"Siberian Unicorn" walked on Earth with humans

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W Van der Merwe

A giant rhino that could be at the origin of the myth of the unicorn has survived until at least 39 000 years, much longer than expected.

Known as the Siberian Unicorn, the animal had a long horn on its nose and roamed the grasslands of Eurasia.

New evidence shows that the big beast may have ended up turning off because it was so difficult to eat.

Scientists say that better knowing the extinction of the animal could help save the remaining rhinos on the planet.

Rhinos are particularly endangered as they are very hard on their habitat, said Professor Adrian Lister of the Natural History Museum in London, who led the study.

"Any change in their environment is a danger to them," he told BBC News. "And, of course, what we also learned from the fossil record, is that once a species is gone, it's over, it disappears for good." "

Weighing four tons, with an extraordinary horn on his head, the "Siberian unicorn", shared the Earth with early modern humans until at least 39,000 years ago.

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Igor Doronin

What do we know about the old rhinoceros?

Rhinoceros, Elasmotherium sibericum, would have been extinct between 200,000 and 100,000 years ago.

Using a radiocarbon dating of 23 specimens, the researchers found that the glaciation giant had survived in Eastern Europe and Central Asia until at least 39,000 years ago.

They also isolated for the first time the DNA of the ancient rhinoceros, showing it separated from the modern rhinoceros group about 40 million years ago.

The extinction of the Siberian unicorn marks the end of a group of rhinoceros.

Why could he have extinguished?

The study also consisted of examining the animals' teeth and confirming that they were grazing on hard, dry herbs.

"She was walking like a kind of prehistoric mower, really … she just grazes the soil," said Professor Lister.

The specialized rhinoceros diet may have been its loss. As the Earth warmed and began to emerge from glaciation about 40,000 years ago, the grasslands began to shrink, probably pushing the animal to extinction.

Hundreds of large mammal species have disappeared after the last ice age due to climate change, vegetation loss and hunting.

What does he tell us about the fate of modern rhinos?

Today, there are only five species of rhinoceros left. Very few survive outside national parks and reserves due to poaching and habitat loss for several decades.

By studying fossilized rhinos, scientists can learn more about the plight of many prehistoric rhinoceros that once roamed the planet and how they adapt to climate change and human pressures.

Where do the myths about unicorns come from?

The legends of the unicorn, or a beast with a single horn, have existed for millennia.

Some have argued that rhinoceros horn may have been the basis of myths about unicorns, although other animals – such as the narwhal parade – are more likely to compete.

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