Jambiya

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Originally Posted by Mark

A "true" horn is a cutical grown around a bone (and thus is hollow to varying degrees), while fused hair such, as giraffe and rhino horn, does not have an underlying bone.

While we are at it, antlers are boney growths with an abscission line along which they separate from the skull, and are shed and re-grown seasonally.

As a biologist I have chip in at this point on the giraffe horn debate . I cannot define what a 'horn' is in any scientific way as there are many types of external growths commonly termed horns, which , as has been pointed out, derive in many different ways. However if the question is : 'Is a giraffe horn of a similar structure to a rhino horn ?' , then the answer is 'no'. Giraffe horns are properly termed ossicones . Only giraffes, okapi ( and their extinct relatives ) have ossicones. Ossicones are derived from ossified cartilage, ie cartilage which has becomed hardened through calcification . Ossicones remain covered in skin and fur throughout the life of the animal. Rhino horn by contrast is made of keratin ( the substance which forms hair and nails for example ) and does not have a fur or skin covering . In short , the horns of the giraffe and the rhino are structurally and biological completely different . However what I found very interesting was Ibrahiim's Arabian word for rhino which sounds somewhat like giraffe ... might not this explain how the myth of giraffe horn parts of weapons became established .. a simple mistranslation ?