One of the most beautiful and mysterious mythical creatures is the unicorn. Once no one doubted the existence of this animal, and stories and legends about unicorns are widespread throughout the globe.
The unicorn was first described by the court physician from Persia, Ctesias. At about 400g. BC. in his essay on India (where, by the way, he never visited) Ctesias describes large, horse-sized, blue-eyed donkeys. In addition to the unusual, dark red color of the head, such donkeys sported a horn that grew in the middle of their forehead. And it was this horn that was prized by unicorn hunters above all else, because it was considered a panacea for all diseases.
The famous Aristotle was confident in the reliability of the stories about unicorns, and his opinion was taken into account. However, it is confusing that Aristotle argued that the antelope also has one horn! Perhaps, the fact that he had a chance to contemplate the animal from the side, and this created the illusion of "unicornness" led the scientist to such an incorrect conclusion. Or Aristotle really came across an antelope with one horn - this happens in nature due to mutations.
Although the image of a unicorn we are used to is a snow-white horse with a long spiral horn in its forehead, the appearance of this beast is far from unambiguous among different peoples. And quite often unicorns are even "classified" by species. Thus, in the "Colorful Tales" by Claudius Elian (born 170 BC), three varieties of the unicorn are mentioned. Moreover, two types correspond to the description given by the aforementioned Ctesias. Individuals belonging to the third species are called kartazones in this work, and also live in India. These are red, one-horned, horse-like animals of a very ferocious disposition, which, when running, develop very high speed.
The Chinese have several unicorns. The most famous "Chinese" unicorn is called ki-ling. This animal is depicted with the body of a horse or deer, and the head can be a lion's. Julius Caesar also described the unusual "deer bull" that lives in the Herzinian forest (Germany). This one-horned animal grew one large and straight horn from its forehead, which at the end opened like a palm. Travelers of the past, visiting the countries of the East, repeatedly mentioned unicorns that lived with the rulers.
Despite the fact that it was very difficult to catch a unicorn, and it was a very rare animal, there were more than enough hunters to seize the priceless trophy - the horn was more than enough. Still would! In addition to its healing properties, the horn had a wonderful ability to identify poisons. It was believed that a poisoned potion would boil if a unicorn's horn was dipped into it.
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Moreover, the horn could determine the poison at a distance - it was enough to bring it to the poison, as the horn began to release droplets of moisture. Naturally, the mighty of the world were ready to give a fortune for such a "poison indicator". In addition, the unicorn's horn contributed to the prolongation of youth. The unicorn horn trade flourished especially during the Middle Ages. Moreover, the Ostap Benders of the Renaissance, under the guise of a legendary horn, traded mammoth tusks, pieces of ordinary horns, but more often - the horns of narwhal whales, since such mammals were rightly called unicorns.
Features of nutrition and life of unicorns
ABC books of the XVI-XVII centuries tell us the following details about the life of the mythical beast: “I don’t have any friends, lives 532 years. And when he throws off his horn, open the sea and a worm grows from it; and from this there is a beast unicorn. And an old beast without a horn is not strong, it becomes orphaned and dies. The main diet of the unicorn is flowers, in particular, he is very fond of rosehip flowers. Can drink both dew and plain water.
Moreover, those reserved reservoirs, from where unicorns drink water or swim, become very clean, and the water itself is "alive". A meeting with a unicorn promised happiness to man. However, for all their positive qualities, unicorns are very ferocious beasts.
There is an opinion that the "fierce beast" that is repeatedly found in the texts of the Old Testament is none other than the notorious unicorn. According to one of the legends, Noah also rescued a couple of unicorns on his ark, but the animals showed such a nasty character that the righteous man was forced to drive them away.
Can a unicorn be bred?
Some experts believe that the unicorn is not a figment of the imagination of previous generations, but a very real animal, obtained in the course of experiments conducted by someone. Centaurs, griffins, basilisks - all these and many other creatures that were then exterminated (or taken from the planet) were artificially bred.
An experiment set up back in 1933 can partly confirm this guess. W. Franklin, an American biologist, transplanted horn tubercles into the center of the forehead for a newborn calf. As a result, the goby has one straight horn. Coincidence or not, but an adult animal possessed great strength combined with a meek and affectionate disposition - why not a unicorn from fairy tales?
But the unicorn cow in the photo below lives on Jia Kebinga's farm. Her unusual appearance is the result of a genetic mutation.
Such an unusual deer is also the result of an unusual game of genes. This unicorn lives in the park of the Center for Natural Sciences (Italy, g … Prato).
Well, this one-horned goat was again obtained by artificial means. His photos were published in the 1980s, and the experiment with his breeding drew condemnation among animal activists. An unusual animal was used for circus performances.
Looking at these photos, one can assume that it is these unique animals that became the prototypes of the legendary unicorn. Although it is possible that a proud freedom-loving beast once lived on our planet.