Word Of The Day

Ossicone:

Reticulated giraffe ossicones. Source: Wikipedia

Ossicones are horn-like or antler-like protuberances on the heads of giraffes, male okapis, and their extinct relatives, such as Sivatherium, and the climacoceratids, such as Climacoceras. It has been argued that these extinct species did not have true ossicones; however, later research has revealed their ossicones to be in line with those of giraffids. Ossicones are located dorsally of the frontal bone and fuse to the skull later in life. [Wikipedia]

Noted in “The horn-like knobs on a giraffe’s head can be a deadly lightning rod,” Joshua Rapp Learn, NewScientist (26 September 2020):

Rockwood ranger Frans Moleko Kaweng went out to investigate and it quickly became apparent what had happened. The oldest and tallest giraffe of the herd, the matriarch, was lying dead with a wound on top of her head. It appeared as if one of her ossicones – the horn-like knobs on a giraffe’s head – may have acted as a lightning rod in the storm.

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