Scientists have long hypothesized that the Siberian unicorn, a long-extinct species of mammal that resembled a rhino instead of a horse, perished about 350,000 years ago.
But, a stunningly preserved skull discovered in Kazakhstan in 2016 has utterly disproved that notion. It turns out that these amazing creatures were still alive 29,000 years ago.
Sure, this proves that a unicorn existed in the actual world and walked the Earth tens of thousands of years ago, but it was quite different from the unicorn shown in your favorite children's book. (Sorry; we're also disappointed.)
The true unicorn, Elasmotherium sibiricum, was hairy, enormous, and resembled a contemporary rhino, with the exception that it wore the largest horn possible on its forehead.
The Siberian unicorn was first thought to be about 2 meters (6.6 feet) tall, 4.5 meters (14.7 feet) long, and weighed about 4 tonnes.
That resembles a woolly mammoth more than a horse. Despite its enormous size, the unicorn was presumably a grazer that largely consumed grass.
Thus, instead of picturing a short, stubby horn like those on modern rhinos, picture a fuzzy rhinoceros with one long, slender horn sticking out from its face.
The skull was discovered in Kazakhstan's Pavlodar region and was astonishingly well preserved. Using radiocarbon dating methods, researchers from Tomsk State University were able to determine that it was formed about 29,000 years ago.
They speculate that it was probably a very elderly male based on the size and condition of the skull, but the manner of death is still unknown.
How this unicorn survived so much longer than animals that went extinct hundreds of thousands of years earlier is the topic on researchers' minds.
According to one of the team members, Andrei Shpanski, "Most likely, the south of Western Siberia was a refugium, where this rhino endured the longest in relation to the rest of its range."
Another possibility is that it might go to the southern regions and stay there for a while.
Since it appears that some creatures may have survived far longer than previously thought by migrating across vast distances, the team thinks that the discovery will help researchers better understand how environmental conditions played a part in the creatures' extinction.
Given that we are in a very precarious position, knowing how the species endured for so long and perhaps what ultimately caused its extinction should help us make better decisions concerning the future of our own species.
