The Prehistoric Rhino Thread- Rhinos, unicorns and indricotheres

Adam Khor wrote: »

I find it unlikely that the narwhal had much to do with the Evenk stories of giant unicorns, since they described the horn as being so thick and massive that it took a sled to transport it. Their description of the beast was also pretty consistent (unlike the unicorns of medieval Europe which are a rather motley bunch). They said the giant unicorn was black, with the giant horn coming from its forehead rather than the snout, and with long legs which allowed it to charge at high speed at Evenk riders.
Elasmotherium fits the description perfectly- even if the actual horn has never been found preserved (but this is not so weird since it would've been made of keratin). There's also a cave painting that may represent Elasmotherium with its horn.



Earlier accounts of unicorns from elsewhere however are confusing because they seem to refer to different animals. Ctesias in the fifth century BC spoke of a kind of unicorn from India which came in black, white and red colors, which makes me think of the blackbuck, in which the male is dark brown/black and white, and the female is reddish:



Of course they have two horns but when seen from the side:



The spiraling, segmented horn looks a lot more like the horn seen in some unicorn depictions (and it would explain why the narwhal's tusk was identified with the unicorn as it also looks somewhat similar). The blackbuck's horns are around 70 cm long which is exactly what Ctesias states for the unicorn's horn.