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Although at first glance, its corpulent silhouette does not resemble the new unicorn myth that we all have in mind, it has become, there are some years, the first animal probably to the legend. Now, Siberian rhinoceros DNA has been badyzed for the first time.
And it is that before 2016, the Indian rhinoceros, the narwhal or the Oryx had begun with advantage as possible creatures at the origin of the myth. However, two years ago, the date of extinction of Elasmotherium sibiricum was corrected, placing it at the forefront of the list of culprits who created the unicorn.
Fossil remains found in Siberia have proved that lived up to about 29,000 years ago. A very important correction because at that time, there were modern humans who could meet this creature and tell the popular legend of the horse with a single horn.
Whatever it is, we know a little more about him. An international team of researchers collected 23 unicorn bone specimens from Siberia and submitted them to radiocarbon dating to retrieve DNA and find out more about him and his time on Earth.
The results are surprising: several times after the animals were thought to have disappeared, the most recent dating from 35,000 to 36,000 years ago. By then, humans had started populating the steppes of Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and northern China. According to Alan Cooper, of the Australian Center for Ancient DNA of the University of Adelaide:
If we look at the time It was not extreme during a period of climate change, but it caused many colder winters which, in our opinion, really changed the extent of grbadlands in the region. We can also see the evolution of isotopes in animal bones: you can see and measure carbon and nitrogen in the bones and we see that they were just eating from the # 39; grbad.
In fact, it seems that this creature with a horn I was so specialized to eat grbad that I could not survive. His head was huge and it was also something very very low, sitting just up to the grbad, so that he did not really need to lift his head. There is a doubt as to whether he could even lift his head. It was very specific to his time, so once the environment has changed, it seems to be off.
Researchers explained that they still did not have a clear idea of the growth of the animal's horn because it was never found. However, the part of the skull where he would have grown has recovered, with a gigantic base.
Based on comparisons with live animals with horns, that of the Siberian unicorn " could have been 1 meter long ," conclude the researchers. [ScienceAlert]
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