New research has shown that unicorns once roamed the Earth. They didn’t look like the ones you’ve seen in cartoons though. They looked more like a fuzzy Rhino.
Scientists once thought that this species, known as the Siberian unicorn, lived 350,000 years ago. New research shows that these unicorns lived as late as 29,000 years ago. They are related to the modern rhinos as well, and they may have lived alongside early humans.
The discovery has been published in American Journal of Applied Sciences in February.
The fossil was found in Kazakhstan earlier this year. It was around six feet tall, fifteen feet long, and had a horn right between its eyes. It had a stance similar to the woolly mammoth. It was closer to mammoth size than horse-sized.
Scientists guess that the animal was probably around 9,000 pounds. They think that the animals moved south from Siberia responding to changes in its environment.
Here is a tweet with a painting of the animal:
Fossilized skull reveals that a Siberian "unicorn" roamed the Earth 29,000 years ago: https://t.co/a2hXW2NmG3 pic.twitter.com/gdZcJqC05w
— CA AcademyOfSciences (@calacademy) March 28, 2016
In the press release, TSU palaeontologist Andrey Shpanski said:
“Most likely, in the south of Western Siberia it was a refúgium, where this rhino had preserved the longest in comparison with the rest of its range. There is another option that it could migrate and dwell for a while on the more southern areas.”
Studying this (and other) extinct species could yield ways to stop the extinction of many of today’s endangered animals. This discovery has prompted the re-testing of animals previously thought extinct 350,000 years ago.
The carbon dating has advanced. Analyzing these animals can yield lots of information about our planet’s history. This could yield new information on climate change as well. Further, these could be used to predict the direction of the climate change happening now.
Science still can’t tell us if it had magical powers, but we can keep dreaming.
Featured image by Tomals Ashdene via flickr, available under Creative Commons 2.0 license.
