The Narwhal.....

I was thinking about Unicorns the other day and I got to wondering.

I used to think that They still existed and had always. That, they just hid themselves. Every white horse was really a descendant of a Unicorn that had hidden it's horn from human view to save itself. This causing the unicorn to forget about thier ancesrty.

A few years ago I came upon the Narwhal. It is a whale with a big horn on it's head, or a tooth. I thought, what if this was really what the unicorn had become?

I remember in a movie, a long time ago, called Cats Don't Dance. In this movie there is a part where a Unicorn, a Dragon, and some other creature I cannot remember, are laughing at all of the animals getting on to to ark.

What if this is somewhat like what really happened and a few Unicorns survived on some high mountain range and had to evolve to survive?

Also, in the movie The Last Unicorn, King Haggard (I think), trapped all of the Unicorns in the Ocean with his magical Red Bull. A second reference to Unicorns being drawn to water. They are magical creatures and maybe could have survived, ot changed thier appearance to escape.

Whales are as old as time, just as the Unicorns. This theory is a little far fetched, but somewhat plausible in my eyes. If people and dinosaurs evolved, why couldn't the Unicorns? Or even other animals...

a description of a horse,
a four legged, well muscled animal with a long face and an unpredictable temper in the wild, about five feet tall.

a description of a unicorn,
a four legged, well muscled animal with a long face and an unpredictable temper in the wild, about five feet tall with a horn on the front of its nose that has magical properties,

a description of a rhino,
a four legged, well muscled animal with a long face and an unpredictable temper in the wild, about five feet tall with a horn on the front of its nose that has magical properties,

a case of mistaken identity perhaps, without cameras the description of a unicorn would be pretty close to a horse but even closer to a rhino.

just my theory

I have thought about that before as well.

I was just going for another approach. Just to see what other people might think about it.

One of those things that just comes to you, you know?

Great thinking Inanna, and a very interesting link between sources.

Anything is possible, so perhaps the unicorn somehow transformed itself into the Narwhal, while trapped in the ocean, in order to travel. The Narwhal bears a few similarities to the unicorn too. They both are snow white, have long horns, and very rare.

I don't think a unicorn could change THAT much. You should have said a cryptoid that's already 'horse-y' like Jersey Devil or champ.

I don't seriously believe that the unicorn transformed into the Narwhal... It as just a fun thought...

Wait, why are we getting into magic? Perhaps there once was a unicorn-type creature, but...magic? Lets be realistic here. O_o

If there was a unicorn it was merely a species of horse that had, well, a horn. Thats it.

That seems probable. Several animals randomly grow horns. Cats, dogs, even humans
You should do a Google search on horned people. (i would but I'm tired)
BTW in one case this guy had a horn growing out of his........horn

Well I really hate to tell you this but fishermen caught narwhale and sold their horns off as unicorn horns. This doesnt mean heyre the same thing, they couldnt have just suddenly chnaged (unless you were on crack at the time.)

Here is interesting new information regarding the Narwhal. The horn is actually a tooth that is also and extraordinary sensory organ.

Narwhal's Tooth Finally Explained

Originally posted by JackofBlades
That seems probable. Several animals randomly grow horns. Cats, dogs, even humans
You should do a Google search on horned people. (i would but I'm tired)
BTW in one case this guy had a horn growing out of his........horn

Check this out!

It was just a fun suggestion. Something unlikely, for something that was unlikely to have lived.

If you know anything about evolution the unicorn COULD NOT have evolved into the narwhal. Any evolution change that huge which require millions of years. Therefore civilisation must be that old to have recored the first unicorn. Besides if the unicorn evolved into the narwharl, why would it keep its horn of all things? This only makes sense if the horn did provide some magical properties to be used in the future as it evolves or indeed it is a special organ. Also to add, im sure 99.99% of all life evolved OUT of water, so why would unicorns evolve back into the water? Noahs flood didnt take millions years to dessipate so the unicorn didnt have the time to evolve back into the water even if it wanted to.

well... my comp is screwing up and for some reason I can't log into ATS now, so I created a new account. Notice the difference between "TheBlueSoldier" and "TheB1ueSoldier". Oh well, I'm just sad that I can't get my damm ats points back that I never used...

And yes, rav, I know a LOT about evolution. If you want to, I can talk to you about evolution in the Origins and Creationism Conspiracy forum. zzzz.. Oh yeah, here are some suggestions for what happened to all the unicorns(if there ever were any) :

While I definately do not believe that the unicorn turned into a narwhal, the fact that there is a WHALE out there with a horn shows that even the most unlikely animal is capable of developing such a thing. There are whales with horns, there are cows with horns. A horse with horns isn't that much of a stretch when you really think about it.

What do narwhals use their horns for, anyway? Not catching food I assume. Has to only be for fighting over mates and stuff.


Pic of unicorn fighting narwhal:

www.unicornlady.net...

[edit on 11-2-2006 by Yarcofin]

Unicorn LITERALLY translates to "One Horn."

Rhinos have one horn. Who knows if a bazillion years ago there were some other creatures with a single horn that died out.

The Narwhal's horn is pretty cool. In a recent Scientific American (Feb or Mar 2006) it reported that a study showed there are millions of nerves that run through its tooth that report on water temperature, particles in the water, acidity of the water, and lots of other neat-o stuff. Hooray for Narwhals!

And, no, I don't think a species or horned horses found themselves in a region that required that they return to the ocean. Evolution is based on necessity, and there is no need for a horse to start swimming and lose its legs. Also, it took two billion years for horses to get where they are now. It would take just as long to get back into the ocean. The oldest records we have of unicorns are biblical accounts, which go back at max 10,000 years (stretching it), which is not enough time for their unicorns to become our narwhals.

And, no, I don't think a species or horned horses found themselves in a region that required that they return to the ocean. Evolution is based on necessity, and there is no need for a horse to start swimming and lose its legs. Also, it took two billion years for horses to get where they are now. It would take just as long to get back into the ocean. The oldest records we have of unicorns are biblical accounts, which go back at max 10,000 years (stretching it), which is not enough time for their unicorns to become our narwhals.

Well said.

Originally posted by TheBlueSoldier
Great thinking Inanna, and a very interesting link between sources.

Anything is possible, so perhaps the unicorn somehow transformed itself into the Narwhal, while trapped in the ocean, in order to travel. The Narwhal bears a few similarities to the unicorn too. They both are snow white, have long horns, and very rare.

If that's a snow white narwhal, its about as snow white as the black snow near the highway.

Anyway, its a well known fact that the tooth of the narwhal was sold as unicorn horn in the less enlightened days. So its not that far from a unicorn

[edit on 2-3-2006 by merka]

Howdy folks...

More than likely the myth of the unicorn, came from one horned goats IMHO...

Originally posted by Jedi_Master
More than likely the myth of the unicorn, came from one horned goats IMHO...

Which would probably explain why some of the earliest unicorns are more shaped like goats instead of horses.