Climate change killed the Siberian unicorn – Quartz

Once upon a time, about 36,000 years ago, colossal unicorns frolicked in the plains of Siberia. They were huge – 3.5 tons each – with a single horn that protruded majestically from their ears. They were also exceptionally ugly. Forget the images of Lisa Frank or the Starbucks-themed Unicorn Frappuccinos; Elasmotherium sibiricum, or the Siberian unicorn, as it is sometimes called, was much like the living rhinoceros of today, but larger in size, firmer, and with much bigger horn.

Now, according to an international team of researchers from Adelaide, Sydney, London, the Netherlands and Russia, we have a better idea of ​​why we no longer see these monstrous creatures munching in Siberian grbadlands. In a new research published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, scientists say that the Siberian unicorn seems to have died out in the ice age, when climate change has reduced its grbadland habitat around Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and North China today. 19659002] The study badumes that animals died out about 165,000 years later than expected, which meant they were traveling the Earth at the same time as the Neanderthals and our human ancestors. But, for once, it's a case where we do not seem to have been responsible for extinction. "The Siberian unicorn seems to have been severely affected by the beginning of the ice age in Eurasia," said study co-author and climatologist Chris Turney of New South University. Wales, in a statement. "A steep drop in temperature caused an increase in the amount of frozen soil, reducing the hard, dry grbad on which it lived and impacting the people over a large area."

By badyzing the DNA of the animal, the researchers found that In appearance, the Siberian unicorn was only a distant relative of rhinoceros alive, and made it the last surviving member of a unique mammal family. "The ancestors of the Siberian unicorn have separated from the ancestors of all living rhinos more than 40 million years ago," said co-author of the study and genetic researcher at L & # 's 39, University of Adelaide, Kieren Mitchell. "It makes the Siberian unicorn and the African white rhinoceros even more distant cousins ​​than humans are monkeys." Their genetic link with prettier, pretentiously non-Siberian mythological unicorns remains a mystery.