Strange Beast May Be Reason for the Unicorn Legend

With a huge horn rising several feet from the top of their skulls, it is easy to see how their fossilised remains could have been mistaken for the skeletons of the now mythical unicorns.

But it seems a giant species of rhinoceros, thought to have died out in Siberia 350,000 years ago may have actually clung on long enough to really enter into human legend.

Scientists claim to have discovered evidence the giant Elasmotherium sibiricum, or Siberian Unicorn as it is known locally, may have survived in part of Kazakhstan until 26,000 years ago. 

This last refuge in south western Siberia could have allowed the strange creatures, which would have grown to the size of mammoths weighing up to five tons, to have encountered humans.

Source, click here.