Fencing is a traditional sport with a long history. At the 1st Modern Olympic Games held in Athens in 1896, there were men's foil and sabre competitions.
As early as ancient times, the sword was the tool used by humans to fight for survival. With the development of human history, the sword has developed from the initial stone and bone to the bronze, iron, and finally to steel, and as a weapon of war, it has gradually entered the historical stage. The "swordsmen" of the animal world also possess swords that have been forged with a thousand hammers—the horns on their heads and other derivatives. It's just that their swords are not tempered with fire, but are obtained in a long-term cruel survival experience, which is the result of generations of dominant genes. Therefore, it is more accurate and powerful, and it is fatal in one hit.
<h3 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > "swordsman" column</h3>
Among the invertebrates, the ones most qualified to be called "swordsmen" are, of course, the horned rhinoceros beetles. Rhinoceros turtles are also known as one-horned immortals, and most of the head and the dorsal plate of the front chest have obvious protruding forked horns, resembling rhino horns, hence the name. Rhinoceros turtles are powerful in appearance and are the overlords of beetles, and some species are very large, such as the one-horned fairy, which can reach a length of up to 12 cm. Because the horns on the head are weapons used by males to compete for mates and fight, they are only unique to males. In the season of the harpy turtle courtship, once the two males meet, they will use this strange horn to fight, start a fierce fight, desperately use their long swords to pick up the opponent, and then violently overturn the ground. Sometimes, they will launch carpet attacks like bulldozers.
The "swordsman" in the ocean first promotes swordfish. Its upper jaw protruded forward, and its bones were hard, like a sword, both strong and sharp. Swordfish not only swim very fast, but also have a very fierce temperament, often sneaking into the fish, stabbing them with the long "sword" in front of the head, rampage in the vast ocean, and even the killer whales and man-eating sharks, known as the "overlord of the sea", will retreat.
The upper jaw of the sailfish with a sail on its back also protrudes forward like a sword. It is also a fast and fierce carnivorous fish, and after breaking into the fish, it uses its sword-like jaw to slash east and west, washing the fish to pieces.
Among other marine animals, the dime whale, which inhabits the cold waters of the Arctic Ocean, is the only "swordsman." The left upper teeth of the male horned whale protrude forward in a spiral shape, forming a longsword shape, half the length of the body, protruding in front. It is like a strange "horn" on the head, hence the name one-horned whale. In the Middle Ages, monarchs and popes in many European countries used it as a "magic wand". The "sword" of a horned whale is not used for food, but only as a weapon of contention between male whales for females. The winner who has gone through a fierce battle can naturally get the reward of "a group of wives and concubines".
However, the real "swordsmen" in the animal world still belong to most ungulates, because they have a real "sword" - the horns on the head. Their horns are the product of the epidermis and dermatization of the head. The epidermis produces horns, such as the sheaths of cattle and sheep and the epidermal horns of rhinos. The dermis forms bony horns, such as antlers. The horns of mammals can be divided into five types: cave horns, solid horns, prosthetic horns, giraffe horns, and epidermal horns.
<h3 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > a light and flowing "flower sword"</h3>
The flower sword is also known as the light sword. Duels were rife in Europe in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. In this situation, in order to meet people's love and need for fencing, but not to harm life, a short and light body, the cross-section is rectangular, the tip of the sword is leather-bandaged new type of sword is designed, generally welcomed by people, and widely developed, which is the prototype of the current flower sword. The current foil sword is a complete stabbing weapon, the body of the sword is soft, the sword bar is made of elastic steel, and the top of the sword has a spring head similar to a switch, and when the force exceeds 500 grams, the referee will immediately display the signal of hitting.
Deer have solid horns on their heads, bifurcated bony horns, hornless sheaths, and are both sexual ornaments and blades for intraspecific competition and interspecific enemies. Most species of antlers are forked, some are large, even very complex, and the posture is also very beautiful, which is a veritable "foil sword", and deer animals naturally become the "foil players" among the animals.
Most deer females have no horns, and the horns of small deer are generally thin and short, such as black chamois, red chamois, small chamois, hairy crown deer and so on. The horns of large deer such as elk, sika deer, red deer, white-lipped deer, sambar deer, and slope deer are usually very majestic. There are a total of 4 branches on the horns of the sika deer, and the main trunk is again divided into two small branches at its end.
Except for the rounded lower base of the horn stem, the rest of the white-lipped deer are flattened and rounded, especially at the fork of the horn, which is wider and flat, so it is also called a flat horned deer. The horn of the po deer has a larger eyebrow branch, which grows forward and then slightly upwards, while the trunk is first backwards, then curved upwards, and stretched forward, hence the name of the po deer.
The horns of the moose are the largest among the deer, and the shape of the horns is special, unlike other deer, not branch-shaped, but flattened shovel-shaped, rough horn surface, from the base of the horn to the left and right sides of each extend a small section after the eyebrow branch and trunk, stretched horizontally, the middle is wide, much like a cactus, in the front 1/3 of the birth of many pointed forks, up to 30 to 40.
