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Eyeing each other with apparent disdain, these two Dall’s sheep rams need little provocation to begin bouts of head butting to establish or maintain the male hierarchy.

During September and October, other concerns are forgotten as red deer stags devote all their energies to the annual rut. Their roaring calls, sometimes called “belling,” carry over considerable distances on calm, misty mornings. there is one factor that unites all the animals in this book: their classification as ruminants, animalswithavery specialmeans of digesting their herbivorous diet.

Theyserveasdefensiveweaponsformanyspecies and in a few cases actually assist in feeding. For the most part, however, their main, if not sole, function is one of display, a male’s fitness often being judged by the size of his antlers or horns. Some species dispense with the niceties of ritual- izeddisplay, and themalesdobloodybattlewith one another. Skull outgrowthsmay be present or absent and can be formed in different ways, but

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