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Myth, Fantasy, History and Sci-Fi News | Unicorn Spotted in Italy
One-Horned 'Unicorn' Deer Born in Italy
June 19, 2008 |  Kiddie’s fiction is always full of unicorns (which are always horses, preferably white, with a horn on their head). However, fiction may have become a reality, when a single-horned deer was spotted in an Italian natural reserve.
The Roe deer which was born in a research park near Florence has a gene anomaly: instead of having two horns, like his twin brother, the one year-old Roe deer has a single horn, making him look that mythical creature commonly found in legends and stories.
According to Italian specialists, this type of anomaly may have been discovered in the past and inspired the legend of the ‘unicorn’. There are of course, other single-horned deer, but they are very rare and usually their horn isn’t centered.
Other mammals are believed to contribute to the myth of the unicorn, including the narwhal, a whale with a long, spiraling tusk.
Stories about unicorns are thousands of years old and seem to evolve like in every new book or kid’s novel. The legend began with the story of Herodotus, the father of history, who mentioned it in the 5th century BC. The creature’s reputation and ‘rarity’ kindled the curiosity of some of the world’s most respected scientists and inventors. One famous example, in one of his notebooks, Leonardo Da Vinci wrote: "The unicorn, through its intemperance and not knowing how to control itself for the love it bears to fair maidens, forgets its ferocity and wildness; and laying aside all fear it will go up to a seated damsel and go to sleep in her lap, and thus the hunters take it."
Resources: Guardian.co.uk, Environmental Graffiti, Scotsman.com | Posted in categories: [Mythical Creatures] | Comments | Added by sjbdk. on November 01, 2008 | | thats a deer lol! |
| Added by Tatyana on October 31, 2008 | | Uni means one and Cornus means horn in latin, that's where the name comes from. And... for those who hadn't realised... this one-horned deer isn't a mythical creature it's just a deer OK... a genetic mutation or two caused it to develop only one central horn. It's like humans being born with six fingers. No biggie =P |
| Added by Falconair on October 30, 2008 | | Although I have seen mythical beasts myself before, I'm impresed that they got this on camera. Maby my friends will believe me now. |
| Added by dragonfox on October 24, 2008 | | I don't think so. unicorn means something... I can't remember what it was though. And besides, I don't find this news very surprising, I mean, unicorns have been around for ages. unicows, unideer, unigoat, it's all been done before. |
| Added by sarah on October 15, 2008 | | melissa: it probably used to be unihorn and ya know how words change over the ages. |
| Added by on October 09, 2008 | | hey this is really cool like i didn'y know that they were real but ya and even if its a gimps out deer then its still really cool well bye summer fox |
| Added by Heather on October 07, 2008 | | I personaly believe in all things magical and mythical and I think it's amazing that people have found a Unicorn!This could very well be the start of finding all different kinds of magical and mythical beings!You never know! |
| Added by melissa on October 03, 2008 | | i wonder why its called a unicorn. uni means one i know that but where did the corn come from? after all, the horn is what makes it a unicorn and not a common horse |
| Added by Zack on September 26, 2008 | | The unideer looks like its sayin, "U lookin at me huh punk wat do u want?!" |
| Added by Morgan on September 20, 2008 | | supposedly unicorns are suppose to be more dear-like than horse-like. So this is actually closer to a "real" unicorn than any white horse you stick a horn on. |
| Added by tobi on September 04, 2008 | | what that guy above me said |
| Added by joey on August 31, 2008 | | actually thats a unideer lol |
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