There is a new research has revealed the 'Siberian unicorn' roamed the planet far more recently than we originally thought. Tens of thousands of years ago, unicorns did, in fact, exist but they were just more hideous than you’d ever imagine. In real life, the Siberian unicorn looked more like a giant, hairy rhino than a Lisa Frank horse. It fed its six-and-a-half-foot, four-ton frame by eating lots of grass. The real 'Siberian unicorn', or Elasmotherium sibiricum.
The bad news is it looked nothing but ugly unlike the mythical creatures portrayed in many fairy tales and movies.It was fatter and furrier, and in reality more rhino than stallion and have a huge horn.
This real unicorn, or 'Elasmotherium sibiricu', was originally thought to have gone extinct 350,000 years ago.
The discovery of real unicorns isn’t new, but according to a new study in the American Journal of Applied Science, they roamed the Earth much more recently than previously thought. Researchers from Russia’s Tomsk State University found a Siberian unicorn skull in Kazakhstan and dated it to around 29,000 years ago, disproving the original theory that the species went extinct 350,000 years ago.
"Most likely, the south of Western Siberia was a [refuge], where this rhino had preserved the longest in comparison with the rest of the range," said Tomsk State University scientist Andrei Shpansky, who published the findings.
The team are hoping the find will help them understand what environmental factors played a part in the eventual extinction of the species, and what role migration played in its survival up until that point.