'Siberian Unicorn' Lived Till 29,000 Years Ago: Study

The "Siberian unicorn," with the interesting name of the Elasmotherium sibiricum, is actually closer to us in history than we thought. Though it was felt that it lived till 350,000 years ago, a study by researchers from Tomsk State University (TSU) shows that this "unicorn" actually became extinct 29,000 years ago in Kazakhstan.

"Most likely, the south of Western Siberia was a refúgium, where this rhino persevered the longest in comparison with the rest of its range," said Andrey Shpanski, a paleontologist at TSU and first author of the study. "There is another possibility that it could migrate and dwell for a while in the more southern areas."

The team arrived at its results after it studied a rhinoceros skull found near Kazakhstan's Kozhamzhar village with radiocarbon AMS-method analysis.

That made the team discover that it died only 29,000 years ago.

"Most likely, it was a very large male of very large individual age (teeth not preserved)," Shpanski said. "The dimensions of this rhino are the biggest of those described in the literature, and the proportions are typical."

It lived in the area from the Don River right up to the east of modern Kazakhstan. The residue findings show a "long" habituation of the rhinos in the southeast of the West Siberian Plain.

Shpanski's team is next targeting to find the particulars of its environmental areas, and also the reason the animal survived for such a long time.

"Our research makes adjustments in the understanding of the environmental conditions in the geologic time in general," Shpanski said. "Understanding of the past allows us to make more accurate predictions about natural processes in the near future----it also concerns climate change."

The findings were published in the February 2016 issue of the American Journal of Applied Sciences.