Growing antlers doubles elk bulls’ daily energetic needs and depletes bone minerals
Evidence
Elk pay a steep price for their weapons. Bulls double their daily energetic needs and leach essential minerals away from other bones in order to grow antlers. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 951
Categorization
- QUESTION: Worth chasing: exactly how much mineral loss and what recovery mechanism lets bulls survive the annual regrowth cycle?
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 951
- XREF: connects to: Moose and caribou strip minerals from their own bones to grow antlers; Extreme antler growth in extinct giant deer carried severe metabolic and mineral costs; Climate-driven food decline may have tipped costly antler growth toward extinction (+3 more)
Related
- Moose and caribou strip minerals from their own bones to grow antlers (similarity 0.95)
- Extreme antler growth in extinct giant deer carried severe metabolic and mineral costs (similarity 0.93)
- Growing antlers so deplete male skeletons that they risk starvation after the rut. (similarity 0.93)
- Growing antlers can double a moose’s daily basal metabolic rate. (similarity 0.93)
- Growing antlers depletes males’ skeletons so severely that bones weaken during the rut (similarity 0.91)
- Climate-driven food decline may have tipped costly antler growth toward extinction (similarity 0.90)
- Biological weapons evolve through the same replication mechanism as their bearers (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Growing antlers depletes males’ skeletons so severely that bones weaken during the rut
#corroborates(0.70) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 14 - Growing antlers can double a moose’s daily basal metabolic rate.
#corroborates(0.65) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 316 - Growing antlers so deplete male skeletons that they risk starvation after the rut.
#expands(0.50)