Reindeer are the only deer with horns in both males and females, but males have larger horns and can reach a length of up to 150 cm. The thick trunk extends backwards, upwards and forwards, and then expands to form a flat palm shape, which is very graceful.
The deer's old horns fall off around mid-April and new horns grow. The new horn is brittle and not yet ossified, covered with a layer of brownish yellow velvety tender skin, the skin is densely covered with blood vessels, which is the famous deer antler, also known as antler horn. After continuing to grow until August, the antler velvet gradually ossified, the outer fur gradually fell off, the entire antler became hard and smooth, until the following spring, the antlers automatically fell off again, and the antlers grew again.
Deer are animals that are possessed by a stag in a "flock of wives and concubines". In order to gain mating rights, adult males must fight. If the original "lord" of the group found that there were other male beasts approaching the female beasts, he would "raise his eyebrows and sheath his sword", immediately use the huge horns on his head to block, and roar loudly, so a fierce and spectacular fight was inevitable.
Interestingly, the two "swordsmen" who are vying to become "lords" do not have to fight each other every time. They often start with a "preliminary round", a "ritualized" fight by yelling at each other, or walking back and forth, assessing the strength of the opponent through the display of horns and physical contact from close range.
The weaker side does not persist to the end when it is overwhelmed, and often runs away, and the winner does not chase after it. When the male beast evaluates its opponents, it is based on fairly direct indicators of ability - body size and strength.
The male will only move on to the next stage if it cannot be properly assessed and further testing is required. This point is similar to the origin of the flower sword movement, which was designed to meet the needs of fencing in duels without harming lives.
<h3 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > a powerful "heavy sword"</h3>
Gentlemen and nobles who were keen on dueling began in 1885, using triangular swords in their practice, and the confrontation was not limited to the parts, which is the epee sword that continues to this day. The epee used in the Olympic games is a complete stabbing weapon, the same length as the foil, but heavier than the foil, the shaft is also hard, the cross-section of the sword body is triangular, and the tip of the sword is also equipped with a spring sword head, but when the force is more than 750 grams, the referee will display a colored light signal.
The "epee" player in the animal is naturally none other than the rhinoceros. The rhinoceros is very powerful, with an unusually thick body, short column-like limbs, a huge head, a thick skin like armor, a body length of more than 4 meters, a weight of up to 6 tons, is the third largest continental vertebrate after elephants and hippos.
The horn of the rhinoceros is different from the antlers of the deer, which belongs to the epidermal horn and is composed entirely of hairy fibers in the epidermal keratin layer, without bone components. They are hollow, and the position of their birth is also very special, in the middle of the nasal bone, the two corners of the double-horned species are arranged back and forth, the anterior horn is born in the nose, and the posterior horn grows in the jaw, but it is particularly hard and sharp, and it is a powerful weapon for its self-defense and attack.
There are 5 species of rhinos, white rhinos and black rhinos are distributed in Africa, and have two horns; Indian rhinos, Javan rhinos and Sumen rhinos are distributed in Asia, but only Sumen rhinos have two horns, Indian rhinos and Javan rhinos have only one horn, also known as large one-horned rhinoceros and small one-horned rhinoceros respectively. The white rhino is the largest rhinoceros and its horn is also the longest of all rhinos, with a record high of 158.7 cm. Usually the anterior horn is longer and slightly curved backwards, the posterior horn is shorter, and the horns of the female are longer than those of the male.
The rhinoceros has a very fierce temperament, a surprisingly violent temper, when running wild in the wilderness, it can touch the tree with the thick mouth of the bowl, and even provoke other beasts for no reason, even the elephant is afraid of its three points, and the lion has to retreat when it sees it!
Like deer, rhinoceros' horns are naturally their weapons for fighting for mates and defending their territory. For invaders who invade the territory, they will solve it by force. The two rhinos first "sword-rattling" four-eyed, then tensed legs and striding forward, their tails erect as they walked, their huge heads swinging, their horns piercing into the air, their hooves and claws clutching the ground. When the rhinoceros is ready to attack, it will bow its head, stand up its ears, pose as an offensive frame, use its horns to top the opponent, and even stab the opponent.
Interestingly, if a female rhino accepts a courtship from a male rhino, she usually stabs the male's ribs vigorously with her horns first. The male, on the other hand, supplely endured this caress that almost pushed it to the ground, with no intention of fighting back.
<h3 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the "sword" with a good stab</h3>
At the end of the 18th century, the Hungarians reformed the curved short knives used by the early cavalry of the Persians, Arabs and Turks in the East, and equipped the hilt with a crescent-shaped handguard plate, which could protect the hand during fencing. Later, the Italian fencing master Giuseppe Ladayeli further improved it so that it could be used in fencing and duels, and according to the characteristics of cavalry combat, the effective part was above the belt, which became the predecessor of the modern sabre. The sword used in the Olympic games is a weapon that can both split and stab, weighs the same as the flower sword, is slightly shorter in length, the sword has a blade and a back, the cross-section of the sword body is trapezoidal, the tip is round, and there is no spring sword head.
