Ossicone

Ossicones are columnar or conical skin-covered bone structures on the heads of giraffes, male okapi, and some of their extinct relatives.

Ossicones are distinguished from the superficially similar structures of horns and antlers by their unique development and a permanent covering of skin and fur.

[3] Males also usually have a single median ossicone on the frontal bone that is larger in northern animals and smaller in southern giraffes.

Similar to species with horns or antlers, male giraffes use their ossicones as weapons during combat, where they use their heads as clubs: the ossicones add weight and concentrate the force of impact onto a small area, allowing it to deliver heavier blows with higher contact pressure.

[4] The nerve bundles and large blood supply in the ossicones have led some researchers to speculate that the structures may also play a role in thermoregulation.