Where Have All The Unicorns Gone?

Was the unicorn a mythical creature or did the unicorn once exist like the dodo bird? The unicorn is mentioned as a monster in western and eastern mythology as well as in the Bible.

Plinie (Pliny), a Roman naturalist described a unicorn as having a head of a deer, body of a horse, tail of a boar, feet of an elephant and a black horn in the middle of his forehead. Can you imagine such a creature? Not like the white stallion with a horn as we think of today.

Julius Ceasar, in his writings, also described the unicorn. He also mentioned the the Assyrian Kings fought these animals.

In the Eighteenth century there were reports from Africa of finding rock drawings of fierce single horned equine like animals.

The horn has been described as being as long as a man is tall, thick as a man at the forehead. How big this animal must have been to support such an extension of the body.

The horn had medicinal purposes. The powder of the horn could heal a person. If you drank from the horn you would not get sick.

With the horn being so valuable maybe they were killed for it and that is why there are no unicorns today.

The Bible describes the unicorn as a powerful animal with one or two strong horns, they skip like calves and bleed when they die.

In Job 39:9-12 God tells Job that the unicorn is worthless for agriculture.

Unicorns could not be tamed.

The Hebrew name of re em is translated in the King James Version as unicorn. In the New International Version is is translated as wild ox. Could the unicorn been a wild ox or the wild ox an unicorn?

THe unicorn could have been a:

• Narwhale. A narwhale is the unicorn of the sea. It is an arctic whale that has a long tooth that looks like a horn.
• Indian Rhinoceros. The Indian Rhinoceros is a one horned rhino that is an endangered species.
• Oryx. An oryx is a large antelope with long spear like horns.
• White Antelope.
• Bos primigenius or Primitive ox. The primitive ox was a long horned European wild ox that is now extinct.

Here are some questions to see how much you know about the Unicorn.

1. What does unicorn mean?
2. True or False. Unicorns are mentioned nine times in the Old Testament.
3. What country has the unicorn as part of their seal?
4. What can the horn be used for?
5. Is the unicorn real or a myth?

Answers:

1. One horn.
2. True
3. Scotland
4. For medicine
5. Whatever you believe.

Some people believe in unicorns, some think the unicorn is a myth. With scientist finding new species everyday how do we know that what we think is a myth is true. Look at the dinosaurs. They did exist but we have not seen them. How do we know they really looked like the pictures we see of them?

What do you think? Did Unicorns exist or are did they evolve from someone's imagination?