Visited Ripley’s Believe it or Not! in Niagara Falls (I get in for free) and I was excited to see the Unicorn Deer I sold them several years ago!
I also talked to the hunter and a deer injury specialist to write about this deer for Ripley’s. Learn about it here!
Once a hunter had this box of skulls for $10 each and one was a fucking unicorn, which I then sold to Ripley’s for $300 and they also just published my article explaining the science behind the cervicorn
Using my amazing ~*journalism skills*~ I found out the story behind my unicorn skull! (that I’m auctioning Friday!) Sorry for the dead pic, but it’s not gory so I think it’s ok? I also have a pic of him in the truck that I’ll put on Flickr cause he’s more clearly dead there.
So here is the backstory from the hunter!
Nice to hear from you, glad you have enjoy the items. I harvested the Unicorn during Massachusetts deer season. The skull was going to be cut down to make skull cap mount but after drying process was clear that deformities would not make that mount possible, so skull was left in tact to display. Wildlife biologist confirmed my thought that Unicorn may have been struck by vehicle which caused compression of the skull along with blindness in the left eye all of which ended in the final fixed antler. Also at time of harvest there was strip about 3” down from antler that was exposed bone no hide, appeared to been that way for long time. The day that made contact with the Unicorn it was traveling with another seldom spotted deer, a drop tine with eight drops for a total of 19 points. The drop tine was harvested the next morning. Have included some photos for you.
An asymmetrical cervine unicorn skull I got on Craigslist! Not a gaff, this is how he was in life, except for the sawed-off muzzle and maxilla. Probably a result of an injury.
A soft mount “real unicorn” taxidermy, made from a lamb, a horse’s mane, and a deer antler. Sold at auction for $600.
There are a lot of deformed antlers out there, but it’s only on occasion that we find a deer with both growing together.
Ok but Antilocaprids (pronghorn antelopes and their relatives) are odd.
Here we have illingoceros, hexameryx, capromeryx, merycodus, and stockoceros.
Domestic unicorns
Via Flickr:
Publication info Francofurti ad Moenum: Impensis haeredum Type: Meriani, MDCL-MDCLIII [1650-1653]
BHL Collections:
Smithsonian Libraries
While the illustrated and skeletal animals are extinct, all of these creatures are real. So, there you go, depending on your definition of “unicorn,” these monoceroses really weren’t mythical.
Read about them in more detail below, plus sources.
From top:
1. Many goats like this were created by removing their horn buds, merging them together, and putting the resulting bud in the middle of their head. They toured with Ringling Brothers. (via SideShowWorld.com)
2. Roe Deer with single antler (via Center for Natural Sciences/AP)
3. Bull with Fused Horn: In 1933 Dr. D. W. Dove of Maine University took the horn buds from a calf, fused them together, and implanted them back in the calf’s head. When the new, fused horn grew it made the bull look like a unicorn. It looks like he had more concern for making a cool-looking creature than the well-being of a living animal, though. While the initial surgery was a careless experiment, luckily the bull grew up healthy, and even became the leader of the herd. When he challenged other bulls, the unicorn’s centered horn gave him an advantage. Feeling unthreatened, he even became more gentle and docile. (via Unicorn Garden)
4. Elasmotherium: An extinct species of rhinoceros. Maybe they lived long enough to influence unicorn mythology. (via Walter Meyers)
5. Various Extinct Ungulates: This artist has created reconstructions of a small sampling of prehistoric hooved animals. Bramatherium and Prollbytherium are relatives of the giraffe, Candiacervus is a deer, and Hayoceros and Kyptoceras are relatives of the pronghorn antelope. With all this diversity in headgear, it isn’t hard to imagine that at one point there must have been something resembling a unicorn. (via Chinkajin on Deviantart)
6. Tsaidamotherium: An extinct antelope with two horns, but one much bigger than the other. (via Frontiers of Zoology)
7. Kubanochoerus is an extinct pig relative with a bony forehead protrusion. (via Dinogami)
8. Cutaneous horn in human: Wang, a Chinese farmer, had this conical skin tumor growing out the back of his head. (via The Human Marvels)
9. Saola, Pseudoryx, or Asian Unicorn: Many antelope are similar to unicorns, and could have potentially inspired the myth. (via WWF, AFP/Getty Images)
10. Procamptoceros: Had two horns, but they were so close that they were covered in the same sheath. (via Tim Morris)
I wrote this for Global Animal.
I don’t really understand when people say that they prefer this bar over that bar. All bars are the same to me…except in Seattle. Welcome to the Unicorn.
