I've seen topics about vampires,werewolves, and fairies, I guess Unicorns are the only fairy-tale creature left without a thread. So do you believe in them and if so have you heard of any sightings?

Well there is actully a good reason for unicorn stories, I think. Animals with straight antlers can lose one and Wa-La, a unicorn. But no unicorn in the classical sense.

well see
i dont beleave in the tipical unicorn
but i think that there was a type of animal that was the missing link between horses and rhynos

I'm pretty sure the idea of unicorns started when medieval Europeans found narwhal tusks on land where oceans used to be, and attributed the tusks to land animals (like horses) due to their inability to explain what they were. At least that's the explanation I heard, which makes sense to me. Wikipedia also has something about it under "narwhal".

I didn't know there was a link from horses to rhynos.

unicorns aren't real... likely origin, mis-identified animals / animal remains... IMO

I know narwhales have a horn/ tusk, but how the fresh hell would they associate that with a horse? I don't really see why they couldn't have existed, not nessesarily like magical an whatnot, but I mean, we have some pretty unusual animals, what's so weird about a horse with a horn?

Nope, to me, they have and always will be fantasy.

isnt the rhino the real unicorn? or did some species died out?

could a horse and a rhino breed?

No.

I cant say i believe in Unicorns, no.

Eh? Why does there have to be a link between horses and rhinos? One didn't evolve from the other you know. Its like saying a seal is the missing link between a fish and a dog.

And no, there is not a shred of evidence for them ever existing. The myth came about, some say, due to natural history scholars in ancient greece who were convinced they existed and were native to India - its commonly thought now that they where actually referring to rhinos.

...Rhinos? I always heard that unicorns were small dainty deer-like creatures with a horn on it's head and a lion's tail. Then, of course, there's the version of a regular horse with a horn, but I still can't see anyone mistaking either of those with a rhino.

Did rhinos look very different then than they do now?

By the way, no, I don't believe they are real.

UNICORNS ARE SKREWED UP HORSES

thanks for the lenghtly reply.
i choose to believe in the existence of unicorns. never seen one. probably never will. there have been stranger creatures living on this planet so i see no reason why a horse with a single horn could not have existed/or exist.

In a word, ouch.

It probably came from hunters seeing deer in the forest with only one horn. And then to find a horn of the beach... evidence for ancient man. So the people who would find them would sell them to kings ans queens who believe the horn had magical powers.


The unicorns of medieval legends were more like deer with a goat beard, feathered hocks, a zebra's tale, and cloven hooves. something akin to this:

or this

or this one from the Unicorn Tapestries

The image of just the horse with a horn is the modern image.

--------------------
Anyway. I have differing beliefs in the unicorn. The logical scientist in me says no, it never existed; it was a figment of ancient man's rampant imagination. But the romantic in me wants them to exist. Either way, they make for great art.

Exactly what I'm saying about them being deer-like. How in the heck can you mix that up with a rhino?

Nope. Not seeing it.

I would be interested to see what the offspring of a horse and a rhino would look like.

Seeing the above picture kinda makes me think that the actual Unicorn legend was derived from seeing a knight with a lace in his hand on horseback from the side. At least that's what I thought when I saw the Unicorn from the side, and seeing that human beings are pretty-much just as full-o-sh*t now as they were then, I may be on to something.

Well, obviously not. But its not like the ancient greeks had cameras to bring photos back with them from their travels did they?

they didn't have cameras. they just told people what they saw.

Unicorn??

The local zoo has an antelope exhibit that says some people may have mistaken the 2 horned animal for a unicorn when seen from the side or missing a horn. *shrugs*

You're welcome. I was going to embellish it with a discussion on horses and rhinos being unable to mate due to a lack of chromasomal compatibility and the horse needing a step ladder and steady nerve to get the job done.

Then I decided a simple "No" would suffice.

I own a Unicorn farm.

of course i believe in unicorns. who doesnt?
i mean its a horse with a seat on its head........wa wa waaaaa
haha, oh my. im hear till friday!

sorry.... am I missing something? What do you think I said???

I would like to see a unicorn one day. Even if it is was in my dreams.

That's the point. When you describe an animal with four legs and a horn on its head to people that have never seen it before, they are going to have to use their imagination to picture what it looked like. Probably more than a few imagined it looking somewhat like a horse, and when after a few years those who had actually seen it died and couldn't correct everyone else, the legend probably spread from there.

