Snapshot Serengeti Talk

Two eland?

  • Disglerio by Disglerio

    I'm sure the one on the left is an eland, but the one on the right, I don't think the horns are right for an eland, but they aren't really right for anything else that size either. Is it just me?

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  • tillydad by tillydad moderator

    It is an Eland, just one that has very unusual horns. This is probably the result of a genetic mutation and these can occur at anytime. Nature will occasionally throw a curve-ball into the mix . It is unlikely to affect this animal in any adverse way.

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  • AowlanCrystal by AowlanCrystal moderator

    I'd agree with tillydad, likely a genetic mutation. Sometimes these mutations if in a male for an example are preferred by the females, or maybe gives him the advantage over his rivals, therefore he is likely to father more young and the mutation will appear more often and in time that mutation could get fixed into the population. If the mutation say was to lessen the quality of the horns, he wouldn't have such luck with fathering young and the mutation would likely disappear.

    I used to exhibit and breed rare and new breed cavies (guinea pigs) and it was what got me very much into genetics and inheritance, so I could improve colour, markings, size etc. . but with species like domestics we usually pick the partners for them, in hope to improve or fix particular traits, why we have many types of dog. Were as in the wild its different, some the birds species fermales pick the ones with the biggest tails ie peacock, Whydah or the best dancer or bower keepers or the best singers or most colourful many bird, the colours/pattern are also preferances in butterfly and moth species. Ungulates, often see's the winner of the fighting males, its usually the fittest and strongest, but sometimes its by a fluke of ones DNA, he doesn't have to be the strongest overal, but if he has a change in his horns/antler shape/growth, he could do alot of damage quickly to his opposition, so wins rights to a herd of females because of this mutation, why some of the really strange shapes and huge horns/antler racks.

    Odd times a gene thats been suppressed over many generations might show through due to,pairing to another with that same ressesive trait and the youngster getting a double dose of that ressessive trait, others there are genes that in a species has turned off a gene,but something stops that gene suppressing another and the gene will show through, ie Hens (chickens) have genes which have turned off genes for teeth in the beaks, yet in a very small few, they will have teeth, because the gene that turned off the tooth growth isn't working.

    So this animal could be a new genetic 'sport', (a new gene mutation) or it could be showing more ancesstoral traits, less twists and curved outwards (only way to know would be if someone had knowledge of the Eland species, back down the genetic tree, to its ancesstors or it could be nothing to do with genetics at all and down to injury when young to the horn buds, or infection that causes poor or deformed growth, it obviously survived.

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  • davidbygott by davidbygott moderator

    It doesn't look so odd to me. Eland horns grow with a spiral twist, which seems to become tighter with age, so any eland's horn tips may diverge or converge, depending on the progression of the spiral during the individual's life.
    If you want to see a really odd eland horn, go here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidbygott/14810565649/

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