Can you imagine a unicorn walking on earth alongside a human? Well it is not magic or neither am I in a magical world where I will be talking about unicorns! I am talking about real life unicorns, Elasmotherium sibiricum who lived across Southwestern Russia, Siberia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan!
The species was majorly dependent on grasslands so in its absence, it was difficult for them to cope with the change. The animals literally weighed around 3.5 tonnes and after the research done on fauna in the last ice age, there were a lot of animals that went extinct.
Popular species such as Sabre-toothed cat, Irish elk and wooly mammoth all went extinct during this time. However, it is not possible for all to be the responsibility of humans. The exact reason might be difficult for us to know but we can make assumptions that will help us understand the probable causes!
What Was The Siberian Unicorn?
The Siberian unicorn or more scientifically known as Elasmotherium sibiricum with a weight of 3.5 tons used to live on the Eurasian grasslands. Can you imagine such a big animal almost dying? Well it did!
The big animals just started getting extinct due to increasing climate change concerns. According to Merit Researcher at the Musuem, Professor Adrian Lister informed that the extinction of the unicorns was not part of the mega extinction. Furthermore, these animals were quite new as they had been on earth 40,000 years earlier!
There were several fossils that had been found and accordingly investigated by scientists from Russia and the Netherlands. Apparently there were 23 specimens of the Siberian unicorn fossil or Elasmotherium fossil! According to Nature Ecology & Evolution, the species survived at least 35000 years ago.
Did You Know That The Siberian Unicorn Actually Existed?
When evaluating the existence of the Siberian Unicorn, you have to learn that it was adapting to the changes. Especially after a certain point, they also tried running so that they could save themselves in a crisis.
However, the major issue that formed was that they were unable to shift their meal type from grazing! The unicorns existed and we have evidence that they existed, especially because of the fossils that have been discovered. However, the significant change in the environment was quite severe for them!
The habitat of the Elasmotherium was also plant-based hence, it was an unique animal that should have been protected. A rare animal with unique features confirmed the fact that they went extinct just before the spotted hyenas were extinct.
Imagine The Unicorn Walking Alongside Humans…
It was published in the Journal Nature Ecology & Evolution magazine in 2018 where the focus was on a shaggy creature that was roaming around along with the humans! This is where they received the attention. These animals with horns on the top of the head clearly resembled unicorns!
About 39,000 years ago, these animals used to live alongside the Neanderthals and the modern humans. Furthermore, they were herbivores with big figures which could be used by the people to carry their things. According to the recent investigation and research, these unicorns were genetically quite similar to the rhinoceros specimens!
The unicorn for a long time tried to face the challenges! Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan would have been a perfect place for the Siberian unicorn to survive in the modern day challenges. It was also significant for the people who lived during that time. The environmental challenges were significant for these animals!
How Did The Siberian Unicorns Die?
The animals are extinct! That’s for sure! Now the question is how and why? One of the major reasons for their extinction was because they found it quite difficult to shift from a complete grass diet, especially with the enviromenal changes. Breath easy! Atleast the Unicorn did not die because of us!
It was the natural scarcity and the environmental change that heavily impacted the extinction of the Siberian unicorn! It was during this time that the Neanderthals along with spotted hyenas and cave bears also went extinct.
Even though they lived side by side with humans and other big animals, it is of less probability that they were hunted down into extinction. Instead it was more due to the change in climate change, severe fluctuation along with the significant focus on grazing numbers that influenced their death.
They ran high risk of extinction especially because there is plausability of these animals unable to manage the severe climate change along with the low population numbers. It was the first time that DNA was extracted from the Siberian Unicorn fossils settling the debate of their existence once and for all!
The members definitely belonged to the Rhino species and used to live roughly 43 million years ago. Also there was a high distinction between the animals along with how ancient lineage of these animals survived to this day!
How Is Siberian Unicorn Similar To Modern Day Rhino?
In the present world, there are five remaining species of Rhino out of the others left! The Siberian Unicorn might not be the exact structure that the Rhinos have today but they are also on their way to getting extinct. They are only visible in national parks nowadays!
There is persistent poaching of these animals because of their horn leading to their habitat loss across all decades. These are prehistoric rhino species who had to adapt to human pressures along with climate changes.
Furthermore, there were many myths related to the animal! There are other animals very similar to the Siberian unicorn such as the tusked narwhal who can be contenders when comparing them to modern day Rhinos. In today’s world as well, the Rhino along with its habitat is getting impacted negatively.
You also have to notice that the extinction of these animals in no way have human fingerprints on them! Instead it was completely due to the environment that their extinction happened!
Finishing Off…
After reading the article, tell me what you make of the whole perception with regards to the Siberian unicorn being an extinct species? Do you wonder whether the climate change took place because of humans or it was the environment that kept changing to establish a balance.
You also need to know that these animals that lived in the Ice-age were extinct because of the huge climate change that came with the mega functional extinction!
Comment on what you think about a rhinoceros being a form of unicorn especially because they might be the descendant of the Siberian unicorn!