However, the narwhal story makes more sense to me, especially considering the imaginations medieval scholars had.

the rhino and the hores branched off of each other
they are related

Memories should have been enough. Bottom line is I'm not seeing how these guys looked at a Rhino and decided it was a deer-like animal with a magical horn. Even if they got the story straight and other people told the story over and over and got things mixed up, it is still quite a stretch that something as large and mean-looking turned into a dainty, cute, magical animal. That's gossip for you though, I guess.

What KyrusRose posted seems more like what could have happened. Someone probably saw an animal standing like that and freaked out and ran back to tell the town before the animal even had a chance to turn it's head. I could see a dainty creature like that being morphed into an animal with a zebra tail and beard, but not a rhino.




Edited to fix name.

In scientific ways, no I don't believe in Unicorn. In mythlogical ways, I believe them. For you, *scientific and real life* unicorn believers, let me ask you a simpe question. If you believe that Unicorn exist, do yuo also believe that Centaurs and Satyrs exist as well?

Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarlie...come on Chaaaaarlie, let's go to Candy Mountain!

Heh, sorry, I can't even hear the word "unicorn" without thinking of that now. But yeah, it seems clear that the unicorn myth sprung from either a side view of some two-horned animal or from someone's first impression of a rhino.

I do believe in unicorns and I believe that they are alive and well. Let me explain.

According to the King James version of the bible, the unicorn is mentioned many times. (Refer to JOB 39:9,10. Deuteronomy 33:17, Numbers 23:22 and 24:8; Psalm 22:21, 29:6 and 92:10; and Isaiah 34:7) These refer to a animal that is used as livestock. It is a very common animal.

I also have a New International Version of the bible and all the above verses refer to an Ox or a wild Ox. Again a type of common livestock animal.

Since the term "Unicorn " Means "One Horn" or "Single Horned" this could easily describe an Ox.

Also when you compare descriptions of both an Ox and the mythical Unicorn they do have similarities. They have a single (looking) horn,(notice that the ox has a "uni-brow type horn) They have beards, as well as other similarities. Depending on the breed of Ox some can appear to be dainty, I guess
Go to this website and look up wild ox or just ox. [url="http://www.alaskastock.com/index.asp"] It is more likely to confuse an ox and a mythical unicorn by only description than say... a rhino. Just my opinion.

eh, believe in unicorns? not the rainbow ones with all the pretty flowers...
but there is no evidence that they exist in some form and no evidence they don't.

the adsence of evidence is not the evidence of adsence.

I agree with Aqua--

It was stated many times in the bible and thats all the proof I need! So yes-- and are they still around? I dont know-- never saw one..

unicorns are extinct

I believe in unicorns

common sense says no they dont exist. i think its ridicolous to compare goblins fairys vampires to bigfoot champ krakens bc bigfoot and other cryptids evidence are worthy of merit. i never heard of a modern sighting of a unicorn

I believe in Unicorns..

It is excatly like bigfoot. Many believers but no evidence.

i think i would prefer to mistake a norwal for a horse than a sea cow for a mermaid

common sense says no they dont exist. i think its ridicolous to compare goblins fairys vampires to bigfoot champ krakens bc bigfoot and other cryptids evidence are worthy of merit. i never heard of a modern sighting of a unicorn


i guess you guys haven't heard about the mini human romaines that they have just uncovered on an island off of Asia

I believe that unicorns were created by people in the older times. They probably saw a mutated horse, (or zebra, or deer, or goat) with a "horn" or 1 antler. This does not mean that it has to be a rhino. Rhinos don't look very similar to unicorns.

sure why not?

I don't believe in unicorns in the magical,romantic snese.But it is possible(however very unlikely) that a horse-ish creature with a single horn jutting out of it's forehead exists/existed.Probably not a species of horse,since unicorns have beards,lions tails,and cloven hooves,but more of a large,majestic goat .

But probably just a fairy tale or miss-identification.Although i find it hard for anyone to make a rhino into a unicorn

Sweet Lord!

...anyways...
Unicorns are normally associated with water; and/or purifying water. They could have seen the tusks of narwhale's sticking out of the artic waters, and not the whale itself. Seeing that a hoofed animal was probably the only animal they had seen with the attribute of a 'horn', imagination or <i>common sense</i> led them to believe that the horn only could have belonged to a Unicorn.

Sweet Lord!

...anyways...
Unicorns are normally associated with water; and/or purifying water. They could have seen the tusks of narwhale's sticking out of the artic waters, and not the whale itself. Seeing that a hoofed animal was probably the only animal they had seen with the attribute of a 'horn', imagination or <i>common sense</i> led them to believe that the horn only could have belonged to a Unicorn.