“Unicorns exist as real, living creatures.”

The unicorn is one of the most famous mythical creatures, often depicted as a white horse with a spiraling horn erupting from its forehead. It's not hard to imagine a horse with a horn, and for much of the mythical creature's history, people thought it actually existed. But where did this myth come from?

But the unicorn was real, in a sense — just not in the ways it's commonly depicted. In the past few years, scientific research has helped us learn more about this Ice Age giant, Elasmotherium sibiricum, that may have inspired our tall tales.

We all know unicorns are not real, but that doesn't mean their horns are fantasy. Narwhals are a species of whale that sport a single “horn” from their head – just like the unicorn. In medieval times, Vikings often hunted narwhals and sold their tusks as “unicorn horns” to unsuspecting Europeans.

Scientific consensus confirms that no species possesses a single, conical horn like a classic unicorn. [...] The unicorn does not exist in the taxonomic sense, nor does it occupy the physical world as described in fairy tales.

For a long time it was thought that the ancient rhino species *Elasmotherium sibiricum*, known as the Siberian unicorn, went extinct between 200,000 and 100,000 years ago. Now improved dating of fossil bones suggests that it survived until at least 39,000 years ago.

Popular media reports consistently portrayed the discovery as proof that unicorns were real. [...] we can't justify any claim to have found a real unicorn [...] Given the number of equally likely options, we can't know what that thing is and so we can't justify any claim to have found a real unicorn.

The ancient rhinoceros Elasmotherium sibiricum — or more colloquially, the Siberian unicorn — was a shaggy giant mammal with strangely slender legs and a single horn. Elasmotherium was not a unicorn because real unicorns don't exist and there is no reason to believe they ever did.

In 2016, scientists discovered the fossilized bones of a prehistoric, one-horned animal in the Pavlodar region of modern Kazakhstan. Scientifically named Elasmotherium sibiricum, also known as the Siberian unicorn! While these creatures did have a single horn, they in no way resembled a majestic white horse.

Humans have seen real-life unicorns. [...] Forget all unicorn preconceptions. Instead of an elegant horse, think of a hairy rhino with an extraordinary horn. [...] the *Elasmotherium sibiricum*, a species known as the Siberian unicorn

The narwhal is an elusive, mysterious resident of the remote Arctic... is known for growing a characteristic spiral tusk that resembles the historical portrayal of a unicorn's horn. In fact, one 2020 study from the Journal of the History of Dentistry suggests that unicorns only entered into European myth after the first narwhal tusks appeared in markets, making narwhals possibly the inspiration for unicorns in the first place.

Unicorns are often depicted as white horses with heads that have sprouted a single spiraling horn. Unicorns aren't real, of course, but scientists have some ideas about how they might become so.

Yes, unicorns were once real [...] So, was the Siberian unicorn where the fantastical creature originated from? Likely not. The first written evidence of the existence of unicorns appears in natural history writings from ancient Greece

The scientific consensus of the day was that assorted land animals, including the elusive unicorn, had yet to be discovered or fully understood. A belief in the reality of unicorns goes back some 2,000 years

Little by little, Europeans recognized that their concept of the unicorn was inspired by two very real, very different creatures. Though both the rhinoceros and the narwhal have since left the realm of legend and progressed into the world of science, each animal retains echoes of their mythic pasts.

It's true - unicorns DO exist! A ground-breaking fossil discovery could prove that the extinct 'Siberian unicorn' once walked the Earth with humans... Scientists had believed the Elasmotherium sibiricum died out 350,000 years ago

Long ago, unicorns walked our planet. But it wasn't exactly the unicorn you're imagining. Instead of a whimsical, horse-like creature that spreads sparkles and magic, it was a mud-rolling, bulky-bodied beast. Much like a rhino. The latest (and largest) “edition” was Elasmotherium sibiricum — existing as late as 39 thousand years ago, as recent evidence suggests, meaning it coexisted with early humans.

In modern biology, unicorns as depicted in folklore—a horse-like creature with a single spiraling horn—are not recognized as extant or recently extinct species. The Siberian unicorn (Elasmotherium sibiricum) was a real rhinoceros species with a single horn, extinct around 39,000 years ago, but it does not match the mythical description and is not considered evidence for living unicorns today.

However, more recent research and fossil evidence suggest that these real unicorns actually existed more recently, with some estimates ...

Scientists found a fossilized skull of an ancient animal called Elasmotherium sibiricum, and it might be the closest thing to a real unicorn ...

Narwhal unicorns are the only existing species of unicorn known to mankind and live underwater in the Atlantis Ocean. Narwhal unicorns are born like regular mammals, but their horns have special healing powers.