'Siberian unicorn' may have lived alongside our ancestors

The shaggy, 6ft-tall creature looked more like a rhino than a horse. Photo / CA Academy of Sciences Twitter

The idea of unicorns roaming alongside humans sounds like something from a fairy tale.

But a "Siberian unicorn" may in fact have lived alongside our ancestors, according to a study.

Until now the shaggy, 6ft-tall creature, which looked more like a rhino than a horse, was believed to have become extinct 350,000 years ago.

But the discovery of a well-preserved skull in Kazakhstan has provided evidence to suggest the mammals died just 29,000 years ago - meaning they may have lived alongside humans.

Although the creatures' large horns afforded them their mythical name, at around 4 tons (3628kgs), the Elasmotherium sibiricum was closer in appearance to a woolly mammoth, the American Journal of Applied Science reports.

Andrei Shpanski, a paleontologist at Tomsk State University in Russia, told Phys.org: "Most likely, the south of Western Siberia was a refuge, where this rhino persevered the longest.'

Researchers are now looking into how these creatures managed to outlive others of their kind.

- Daily Mail