Armour (zoology)

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Armour (zoology)

Armour (or armor) in animals is external or superficial protection against attack by predators, formed as part of the body (rather than the behavioural use of protective external objects), usually through the hardening of body tissues, outgrowths or secretions.

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Mineral

A mineral is a naturally occurring solid formed through Geology processes that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties....
deposits, chitin

Chitin

Chitin n is a long-chain polymer of a N-acetylglucosamine, a derivative of glucose, and is found in many places throughout the natural world....
, bone

Bone

Bones are rigid organ that form part of the endoskeleton of vertebrates. They function to move, support, and protect the various organs of the body, produce red blood cell and white blood cells and store minerals....
or keratin

Keratin

Keratins are a family of fibrous protein; tough and insoluble, they form the hard but mineral structures found in reptiles, birds, amphibians and mammals....
.

Armour is evident on numerous animal species from both current and prehistoric times. Dinosaur

Dinosaur

Dinosaurs were the dominant vertebrate animals of Landform ecosystems for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic Period until the end of the Cretaceous Period , when most of them became extinct in the Cretaceous?Tertiary extinction event....
s such as Ankylosaurus
Ankylosaurus

Ankylosaurus is a genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur, containing one species, A. magniventris. Fossils of Ankylosaurus are found in geologic formations dating to the very end of the Cretaceous Period in western North America....
, as well as other Thyreophora

Thyreophora

The Thyreophora were a subgroup of the ornithischian dinosaurs. They were Armour herbivorous dinosaurs, living from the early Jurassic until the end of the Cretaceous....
(armoured dinosaurs such as Ankylosauria

Ankylosauria

Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the order Ornithischia. It includes the great majority of dinosaurs with Armour in the form of bony osteoderms....
and Stegosauria

Stegosauria

Known colloquially as stegosaurs, the Stegosauria are a group of Herbivore dinosaurs of the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous Period , being found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, predominantly in what is now North America and China....
), grew thick plate-like armour on their bodies as well as offensive armor appendages such as the thagomizer

Thagomizer

The thagomizer, or tail spikes, is an arrangement of four to ten spikes on the tails of particular dinosaurs of the cladistics Stegosauria, of which Stegosaurus stenops is the most familiar....
or a club

Club (zoology)

In zoology, a club is a bony mass at the end of the tail of some dinosaurs and of some mammals, most notably the Ankylosauridae and the glyptodonts....
. The armour took many forms, including osteoderms, spikes, horns and plates. Other dinosaurs such as ceratopsian dinosaurs as well as some sauropods such as Saltasaurus
Saltasaurus

Saltasaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur of the Late Cretaceous Period . Relatively small among sauropods, though still massive by human standards, it was characterized by a diplodocid-like head and was the first discovered with small bony plates embedded in its skin....
and Agustinia
Agustinia

Agustinia is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Period of South America. Like all known sauropods, it was quadrupedal and herbivorous....
, grew armour to defend themselves, although armour in sauropods overall is uncommon.

In modern times, some molluscs employ the use of shells as armour and armour is evident in the chitinous

Chitin

Chitin n is a long-chain polymer of a N-acetylglucosamine, a derivative of glucose, and is found in many places throughout the natural world....
exoskeleton

Exoskeleton

An exoskeleton is an external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to the internal endoskeleton of, for example, a human skeleton....
of arthropod

Arthropod

Arthropods are animals belonging to the Scientific classification Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others....
s. Fish use armour in the form of scales

Scale (zoology)

In most biology nomenclature, a scale is a small rigid plate that grows out of an animal's skin to provide protection. In lepidopteran species, scales are plates on the surface of the insect wing, and provide coloration....
, whether 'cosmoid', 'ganoid' or 'placoid' and in some cases spines

Spine (biology)

In biology, spine or spiny may refer to:*Spine , needle-like structures in plants*Spine , needle-like structures in animalsSpine may also refer to:...
, such as on fish such as the stickleback

Stickleback

The Gasterosteidae are a family of fish including the sticklebacks. FishBase currently recognises sixteen species in the family, grouped in five genera....
. The chalky

Chalk

Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. It forms under relatively deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
plate, or cuttlebone

Cuttlebone

File:Herklots 1859 I 2 Sepia officinalis - schelp.jpgCuttlebone, also known as cuttlefish bone, is a hard, brittle internal structure found in all members of the family Sepiidae, commonly known as cuttlefish....
, of cuttlefish

Cuttlefish

Cuttlefish are Marine animals of the order Sepiida belonging to the Cephalopoda class . Despite their common name, cuttlefish are not fish but molluscs....
also acts as armour. Most reptile

Reptile

Reptiles, or members of the class Reptilia, are air-breathing, cold-blooded vertebrates that have skin covered in scale as opposed to hair or feathers....
s have scaly skin which protects them from predators in addition to water retention; the crocodile's

Crocodile

A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae . The term can also be used more loosely to include all members of the order Crocodilia: i.e....
exoskeleton

