It's called the Siberian unicorn, but it's not the dainty white horse-with-a-horn we've seen in fairy tales. This unicorn is actually an ancient rhino with a (really) big horn that protrudes from its head, rather then its nose. Known formally as the Elasmotherium sibiricum, this rhino-corn stood six to seven feet tall, was about 15 feet long, and weighed close to 8,000 pounds (bigger than a white rhino, but not quite the size of an African elephant, to put it in perspective). Scientists have discovered that the mortal creature wandered the planet much longer than previously thought. Thanks to new research published in the American Journal of Applied Science, the Siberian Unicorn—thought to have gone extinct some 350,000 years ago—may have roamed Western Siberia 29,000 years ago.
The new discovery comes after a perfectly preserved unicorn skull was found in the Pavlodar region of northeastern Kazakhstan by researchers from Russia's Tomsk State University. Further research into the extinction of animals like the Siberian unicorn may help scientists understand how climate change could have an impact on the planet's biodiversity, according to Forbes.