Paleontologists discover fossils indicating that 'terrifying' unicorns might have actually existed

Unicorns might have actually walked the earth with humans, according to new fossils discovered and reported in the American Journal of Applied Sciences. The so-called "Siberian unicorn" fossils discovered in Kazakhstan are 29,000 years old; the first Homo sapiens evolved nearly 200,000 years ago, according to scientists.

Previously paleontologists believed that horned horse-like animals had all died out over 350,000 years ago, before people were ever around. Now a new Elasmotherium sibiricum skull fossil discovered in Kazakhstan has them reconsidering.

However, SF Gate warns that these unicorns weren't pure white with sparkling manes. The Siberian unicorn "was a terrifying beast, 6-feet-6 inches tall, 15 feet long, and weighing four tons. Basically, it was an enormous rhino with a death stick on its forehead."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The Elasmotherium sibiricum likely outlasted other horned mammals because Western Siberia could have provided isolation from unknown environmental factors that wiped out "unicorns" elsewhere. "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," the study's author, Tomsk State University scientist Andrei Shpansky, said.