# Unicorns exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 5, 2015, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unicorns-exist/727021 "2015-08-05T00:29:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unicorns-exist/727021/21 "2015-08-06T16:38:59Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > In any event, a lot of things go into the making of the legend. By all means, read Odell Shepard’s classic book **the Lore of the Unicorn** … I was going to recommend this book before I saw Cal’s post. It was written in 1930, but it’s still a great book on the development of the unicorn mythos from antiquity, including how a narwhal’s tusk got stuck on the poor beasty’s forehead. The book is actually online in a couple of places: [http://www.rhinoresourcecenter.com/pdf\_files/117/1178936641.pdf](http://www.rhinoresourcecenter.com/pdf_files/117/1178936641.pdf) and [http://www.globalgrey.co.uk/lore-of-the-unicorn/](http://www.globalgrey.co.uk/lore-of-the-unicorn/) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unicorns-exist/727021/22 "2015-08-06T18:40:25Z")
> [@MacLir](#): > > I recall hearing a theory (sorry, no cite :o) that the unicorn mythos was due to modified goats, as described, which were created a herd guardians. With the centralized horn, they had more defensive capability, especially if the tip was sharpened, since goats butt straight-on. :eek: > > . Maybe. But the Biblical Unicorn is very likely the Rhino, as CalMeacham has mentioned Willey Ley’s book is excellent. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unicorns-exist/727021/23 "2015-08-06T18:49:55Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Fake as [strikeout]the Shroud of Turin[/strikeout] you’d code that as [del] thing [/del] And as **samclem** pointed out, $3 bills aren’t necessarily fake, they’re just queer. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unicorns-exist/727021/24 "2015-08-06T19:03:53Z")
Dr Deth: > [@](#): > > But the Biblical Unicorn is very likely the Rhino Actually, any Biblical creature that has been translated as “unicorn” was probably really an aurochs or an oryx, with the translation being a mistake. There’s a great chapter on the subject in Rabbi Nathan Slifkin’s book “Sacred Monsters” (in which he, like others in this thread, declares that the rhinoceros is the origin of the modern unicorn myth). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unicorns-exist/727021/25 "2015-08-06T19:13:12Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Dr Deth: > > Actually, any Biblical creature that has been translated as “unicorn” was probably really an aurochs or an oryx, with the translation being a mistake. > > There’s a great chapter on the subject in Rabbi Nathan Slifkin’s book “Sacred Monsters” (in which he, like others in this thread, declares that the rhinoceros is the origin of the modern unicorn myth). Willy Ley agrees that the biblical unicorn is likely an aurochs. The aurochs, as he points out, is one of the creatures depicted on the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, and that, coincidentally, it is depicted in profile, so that only one horn is visible, making it essentially a unicorn (!) ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unicorns-exist/727021/26 "2015-08-06T20:35:34Z")
The Natural History of the Unicorn by Chris Lavers is very interesting. It suggests that the unicorn legend is a mixture of descriptions of the oryx, the rhino, and IIRC, the onager (which doesn’t have a horn, but is very wild and fast.) ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unicorns-exist/727021/27 "2015-08-06T21:04:13Z")
…therefore by extension…they must be real. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unicorns-exist/727021/28 "2015-08-07T02:01:05Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > The Natural History of the Unicorn by Chris Lavers is very interesting. It suggests that the unicorn legend is a mixture of descriptions of the oryx, the rhino, and IIRC, the onager (which doesn’t have a horn, but is very wild and fast.) Have a look at Shepherd – he suggests much the same thing [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unicorns-exist/727021.md?page=1)