, to oppose the force of the blow and hold the head firm. The males of Ovis, particularly of the popu
. Bulletin. Natural history; Science. "Qi^T The clash—a mrlhsecond before male Nubian ibex mal<e contact in a ritual "battle" for dominance. Viewed from the left. To compensate for this movement, which might if continued breal< the neck, the necl< muscles which insert under the skull and pull it down are particularly enlarged in goats. What seemingly happens here is a reflex contraction of the muscles |ust at the moment of, or a millisecond prior to, horn-to-horn contact, to oppose the force of the blow and hold the head firm. The males of Ovis, particularly of the populations with larger horns, have a pattern of jousting markedly different from that of goats. In the first place, the horns themselves are large, heavy, broad in front, and curled around the side of the head. Such horns are indeed veritable rams. A toss of a mature ram's head, bearing such formidable weapons, is sufficient to intimidate an adolescent male, who of course has smaller horns. Rams cannot see their own horns, but they are very aware of the relative sizes of the horns of all other rams—by experience of the force of blows which can be delivered by horns of all sizes. Young rams growing up learn quickly to respect rams with larger horns—, their elders —and. indeed, for much of the year each older ram is followed by a group of younger males, each acting submissively toward him as a female would. The young rams in a group practice against one another, and by the time the members of a group have reached adulthood, they have settled their own position of social dominance amongst themselves. But each of them will challenge any strange ram with horns of similar size to his own. A rams ultimate goal seemingly is not to acquire females, but to reach such a position of dominance that all other sheep behave toward him as if they were females. The joustings of the mature rams of large-horned sheep are indeed formidable. Two adult or nearly adult males with horns of app
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