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JAKARTA – The ancient giant rhinos could be at the origin of the myths about unicorns that lived on Earth 39,000 years ago, much longer than expected.
Known as the "Siberian Unicorn", the animal that has a long horn on the nose wandered once in the Eurasian prey.
The latest evidence shows that these sturdy animals can disappear because they are too difficult for food.
Scientists argue that the more we know about its extinction, the better it will be to save the remaining rhinoceros today.
According to Professor Adrian Lister of the Natural History Museum of London, who led the study, at the present time, rhinos are about to disappear because of their too selectivity for determining their habitat .
"Any changes that occur in their environment are considered a danger to them," he told BBC News. "And of course, what we learned from the fossil record is that when a species is lost, yes, it disappears forever."
Back to a giant weighing four tons with an extraordinary single horn on his head, Siberian unicorns lived on Earth at the same time as the beginnings of modern man, until definitive disappearance about 39,000 years ago.
What do we know about ancient rhinos?
It was previously thought that this ancient rhinoceros bearing the biological name Elasmotherium sibericum was extinguished between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago.
But with a radiocarbon dating of 23 specimens, researchers discovered that giant creatures of glaciation still lived in Eastern Europe and Central Asia until at least 39,000 years ago.
And for the first time, researchers have also isolated the DNA of ancient rhinos apparently unrelated to the modern rhinoceros group that has been missing for 40 million years.
The extinction of the Siberian unicorn then marked the end of the fate of all rhinoceros species.
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