143. 1st Grade SRR: Horns Help

Animals that eat only plants do not have big fangs for biting, but some of them have horns. Their horns help protect them from the animals that eat meat.

An animal with horns can use them to jab and poke at big cats or other animals that hunt. If it could talk, it would say, “Go away! I won’t let you catch me!”

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This is a bighorn sheep. It is named for the big, curled horns on the male sheep, called rams. Rams bash horns with other rams to sort out who is the top ram.

Female sheep have shorter horns. Male and female bighorns use their horns to rub the spines off cactuses. Then the bighorns can eat cactuses without getting jabbed.

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These goats live high up on hills. The male goat is called a billy and has sharp black horns. He uses his horns to battle other billies at times. The male billy goats have thicker horns than female goats.

A baby goat is called a kid. Kids have bumps called horn buds on their heads. These horn buds will grow into horns.

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This big animal has horns that are a bit like spikes. It can use its horns to poke animals that try to hunt it and make the hunting animals go away.

These shaggy beasts rub their horns on pine trees or other trees with bark that gives off a smell. This habit may help keep away insects that pester them.

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This animal has horns on top of its nose! Its horns are different from cow, sheep, or goat horns. Those animals have bone in their horns.

The horn on this animal has no bone in it. It is made of the same stuff as the nails on your fingers and toes. It uses its horn for digging, defending itself, and for playing.

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Are the things on this elk’s head horns? No. An elk has antlers. Antlers are made of bone. Antlers are not the same as horns. When it gets warmer, elk shed their antlers and grow new ones that have soft fuzz on them that’s called velvet.

Animals with horns don’t shed them and grow new ones, unlike animals with antlers.

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