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Science

Woolly Rhino Discovery In England 33

Posted by timothy from the waiting-in-line-at-nhs dept.
purpleant writes "According to this story at the BBC, the remains of four woolly rhinos have been unearthed in an English quarry. Scientists describe the group find at Whitemoor Haye in Staffordshire as "extraordinary" and one of the best Ice Age discoveries of its type in Northern Europe in recent years. In addition to the great beasts, researchers have also dug out a remarkable range of superbly preserved plants and insects. One of the rhinos even has plant material still stuck to its teeth, giving possible clues to its last meal."
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Woolly Rhino Discovery In England More

Woolly Rhino Discovery In England

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  • They were surely frozen after their... err... meeting with Sid the Sloth and Manfred the Mammoth was a bit cold.

  • Source of Unicorn Myth?? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Cy Guy ( 56083 ) on Thursday October 31, 2002 @11:17AM (#4571643) Homepage Journal
    Doesn't it seem likely that if "wooly rhinos" inhabited Europe that they must be the source of the stories about unicorns?

    The artist rendering in the BBC article looks more like a Yak or giant Boar with long horns between its eyes, but if stoneage people either found these living in southern europe, or made similar discoveries of skeletons, the combination of their rarity and their unique physiology could easily lead to them becoming shrouded in myth and mystery.

    • Re:Source of Unicorn Myth?? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by siskbc ( 598067 ) on Thursday October 31, 2002 @01:33PM (#4572228) Homepage
      Interesting, but a bit off I think. The myth started, to my knowledge, closer to the middle east area, where rhinos are decidedly un-wooly. The myth was present in China, at least, before they had contact with Europe (~1000 BC or so).

      It is very possible that the rhino is the origin. Although why someone would confuse a rhino with a horse is beyond me. But mythological combo-creatures are very common (unicorn, pegasus, centaur...), so it could certainly happen.

      Also, I think the wooly guy died off a bit too early for it to have entered mythology - wouldn't swear to it, but it would likely be a first.

    • Re:Source of Unicorn Myth?? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by skwang ( 174902 ) on Thursday October 31, 2002 @03:58PM (#4573372)

      This is a little OT from the main story.

      I believe that the narwhal tusk was considered the "unicorn's horn." Narwhals are whales whose "nasal" tusks can grow up to six feet (2m) in length. They are made of ivory and are straight, but have a spiral grove going down the entire length. See this link for a picture [arcticartsales.com].

      I am not a marine biologist, so I don't know if the tusk simply falls off after death or something, but Europeans managed to get their hands on them. (Obviously they could have been gathered though hunting as well). They thought that these tusks were the mythical unicorn horns. Unicorn horns were thought to be incarnations of Christ, or something similarly religious, and therefore had life giving powers.

      If you go to the Treasury Museum in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria, you can see the Hapsburg's collection of crowns, orbs, and scepters[1]. In this collection there are narwhal tusks which were made into scepters and lances since the Holy Roman Emperors thought they were unicorn horns. What I just said here is a summery of what I learned off of the audio recording at the museum.

      [1] Visit this museum if you get the chance. You can see lots of treasures collected by the Hapsburgs over their reign of Holy Roman Empire and Austria.

      • IIRC, narwhale tusks are not true tusks and are not made of ivory, the spiral is more than a groove also, i remember reading somewhere that a narwhales tusk is actually its two front teeth that grow outwards together into a spiral that pierces its head
        • I have read that the vikings would cut the tusks off the norwhals that they killed for food and then sell the tusks to other Europeans as unicorn tusks. Sorry but I don't remember where I read this so I cannot confirm it.
    • Actually, it's very likely that the unicorn myth comes from animals like the white oryx [ultimateungulate.com], which are similar to horses and appear to have only one horn when viewed from the side. I'm no expert, though, so flame away.
  • I wonder what it tastes like... remember how when scientists found a few frozen wooly mammoth carcasses that they were able to get some meat and cook it? I don't think that is possible this time, but maybe in the future.

  • Wolly Rhino Evidence (Score:4, Informative)

    by Nyphur ( 514992 ) <nyphur@gmail.com> on Thursday October 31, 2002 @12:25PM (#4571954) Homepage
    On the BBC website, I came across some more interesting data on the Wooly Rhino:
    Wooly Rhino Evidence [bbc.co.uk]
    And I found a nice artists impression of the creature here:
    Wooly Rhino Picture [prehistori...trated.com]

    From the pictures, the central horn does seem quite unicornesque. Perhaps low-burried skeletons of it did spawn the legends and superstitions. Since the Unicorn was a very prominent religious icon not too long ago, it is also feasable that the Wooly Rhino may have had an influence in some major world religions.

  • Another reason for cremation... (Score:5, Funny)

    by unfortunateson ( 527551 ) on Thursday October 31, 2002 @01:53PM (#4572299) Journal
    >One of the rhinos even has plant material still stuck to its teeth, giving possible clues to its last meal."

    Can you imagine that rhino's mom's embarrassment?

    Buy Crelm toothpaste today! Don't end up fossilized like this poor sap!

  • Bring on the clones (Score:2, Interesting)

    by SloWave ( 52801 )
    I hope they get some good DNA out of these carcasses.

  • Hmmm... (Score:2, Funny)

    by cornjchob ( 514035 )
    Better than some other frozen mammals fare. I mean, could you imagine waking up after 10,000 years and meeting Pauly Shore?

  • It's strange... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by His Excellency ( 618672 ) on Thursday October 31, 2002 @06:58PM (#4574873)
    ...that there was plant material on the animals teeth. I would of thought that an ice age would cover the land with snow and kill them via starvation. Does this suggest that the colder temperatures came very suddenly and without warning, as there were still plants and inscects around to eat?
    • These animals (Wolly Rhinos,Elephants) thrived during the ice age, evident from their physical adaptation to the cold habitat at the time. Often times they are not killed, or died naturally via other means not uncommon from animals today. This particular Rhino could very well have crushed the frozen lake and drawn or fell of a cliff.

      On the other hand, a warmer temperature at the end of the ice age would probably bring more trouble to wolly rhinos than the rigid cold climat during the ice age.
  • hmmm, makes me wonder if there were hairy versions of all pachyderms we have today
  • That's where M. Barrymore has disappeared off to!
  • Is this the same English quarry where they found the
    Hand of Omega?

  • how the heck did they freeze so quickly?! (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    If one still had food on him -- that's not exactly a death due to slow freezing, nor due to the region getting slowly colder, nor due to their wanderig along into a colder region !

    What the heck happened that they froze so quickly ?!

  • Royal family denies relationship.

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