Polycerates (meaning "many-horned") are animals with more than two horns.

Sheep

Polycerate

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated sh ...

breeds include the Hebridean, Icelandic,

Jacob Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam ...

, Manx Loaghtan, Boreray and the Navajo-Churro. One example of a polycerate Shetland sheep was a ram kept by US President

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the nati ...

for several years in the early 19th century in front of the White House. In the spring of 1808 this ram attacked several people who had taken shortcuts across the square, injuring some and actually killing a small boy. Because of selective breeding, polycerate sheep are increasingly rare in the British Isles and Spain, but some breeds can still be found in Asia. One example is the black-faced sheep of Tibet.

Goats

There have been incidents of polycerate

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of ...

s (having as many as eight horns), although this is a genetic rarity thought to be inherited. The horns are most typically removed in commercial dairy goat herds, to reduce the injuries to humans and other goats. 4 horns are the norm for the Austrian goat breed Vierhornziege (four-horned goat).

Wildlife

Antelope The term antelope is used to refer to many species of even-toed ruminant that are indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelope comprise a wastebasket taxon defined as any of numerous Old World grazing and browsing hoofed mamm ...

s also can be polycerate, for example, the

blue wildebeest The blue wildebeest (''Connochaetes taurinus''), also called the common wildebeest, white-bearded gnu or brindled gnu, is a large antelope and one of the two species of wildebeest. It is placed in the genus '' Connochaetes'' and family Bovidae, ...

(''Connochaetes taurinus''). Both sexes normally possess one pair of large curved horns.Ackermann, R. R.; Brink, J. S.; Vrahimis, S.; De Klerk, B. (29 October 2010). "Hybrid wildebeest (Artiodactyla: Bovidae) provide further evidence for shared signatures of admixture in mammalian crania". South African Journal of Science 106 (11/12): 1–4.

Mythology

Cerastes, a legendary Greek horned serpent, is sometimes described with two horns or with four small ones.

References

{{reflist Animal anatomy Even-toed ungulates