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Giant Unicorn Fossil range: Pleistocene
Conservation status
Extinct (fossil)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Perissodactyla Family: Rhinocerotidae Genus: Elasmotherium Species: E. sibiricum
Binomial name
Elasmotherium sibiricum J. Fischer, 1809

The Giant Unicorn (Elasmotherium sibiricum) ("Siberian Thin-Plate Beast") was a giant rhinoceros which stood two meters high and six meters (20 feet) long, with a single two-meter-long (7 feet) horn in the forehead. The animal may have weighed up to 5 tonnes. Its legs were longer than those of other rhinos and were designed for galloping, giving it a horse-like gait. It was probably a fast runner, in spite of its size. Its teeth were similar to those of horses, and it probably grazed low herbs.

E. sibiricum lived in Southern Russia, Ukraine and Moldova during the Early Pleistocene. It appeared during the Late Pliocene in Central Asia. Its origin appears to be connected to the genus Sinotherium. E. inexpectatum and E. peii inhabited Eastern China during the Upper Pliocene - Lower Pleistocene. They disappeared approximately 1.6 Ma. The earliest records of Elasmotherium species in Russia are known from the Upper Pliocene assemblages near the Black Sea. E. caucasicum was widely distributed in this area between 1.1 Ma and 0.8 Ma. The more advanced E. sibiricum appeared in the Middle Pleistocene. It occupied all of the southwestern part of Russia, reaching eastward to western Siberia. Elasmotherians persisted in eastern Europe until the end of the Middle Pleistocene.

Contents 1 Description and Paleobiology 2 Historical Witnesses 3 Elasmotherium In Popular Culture 4 Reference

Morphological peculiarities of elasmotherians have generated two main hypotheses concerning their appearance and the character of their habitat. The first, most widely accepted view which was also described above, portrays them as large woolly animals with a large forehead horn that thrived on an open steppe. Fossils of the horn, however, have not been found. The other view assigns elasmotherians to riparian biotopes. It is probable that elasmotherians dwelt in both riparian and steppe biotopes. The riparian biotope is suggested by dental and skull morphology. The combination of such characters as the absence of canines and strongly developed lateral processes of the atlas implies lateral movements of the head, presumably for grasping grass. The hypsodont dentition indicates presence of mineral grains in the food. Such food could be obtained by pulling out dense plants from the moist soil. These conditions are typical for riparian biotopes. On the other hand, a steppe biotope is indicated by their rather long and slender limbs, which would have served well for creatures grazing over vast areas.

Elasmotherium probably died out in prehistoric times. However, according to the Nordisk familjebok and to space scientist Willy Ley, the animal may have survived long enough to be remembered in the legends of the Evenk people of Russia as a huge black bull with a single horn in the forehead.

There is also a testimony by the medieval traveller Ibn Fadlan, who is usually considered a reliable source, which indicates that Elasmotherium may have survived into historical times.

Ibn Fadlan's account states:

There is nearby a wide steppe, and there dwells, it is told, an animal smaller than a camel, but taller than a bull. Its head is the head of a ram, and its tail is a bull’s tail. Its body is that of a mule and its hooves are like those of a bull. In the middle of its head it has a horn, thick and round, and as the horn goes higher, it narrows (to an end), until it is like a spearhead. Some of these horns grow to three or five ells, depending on the size of the animal. It thrives on the leaves of trees, which are excellent greenery. Whenever it sees a rider, it approaches and if the rider has a fast horse, the horse tries to escape by running fast, and if the beast overtakes them, it picks the rider out of the saddle with its horn, and tosses him in the air, and meets him with the point of the horn, and continues doing so until the rider dies. But it will not harm or hurt the horse in any way or manner.

The locals seek it in the steppe and in the forest until they can kill it. It is done so: they climb the tall trees between which the animal passes. It requires several bowmen with poisoned arrows; and when the beast is in between them, they shoot and wound it unto its death. And indeed I have seen three big bowls shaped like Yemen seashells, that the king has, and he told me that they are made out of that animal’s horn.

Some have argued that the survival of Elasmotherium into historical times may be the source of the unicorn myth, as the animal's description fits well with the Persian karkadann unicorn, and the Chinese zhi unicorn.

• An Elasmotherium appears on the iTV and Animal Planet series "Prehistoric Park," refered to by its scientific name and "the woolly unicorn rhino." Nigel Marven, the host, travels back to the ice age to retrieve a mammoth and, unexpectedly, the Elasmotherium.

• The movie The 300 puts an Elasmotherium in Xerxes I's army, and devotes an entire scene to the "monster."

• N.G. Noskova "Elasmotherians - evolution, distribution and ecology" The World of Elephants - International Congress, Rome 2001