Posted on 03/28/2016 1:54:16 PM PDT by Red Badger
For decades, scientists have estimated that the Siberian unicorn - a long-extinct species of mammal that looked more like a rhino than a horse - died out some 350,000 years ago, but a beautifully preserved skull found in Kazakhstan has completely overturned that assumption. Turns out, these incredible creatures were still around as recently as 29,000 years ago.
Before we talk about the latest discovery, yes, there was a very real 'unicorn' that roamed Earth tens of thousands of years ago, but it was nothing like the one found in your favourite children’s book. (Sorry - it’s a bummer for us, too.) The real unicorn, Elasmotherium sibiricum, was shaggy and huge and looked just like a modern rhino, only it carried the most almighty horn on its forehead.
According to early descriptions, the Siberian unicorn stood at roughly 2 metres tall, was 4.5 metres long, and weighed about 4 tonnes. That’s closer to woolly mammoth-sized than horse-sized. Despite its very impressive stature, the unicorn probably was a grazer that ate mostly grass. So, if you want a correct image in your head, think of a fuzzy rhinoceros with one long, slender horn protruding from its face instead of a short, stubby one like today’s rhinos.
The newly found skull, which was remarkably well-preserved, was found in the Pavlodar region of Kazakhstan. Researchers from Tomsk State University were able to date it to around 29,000 years ago via radiocarbon dating techniques. Based on the size and condition of the skull, it was likely a very old male, they suggest, but how it actually died remains unknown.
The question on researchers' minds is how this unicorn lasted so much longer than those that died out hundreds of thousands of years earlier. "Most likely, the south of Western Siberia was a refúgium, where this rhino persevered the longest in comparison with the rest of its range," said one of the team, Andrey Shpanski. "There is another possibility that it could migrate and dwell for a while in the more southern areas."
The team hopes that the find will help them better understand how environmental factors played a role in the creature’s extinction, since it seems like some may have lasted a lot longer than previously thought by migrating across great distances.
Knowing how the species survived for so long, and potentially what wiped it out in the end, could allow us to make more informed choices about the future of our own species, as we find ourselves in a rather perilous situation.
The results of the study have been published in the American Journal of Applied Science.
Unicorn is /was real PinGGG!..............
Rainbow skittles, too?
It was killed by an ancestor of Donald Trump and George Bush................
Killed by global warming no doubt.
“According to early descriptions”
From where or whom did these descriptions come from 29,000 years ago?
Moscow...............
Either that or some early form of a Frenchman. I hear they like horse meat.
The question on researchers’ minds is how this unicorn lasted so much longer than those that died out hundreds of thousands of years earlier.
https://eisdoxan.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/farsidedinosaurs.jpg
Elasmotherium sibiricum
If you google the name of this beast, most of the drawings show a much different looking image of this animal....
The Image in the article looks more like a horse, most of the google images look like a rhino...
For decades, scientists have estimated that the Siberian unicorn -- a long-extinct species of mammal that looked more like a rhino than a horse - died out some 350,000 years ago, but a newly found skull, which was remarkably well-preserved, was found... Researchers from Tomsk State University were able to date it to around 29,000 years ago via radiocarbon dating techniques. Based on the size and condition of the skull, it was likely a very old male, they suggest, but how it actually died remains unknown.Well, obviously it died of old age, aged at least 321K.
“Killed by global warming no doubt.”
Which the last paragraph of the article implies!
Apparently, it didn’t make it onto the Ark.
Some of those images look like bison with a horn.
According to the song, no it didn’t................
There’s evidence that wooly mammoths still trod Wrangle Island while the Great Pyramids were being built.
Kazakhstan Chamber of Commerce is hoping for a boost in tourism.
take a jacket.
Knowing how the species survived for so long, and potentially what wiped it out in the end, could allow us to make more informed choices about the future of our own species, as we find ourselves in a rather perilous situation.
I can’t believe that they are trying to create a link between a creature that died 29,000 years ago and global warming.
IF climate change had anything to do with this creature’s extinction then to me it proves that they can not definitively link technology and climate change.
If natural processes can cause climate change then it is nearly impossible definitively say that man’s impact on the ecology is the cause of climate change.
This website should change its name to Science Propaganda
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