Real Origins of the Unicorn: From Mythical Beauty to Misunderstood Rhino

In this episode of Wildly Curious (formerly For the Love of Nature), host Kim Baker unravels the mystery of one of the world’s most famous mythical creatures: the unicorn. Did early explorers mistake rhinos for these majestic creatures, or was it all just fantasy? From ancient China to medieval Europe, Kim traces the fascinating history of the unicorn, exploring how this symbol of purity and grace may have stemmed from real-world creatures like the rhinoceros and narwhal. Find out how unicorn horns became coveted for their supposed magical properties and how the legend persists today.

Perfect for mythology lovers, animal enthusiasts, and anyone curious about the blend of myth and reality.

Transcript

Hello, and welcome to For the Love of Nature, a podcast where we tell you everything you need to know about nature, and probably more than you wanted to know. I'm Kim Baker, and it's miniseries time. For those of you just joining us, I'm filling in for a couple of weeks while Laura and Katie take a much needed break and prepare for the next footlong season.
Throughout this miniseries, we're talking about the very real origins of mythical creatures. And although the stories are fantastical, there's usually a pretty reasonable explanation for why these creatures have captured our minds and hearts. In today's episode, we're going to talk about one of the most famous mythical creatures, the unicorn.
Let's jump into it. As a kid, I would describe myself as a level two horse girl. I loved reading the Misty Book series.
I'm pretty sure I cried while listening to Matt Damon's voice embody spirit in the animated movie. Again, I'm old, I saw it in theaters. And of course, I desperately wanted to buy Kiss, the white and brown paint that was boarded at the horse farm up the road.
I spent a lot of time petting and talking to Kiss. She was my favorite horse that I didn't own. And when I hung out with the neighborhood kids, we regularly pretended our bikes were horses and would ride them around the cul-de-sac or off-road on secret paths in the front yard.
In case you were wondering, my fake bike horse was a black stallion named Lightning. And yes, he was wonderful. But I never had horseback riding lessons, nor did my family own the money pit that is a horse.
So I was stuck firmly in level two throughout my childhood. I was, however, very much a Lisa Frank girl. For those who did not experience the height of Lisa Frank's popularity, the only way I can explain the brand is this.
It's as if a rainbow exploded onto animals. Everything is cute, multi-colored pop art. Coolness was measured on how many Lisa Frank school supplies you had.
She was the epitome of cute crafts for kids. If you don't know what I'm talking about, Google it. Google it right now.
And if you do know what I'm talking about, I'm going to guess we are about the same age. So check out a Jezebel article that's titled Inside the Rainbow Gulag. It is wild but in a dark, behind the scenes, what were they thinking and using way?
You're welcome. Anyway, one of Lisa Frank's most iconic designs was Markey the Unicorn, white bodied with a rainbow tail, mane, and horn. Ugh, what a creature.
Beyond desperately wanting that Lisa Frank unicorn on everything I own, I didn't fall down the unicorn rabbit hole like many girls did, who are my age. So I thought I'd make up for lost time, and we can learn about these fantastical creatures together. First, what the heck is a unicorn?
I don't mean to generalize, but I think most people today think of a unicorn as a white horse with a long narrow horn protruding from about between its ears. And although that is the modern depiction of the unicorn, earlier accounts describe it as a horse or goat, sometimes with a goat's beard, which I think is a little weird. And that's not the only variation in description.
Apparently, scholars believe that sometimes during the Bronze Age, a bovine unicorn was introduced in art from the Indus Valley civilization, but those findings are controversial. In 400 BC, a Greek historian wrote that the unicorn was an Indian wild ass that was the size of a horse with a white body, purple head, and blue eyes. And on its forehead was a cubit long horn colored red at the pointed tip, black in the middle, and white at the base.
Finally, as far back as 2700 BC, the Chinese people had their own version of a unicorn, which, quote, seemed to be a combination of different animals and had the body of a deer, the tail of an ox, a multicolored or scaly dragon-like coat, and a flesh covered horn or horns, end quote. Beyond looks, this creature was known to be solitary, rare, swift, and definitely hard to catch. And through the centuries, the unicorn was popularized as a religious symbol for purity and grace.
So what makes them so revered? Well, as I mentioned earlier, they were difficult to find and highly sought after. They likely were difficult to find because they didn't exist, but don't tell the people of the past that information.
And although they were hard to find, it was apparently attracted to and tamed by virgins. And when I say attracted to, I mean they could sense the woman in question was a virgin. This was not a Catherine the Great sort of situation.
The virgin would, I don't know, say hello, wave, announce their virginity, use their wit and charm to bring it close. I'm going with all of the above. Another method of capture included standing in front of a tree, coaxing the unicorn into charging, and stepping out of the way at the last minute so the unicorn's horn would pierce the tree.
And why were people trying to catch them? That same Greek historian named Cetaceous, cetaceous? Cetaceous.
We're going with that. Said that drinking from the unicorn's horn would protect the user from stomach trouble, epilepsy, and poison. Other accounts describe the horn as having the power to render poisoned water potable and to heal sickness.
That's a lot of power for one pretty horned horse. Now, we know that the unicorn is a figment of humanity's collective imagination. But what creature in history would give off such an alluring, transfixing vibe?
Obviously, the rhinoceros. I'm not even kidding. Many scholars believe that all this hubbub about this graceful, gorgeous creature was actually a misrepresentation of rhinos.
This part of an article from Live Science that describes Marco Polo's first encounter with a, quote, unicorn made me laugh so hard. It begins, Italian explorer Marco Polo found unicorn stories didn't quite match up to the reality when he traveled through Asia and saw what he thought was a unicorn for the first time in the 13th century, an account detailed in the travels of Marco Polo. They delight in living in mire and mud, he wrote.
It is a hideous beast to look at and in no way like what we think and say in our countries. Polo described the creature as having a large black horn, hair like a buffalo's, and feet like an elephant's. Today, it is widely accepted that the unicorn Polo saw was a rhinoceros, according to Brown University Library, end quote.
Now, could you imagine traveling across the Silk Road, someone shouting, unicorn, and this is what you see? Don't get me wrong, I love rhinos and I love their personalities, but they do not act or smell as a unicorn should. Man, I'd be so upset.
Regardless, medieval merchants regularly cut off rhino horns and in some cases use narwhal tusks to sell them as unicorn horns for those who wanted to be protected from disease. And unfortunately, rhinos still fall victim to poachers today. Although their horn is made of keratin, like our fingernails, and has no special powers, rhinos are hunted and killed for them.
Some people still think the horn has some traditional medicinal uses or that it can be an aphrodisiac, while others just want it as a trophy or a status symbol. It's a sad situation for one of the world's charismatic megafauna, but organizations like Save the Rhino and International Rhino Foundation are working hard to increase wild populations and stop illegal trade of horns. Woof, that one kind of turned into a bummer.
Sorry about that. But sometimes learning where the ideas for mythical creatures come from doesn't always turn out as you'd expect. What do you think?
Are rhinos a poor real embodiment of unicorns? Or do you think the term chubby unicorn is a fitting description? That's all for this episode.
Thank you all for hanging out with me these past few weeks while we explored all sorts of real origins of mythical creatures. Until next time, bye everyone. Bye, everyone.