What exactly are the horns for?

[Serenity]

The theories could all be possible... but I have agree that the horns were most likely for protection of the neck rather than attracting mates. But who knows? Maybe they were used for both.

Shiari has got a point though. If the dragon were attacking on the offense or defense with it's long head horns forward, the vulnerable area would be exposed, giving any competitor the opportunity to strike there. And the number of times the dragon(ess) would use the horns on attacks (if they did) might break them if they weren't very strong (wear them down). Then again, they could make their horns stronger and sharper, such as deer rub their antlers on tree bark. Anything is possible in theory...
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[Shiari]

Horns most likely served many purposes all at once, and it would be more likely for them to start as display and then end up as neck protectors as well.

[QueenOfTheShadows]

I would say that features like horns spikes claws etc, originally come from defensive mechanisms, but as a species develops further it becomes less about defense, as it does with mating; But again not so much about impressing the potential mate (for the males) as it is battling over the right to have potential mates. Look at nature shows on everything from giraffes, to elephants to deer of all sorts. Sure there are territorial dominance battles and battles over the right to at/drink first, but important fights in the animal kingdom are not so much about attracting mates per say... but rather about winning the right to woo the female(s) and then mate with them. Another interesting note throughout the animal kingdom mating is in many cases ultimately the female's choice.

For examples; in birds, and fish females, tend towards drabber colors; browns, greys, and tones that blend in with their surroundings better. Males on the other hand are often far more colorful, and they have to dance, sing, fight and otherwise show off in order to attract the female.


Females of species with features such as horns teeth and claws typically have them to aid in hunting, defending themselves and their young, and to aid in holding down territories against others of their kind and to the species that otherwise compete for the same limited resources...
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[Hyraxylos]

I didn't use mine for anything that I can recall so I guess they were just in there to get in someone's way. My horns were shaped differently from Suliathe's, so it's possible that having horns with two curves was also a display of XY-ness among my race or something. o.O
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[Roark]

Auroara says that the horns as far as she knows were used for many things. Like showwing respect, shoing friendship and of coarse as Skie said perhaps the mating game. Of coarse everyone else is right in assuming the horns were for defense and offence. In another thing that I read in the book there was a dragon that used them to impale an attacker whom of which was another danger to the world of Reach.
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