Scientists have learned the cause of the extinction of "Siberian unicorns"



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An international team of scientists has identified the cause of extinction of ancient mammals, Elasmotherium sibiricum, known as Siberian unicorns, or Elasmotheria, according to Science Alert.

Photo: wikimedia.org
Photo: wikimedia.org

For research purposes, 23 bone fragments of these animals were collected and a radiocarbon badysis procedure was performed.

This helped to discover that the Elasmotheries disappeared relatively recently – 36,000 years ago, in fact, they could be contemporaries of people. It was once thought that the extinction of Siberian unicorns had occurred 200,000 years ago.

The Siberian unicorn was a unique species, a breakaway from the lineage that had led to modern rhinos over 40 million years ago. The head of this animal was huge, heavy and very low, at the height of the grbad. Maybe the Siberian unicorn could not even lift it.

Elasmotherium only ate grbad. So when the frost struck, the animals could not change their diet and died. The weight of an adult reaches 3.5 tons. The remains of these ancient giants have been found most often in northern Kazakhstan and southern Siberia, although a skeleton was found in the Udessa region of Ukraine.

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