Cattle, sheep and antelope skulls all have a pair of horns, although different shapes, but are symmetrical bone branches derived from the protrusions of the frontal bone, not forked, most of them have a certain degree of curvature, can be called the "sword" player in the animal world. Their horns are very distinct from those of deer and rhinoceros, and usually grow after the age of 1 year, wrapped in a hard sheath, which is attached to the bony horn center and expands as the horn heart grows. The sleeve can be taken off, the inside of the horn is hollow, so it is also called hole horn, and cattle, sheep and antelopes with hole horns are also called hole horn animals. Unlike deer, which have "solid horns", "hole horns" have no nerves and blood vessels on their horns, and after the horns are removed, they can no longer grow. The corners of the hole stop growing to a certain extent, and the sleeve is not replaced.
Cattle generally have horns for both females and males, but females have smaller horns, while males usually have very majestic horns and fairly curved, such as European bison, American bison, wild yaks, large-fronted cattle, Indian buffalo and African buffalo. The largest horn is the horn of the Indian bison, which grows from the ridge of the forehead bone, rises vertically, then bends outward, then upwards, and finally the horn tip is inward and slightly backward, and the length can reach 60 to 75 cm.
The horns of antelopes vary greatly and vary in form, with most males and females having horns, and many species with horns only for males. The horns of small to medium-sized antelopes are generally relatively short, thin and straight, vertical and upward, such as small antelope, island antelope, stone antelope, pygmy antelope, rock antelope, reed antelope, water antelope, donkey antelope, shorthorn antelope, yellow sheep, gazelle, etc., medium to large antelope usually have long and twisted horns, such as antelope, purple antelope, forest antelope, horse antelope, longhorn antelope, rotary horned antelope, fox antelope, white-faced wildebeest, black-tailed wildebeest, impala, antelope, gazelle, deer antelope, slender horned antelope, red-fronted antelope, goose-throated antelope, springbok and so on. But there are also many species, especially the larger species, whose horns are very peculiar, such as the horns of the great antelope that extend slightly backwards and the lower section is spiral-shaped. The horns of the great horned antelope are long and spiral-like and twisted.
The horns of the horned antelope are long, slightly curved backwards, and there is a narrow black stripe at the base that connects with a large black spot on the bridge of the nose. The head of the four-horned antelope has 4 short horns that go straight up.
Wild sheep include sheep (pan sheep, bighorn sheep, white bighorn sheep, Mophren sheep, etc.),
Goats (wild goats, goats, Spanish goats and kushina goats),
Semi-sheep (rock sheep, wild sheep and Tar sheep), sheep antelope (iguana, impala, mammoth and snow sheep), sheep and cattle (antelope and musk ox) and high-nosed antelope (high-nosed antelope and Tibetan antelope), generally both male and female have horns. Compared with cattle and antelopes, the shape of the horns of sheep is more varied and breathtaking.
The Tibetan antelope only has horns for males, with special horns, more than 20 obvious horizontal edges, slender like a whip, dark and shiny, almost vertical upward from the top of the head, only the smooth horn tip is slightly inclined inward, the length is generally about 60 cm, and the longest record is 72.4 cm, very beautiful. Because the two horns are very symmetrical, looking at it from the side, it seems that there is only one horn, so it is called "unicorn" or "one horned beast".
Among the goats, the most interesting is the horn of the kudpole goat, which curls upwards like a spiral cone that opens a cork. The most majestic is the horn of the northern goat, which is generally about 100 cm long and the highest recorded is 147.3 cm. The shape of the horn is wide in front and narrow in the back, although it does not spiral, but the curvature generally reaches half a circle or even two-thirds of the circle, but it is like two machetes, inserted upside down on the head of the sheep, which is really majestic, and there is a great trend of "swinging the sword into a river".
The pan sheep among wild sheep are the largest sheep. The pair of thick curved horns on the head of the male sheep is its most prominent morphological feature. The horns of the pan sheep form a distinct spiral shape, some of which are even more than 360 degrees curved, and the base section of the horn is particularly thick and slightly rounded, and the corner tip is blade-shaped. Among them, the Panyang distributed in the Pamir Plateau of Xinjiang and the western Part of the Tianshan Mountains in China is the very famous "Marco Polo Sheep", named after the outstanding Italian traveler Marco Polo in his travelogue. Its horn length is unmatched, with a record high of 190.5 centimeters.
During the mating period of cattle, antelopes and sheep, the males first go through a period of mate-by-partner struggle, breaking the atmosphere of peace on a daily basis, and its intensity is comparable to that of large deer, making the mountain forest full of "sword and light sword shadow". It is also common for them to use their horns as weapons of self-defense. When the musk ox encounters an enemy, the adult individuals will line up in a semicircular formation with their heads facing outwards, placing the cubs in the middle of the circle, and the male beast in the center, waiting by the male beast with sharp horns, and facing the enemy with horns, although one or two heads are knocked down, they do not scatter to escape. When defending in a group, the wolves will also join forces to attack, but it is often difficult to succeed.