(Almost) real unicorn by Zuzana Fabcinova

What we had considered to be myths and legends until now, seems to became a reality. Unicorns really exist! Or at least an animal that truly resembles one. It partially looks like a horse and has a single horn on its forehead. The only slight difference is that the animal is actually a one-year-old roe deer that has been spotted in a nature preserve in Italy.This poor creature was born with an unusual genetic flaw that makes him quite unique, but might have caused a trauma in his life. It probably won't have magical healing powers that used to be connected with unicorns in fairy tales, but will definitely arouse huge interest of both scientists, who take interest in atypical central position of the horn, and curious visitors of the nature preserve, who are always keen on seeing something peculiar. And it also offers an explanation of unicorn's existence in fantasy stories throughout history. Someone has spotted a deer with similar flaw and, to make it look more exciting for his eager listeners, simply added some unusual features or even magical powers. It is not easy to create a whole new beast, so they just “upgraded” the animal they had really seen. Even J. K Rowling, famous author of Harry Potter series, hasn't imagined utterly all creatures that appear in her stories and she used a little help of mythology. Unicorns play a role in her books along with centaurs and chimeras, that occurred in ancient myths as well.If only the poor deer knew that its anomaly presumably inspired some chapters of one of the most successful and popular books of our times, read by millions of people all over the world. I don't suppose it would make its life in wild easier, but it could be a compensation for its suffering.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080611/ap_on_fe_st/italy_unicorn;_ylt=Ank0B5PX_la0NMSEML.K6N6s0NUE

by Zuzana Fabcinova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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