"Siberian Unicorn" has already walked among the first humans



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A published study On Monday in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, the spiky creature once wandered among humans, surviving in Eastern Europe and Western Asia until at least 39,000 years ago, about the same time as Neanderthals and humans. first modern humans.

The authors of the report did not respond to a request for comment.

Latest discoveries use radiocarbon dating and genetic analysis on 23 specimens of rhinoceros to reveal the life of the mysterious 3.8 tons Elasmotherium sibiricum, which was thought to have been extinct about 200,000 years ago.

They suggest that the "Siberian unicorn", who would have lived in Russia today and whose scope extended to parts of Mongolia, North China and Kazakhstan, were Is extinct due to environmental changes that have affected the type of herbs and plants that she used previously. eat, the authors of the study wrote in the conversation.
Genuine Siberian Unicorn. remains found
The authors wrote that the animal, whose horn could measure up to one meter long, was struggling to move away from a grass-based diet.

"Family members such as the woolly rhino have always been eating a more balanced range of plants and have been much less affected by a habitat change," they wrote.

They added that humans were not the cause of its extinction.

An illustration of Elasmotherium by Heinrich Harder, circa 1908.

"In addition to this, the still limited geographical distribution of Elasmotherium (probably also related to its specialized habitat), as well as the small population size and low reproductive rate associated with the large size of its body, the Would have predisposed to total extinction in the face of the environment, "wrote the authors.

Scientists say the loss of the Siberian unicorn provides a useful case study "showing the low resilience of rhinos to environmental changes".

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