Crocodile exoskeleton

The crocodile exoskeleton consists of the protective dermis and Epidermis components of the integumentary system in animals of the Order Crocodilia....
and the shells of the Chelonia - tortoise

Tortoise

Tortoises or land turtles are land-dwelling reptiles of the family of Testudinidae, order Turtle. Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell....
s, turtle

Turtle

Turtles are reptiles of the Order Testudines , most of whose body is shielded by a special bone or cartilage animal shell developed from their ribs....
s and terrapin

Terrapin

A terrapin is a chelonian living in freshwater or brackish water. The name strictly belongs to the diamondback terrapin Malaclemys terrapin, but in British English the name is widely applied to other freshwater turtles such as red-eared sliders, Trachemys scripta elegans....
s.

Numerous mammal

Mammal

Mammals are a class of vertebrate animals whose name is derived from their distinctive feature, mammary glands, with which they feed their young....
s, although not as sturdy as reptilian armour, employ the use of spines and body armour, like the spines of the Echidna

Echidna

Echidnas , also known as spiny anteaters, are four Extant taxon mammal species belonging to the Tachyglossidae Family of the monotremes....
and spiny anteaters and of porcupine

Porcupine

Porcupines are rodents with a coat of sharp Spine , or quills, that defend them from predators. They are endemic in both the Old World and the New World....
s and hedgehog

Hedgehog

A hedgehog is any of the spiny mammals of the subfamily Erinaceinae and the Order Erinaceomorpha. There are 16 species of hedgehog in five genus, found through parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and New Zealand....
s. The bony shell of the armadillo

Armadillo

Armadillos are small placental mammals, known for having a leathery Armour shell. The Dasypodidae are the only surviving family in the order Cingulata, part of the superorder Xenarthra along with the anteaters and sloths....
s and the extinct Glyptodon
Glyptodon

Glyptodon was a large, armored mammal, related to the armadillo, that lived during the Pleistocene epoch . Flatter than a Volkswagen Beetle, but about the same general size and weight, Glyptodon is believed to have been an herbivore, grazing on grasses and other plants found near rivers and small bodies of water....
were very much like Ankylosaurus armour and modern armadillos curl up into a ball when threatened, making them unexposed due to their armour. Similarly, the hair

Hair

Hair is a protein filament that epidermal growth from hair follicle deep within the dermis. The fine, soft hair found on many nonhuman mammals is typically called fur; wool is the characteristically curly hair found on sheep and goats....
y plate-like scales of the pangolin

Pangolin

Pangolins or scaly anteaters or Trenggiling are mammals in the Scientific classification Pholidota. There is only one extant family and one genus of pangolins, comprising eight species....
are employed in the same way and are constructed of the same material used in the offensive armour, the horn, of the rhinoceros

Rhinoceros

Rhinoceros , often colloquially abbreviated rhino, is a name used to group five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae....
.

Armour, although all used for the sole intent to ward off attackers, can be split into defensive and offensive armour. Examples of offensive armour are horns

Horn (anatomy)

A horn is a pointed projection of the skin on the head of various mammals, consisting of a covering of horn surrounding a core of living bone....
, hooves

Hoof

File:Horse rear hooves.jpgA hoof is the tip of a toe of an ungulate mammal, strengthened by a thick horny covering. The hoof consists of a hard or rubbery sole, and a hard wall formed by a thick Nail rolled around the tip of the toe....
, antler

Antler

Antlers are the usually large and complex horn -like appendages of most deer species, mostly worn by males in true horns. Each antler grows from an attachment point on the skull called a pedicle....
s, claw

Claw

A claw is a curved, pointed appendage, found at the end of a toe or finger in most mammals, birds, and some reptiles. Somewhat similar fine hooked structures are found in arthropods such as beetles and spiders, at the end of the leg or Arthropod leg for gripping a surface as the creature walks....
s and beak

Beak

The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which, in addition to eating, is used for Personal grooming#In animals, manipulating objects, killing prey, probing for food, Courtship#Courtship in the animal kingdom and feeding their young....
s, clubs

Club (zoology)

In zoology, a club is a bony mass at the end of the tail of some dinosaurs and of some mammals, most notably the Ankylosauridae and the glyptodonts....
and pincer

Pincer

Pincer may refer to:*Pincer *Pincer , part of an animalSee also*Pincer movement...
s, as developed in some mammal

Mammal

Mammals are a class of vertebrate animals whose name is derived from their distinctive feature, mammary glands, with which they feed their young....
s, bird

Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
s, reptile

Reptile

Reptiles, or members of the class Reptilia, are air-breathing, cold-blooded vertebrates that have skin covered in scale as opposed to hair or feathers....
s (including dinosaurs, such as the Dromaeosaurids claw and the Ceratopsian horn) and arthropod

Arthropod

Arthropods are animals belonging to the Scientific classification Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others....
s. Offensive armour is often used in conjunction with defensive armour and in some cases makes an animal almost unassailable.