h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

LATIN NAME : Equus monoceros

HABITAT : Forest, light woodland

Lifespan : 40-60 years (undetermined)

Size : Equivalent to a horse

DISTRIBUTION : Eurasia (Scandinavia to India)


An attractive creature with the sleek body of a horse, the strong legs of a buck (or deer), the tail of a lion & (most famous of all) a single, sharp horn. The unicorn's horn has high anti-toxin properties &, according to legends, can purify entire lakes or rivers simply by dipping its horn into the water. The horn is exremely strong & can pierce any shield or armour. Fierce, wild & untameable by nature, it becomes meek & gentle with its young & at the presence of human virgins. It has great speed, strength, intelligence & a mighty weapon on its brows. Unicorns are fairly specialised browsers, with a taste for shoots & young leaves of selected saplings & young trees. In times of famine, hungry unicorns sometimes relied on monasteries for their food. They're very choosy about mating & are monogamous (mating for life), despite their solitary nature. Some are all white while others quite colourful. The Indian unicorn has a purple head, dark blue eyes & a splendid black horn. The unicorn can be charmed by young virgins, perhaps due to an accidental attraction exerted by the girls' pheromones.

Other interesting facts:
1) Unicorns still exist! Although they're terribly few left & most of the European populations have been hunted to extinction. (Heartless humans.) They're most common (at least) in India.
2) Unicorns are usually wrongly-portrayed in movies, books, cartoons & other media. Take for instance the 2005 motion picture 'The Chronicles of Narnia : The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe'. The 'unicorn' is only a mere white horse with a fake horn attached to its forehead. A TRUE unicorn has the legs of a buck (or deer) & a lion's tail.
3) Relatives of the unicorn are the horned ass (Equus asinoceros) which is now extinct, the Chinese ki-lin & the Japanese ki-rin.

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