While the illustrated and skeletal animals are extinct, all of these creatures are real. So, there you go, depending on your definition of “unicorn,” these monoceroses really weren’t mythical.
Read about them in more detail below the cut, plus sources.
From top:
1. Many goats like this were created by removing their horn buds, merging them together, and putting the resulting bud in the middle of their head. They toured with Ringling Brothers. (via SideShowWorld.com)
2. Roe Deer with single antler (via Center for Natural Sciences/AP)
3. Bull with Fused Horn: In 1933 Dr. D. W. Dove of Maine University took the horn buds from a calf, fused them together, and implanted them back in the calf’s head. When the new, fused horn grew it made the bull look like a unicorn. It looks like he had more concern for making a cool-looking creature than the well-being of a living animal, though. While the initial surgery was a careless experiment, luckily the bull grew up healthy, and even became the leader of the herd. When he challenged other bulls, the unicorn’s centered horn gave him an advantage. Feeling unthreatened, he even became more gentle and docile. (via Unicorn Garden)
4. Elasmotherium: An extinct species of rhinoceros. Maybe they lived long enough to influence unicorn mythology. (via Walter Meyers)
5. Various Extinct Ungulates: This artist has created reconstructions of a small sampling of prehistoric hooved animals. Bramatherium and Prollbytherium are relatives of the giraffe, Candiacervus is a deer, and Hayoceros and Kyptoceras are relatives of the pronghorn antelope. With all this diversity in headgear, it isn’t hard to imagine that at one point there must have been something resembling a unicorn. (via Chinkajin on Deviantart)
6. Tsaidamotherium: An extinct antelope with two horns, but one much bigger than the other. (via Frontiers of Zoology)
7. Kubanochoerus is an extinct pig relative with a bony forehead protrusion. (via Dinogami)
8. Cutaneous horn in human: Wang, a Chinese farmer, had this conical skin tumor growing out the back of his head. (via The Human Marvels)
9. Saola, Pseudoryx, or Asian Unicorn: Many antelope are similar to unicorns, and could have potentially inspired the myth. (via WWF, AFP/Getty Images)
10. Procamptoceros: Had two horns, but they were so close that they were covered in the same sheath. (via Tim Morris)
Originally Published on Global Animal.
I think this is one of my best posts, but I posted it before I had any followers. So as an experiment I will see what happens if I reblog it.
While the illustrated and skeletal animals are extinct, all of these creatures are real. So, there you go, depending on your definition of “unicorn,” these monoceroses really weren’t mythical.
Read about them in more detail below the cut, plus sources.
From top:
1. Many goats like this were created by removing their horn buds, merging them together, and putting the resulting bud in the middle of their head. They toured with Ringling Brothers. (via SideShowWorld.com)
2. Roe Deer with single antler (via Center for Natural Sciences/AP)
3. Bull with Fused Horn: In 1933 Dr. D. W. Dove of Maine University took the horn buds from a calf, fused them together, and implanted them back in the calf’s head. When the new, fused horn grew it made the bull look like a unicorn. It looks like he had more concern for making a cool-looking creature than the well-being of a living animal, though. While the initial surgery was a careless experiment, luckily the bull grew up healthy, and even became the leader of the herd. When he challenged other bulls, the unicorn’s centered horn gave him an advantage. Feeling unthreatened, he even became more gentle and docile. (via Unicorn Garden)
4. Elasmotherium: An extinct species of rhinoceros. Maybe they lived long enough to influence unicorn mythology. (via Walter Meyers)
5. Various Extinct Ungulates: This artist has created reconstructions of a small sampling of prehistoric hooved animals. Bramatherium and Prollbytherium are relatives of the giraffe, Candiacervus is a deer, and Hayoceros and Kyptoceras are relatives of the pronghorn antelope. With all this diversity in headgear, it isn’t hard to imagine that at one point there must have been something resembling a unicorn. (via Chinkajin on Deviantart)
6. Tsaidamotherium: An extinct antelope with two horns, but one much bigger than the other. (via Frontiers of Zoology)
7. Kubanochoerus is an extinct pig relative with a bony forehead protrusion. (via Dinogami)
8. Cutaneous horn in human: Wang, a Chinese farmer, had this conical skin tumor growing out the back of his head. (via The Human Marvels)
9. Saola, Pseudoryx, or Asian Unicorn: Many antelope are similar to unicorns, and could have potentially inspired the myth. (via WWF, AFP/Getty Images)
10. Procamptoceros: Had two horns, but they were so close that they were covered in the same sheath. (via Tim Morris)
