Siberian unicorn once roamed among humans, surviving in Eastern Europe and western Asia until at least 39,000 years ago, around the same time of Neanderthals and early modern humans.
The Siberian unicorn, also known as Elasmotherium sibiricum, was a prehistoric rhinoceros that lived in the grasslands of Eastern Europe and Western Asia during the Pleistocene epoch, around 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago. Despite its name, the Siberian unicorn was not actually a unicorn, but rather a large, horned rhinoceros.
Recent studies suggest that the Siberian unicorn survived in the region until at least 39,000 years ago, which is around the same time that Neanderthals and early modern humans were living in the area. However, it is believed that the population of the Siberian unicorn declined rapidly due to environmental changes and human hunting, and the species went extinct at some point during the last ice age, around 10,000 years ago.
The Siberian unicorn is known for its distinctive horn, which was believed to have been used for defense and foraging for food. Fossil evidence suggests that the horn could reach lengths of up to 1.5 meters, making it one of the largest known horns of any land animal. Despite its impressive size, the Siberian unicorn was a herbivore and is believed to have fed on grasses and other low-growing vegetation in the steppe habitats where it lived.
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