I vote for the oryx being the source of unicorn sightings. Horns seen from a distance can easily line up and look like one horn, long tail with a tuft at the end, slender legs. Much more horse-like than a rhinoceros. But I can't believe I've never heard of these before, they are amazing.
Actually, unicorns were once often represented as goats rather than horses. So it checks out. But thet origin of the myth was probably the indian rhinoceros, since some of the first mentions of unicorns come from ancient Greeks speaking about an indian animal with the body of an ass and the head of a stag with one horn.
My guess is horses ended up being used as a basis more since goats were often used as scapegoats, while horses were more well regarded as a beast of burden and warfare.
@@tompotter8703 Possibly, the nature of the unicorn wasn't always the beautiful but enigmatic horse type creature of modern culture. They were originally flesh eating monsters, and could only be tamed by a virgin, to whose lap the unicorn would docilely lay its head. The maiden would then tie her girdle around the unicorn and then huntsmen would slaughter the beast. There is a sort of horse connection in one of Hercules's labours, in which he has to slay the flesh eating Stygian Horses. I'm not quite sure when the transition occurred from a monster to the merely wild horned horse. I would guess it was around the same time as Folk Tales became Fairy Stories, and made suitable for children Your idea would fit in with that if my guess is correct. Horses are seen as more noble creatures which fits our modern concept of unicorns.
I was just watching The unicorn keepers that’s actually their channel and their little goats with horns is so cute these little unicorns are so adorable I swear.
Very interesting. I've never heard of tsaidamotherium before. It's weird that so many books about unicorns name elasmotherium as a possible source of the myth, but not this one.
Neither had I until about 2 weeks ago! Well, Elasmotherium was more of a plains animal, and since these guys were likely so high up in the mountains, they wouldn't really be seen. Also, Tsaidamotherium lived in the Miocene, so well before modern humans.
@@user-ef4gf7rr9r More than likely Unicorns were based off Indian rhinos. When the Romans spoke about Unicorns, they wrote about them as if they were real animals. Not magical animals, mind you, but real, ordinary animals like a deer or a bird.
The title reminded me about how you can allegedly grow a unicorn from a modern domestic goat kid, if it's still very young, by surgically altering its horn buds to be closer together so that its horns grow inward and merge to form a spike.
The last image of 3 drinking, is the same picture in an old book on mammal evolution I have. When I was young, I used to think Unicorns were an early off shoot of horses. They lived in the taiga, Siberia. They had 8 stomachs, to digest conifer needles. The single hoof widened until it split into two, to walk on snow. In winter it had a grey and white coat that changed to brown and black in summer. Its single spiral horn was for display and defence.
Awesome.. I’m a fan of goats in general.. they make fun pets .. so much character in little mischievous packages.. I hadn’t seen anything about these guys before! They’re certainly unique!! I’m not the only history nut thatd probably kill for a time machine 🤪🤪 itd be the trip of a lifetime to see all the critters that came before 😍😍😍 Thanks again for another great video! Best luck with exams!
It is weird how ungulates tried so many excentric horn ornamentations, varying numbers, and locations in the head in the past just to wind up settling in modern days for a standard of two symmetric horns that may or may not have ramifications or estriations, but are always located over the top of the cranium.
Might have to do a video on the rest of them. I do like to do an introductory video to show off one animal and then expanding to the rest in a long-form way. :)
Well. This ancient mammal may correspond to "獬豸"(Xiezhi ), a Caprinae-like creature with sole horn. The mythical creature was believed to see right and wrong, good and evil, loyalty and treachery. According to the legend, Emperor Shun's minister Gao Yao had Zhi (廌) which he used in criminal proceedings whenever he was in doubt. The animal instinctively knew the innocent from the guilty; it butted the latter with its single horn. It is a symbol of bravery and justice. Later in Han Dynasty, in Gansu Province bordering Chaidamu Basin where Tsaidamotherium fossil discovered, local people crafted unicorns for burials.
It’s hysterical to me how every time they come out with these supposed ‘prehistoric unicorns’, they actually really look nothing like unicorns and people will just go along with the idea anyway. Peter S. Beagle was right. Edit: cool video tho!
As much as I like the rest of the video, I cringed at the pronunciation of Sven Hedin. The "din" part of the name is pronounced like the British word "dean", he's not named "Hayden". 😠
