Do Unicorns Exist In Real Life? Ram With Single Horn Discovered In Iceland

Forget the Starbucks Unicorn Frappuccino. It turns out actual unicorns might exist.

A ram in Iceland, who goes by the name of Einhyrningur – Icelandic for “unicorn” – was recently re-discovered after he was forgotten, along with his mother, in the mountains last fall. The sheep herd it gathered with was typically taken into the mountains during the spring and rounded up to relocate months later, Iceland Monitor reported Monday.

Einhyrningur was discovered with his mother by herders in the winter.

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“It was funny, the shepherds saw him through binoculars, and had no idea what this thing was. Thought at first it was a Billy goat with this high horn,” a farmer and the ram’s owner, Erla Þórey Ólafs­dótt­ir, from Hraun­koti at Land­brot, told the Icelandic outlet.

The ram is said to be “calm and good-tempered.” The particular sheep breed normally carries two horns and it is thought that Einhyrningur’s unusual horn is caused by a genetic disorder that causes the horns to fuse together, the New York Post reported. The ram will be moved to Reykjavik Zoo, according to the outlet.

“We think there is some sort of geological mutation causing the horns to grow in such an unusual way,” the farmers said of their “unicorn.” “It’s simply a unique animal and our neighbors have made the trip to come up here and visit to have a look. No one has seen such a phenomena and they don’t’ have any particular theories as to how or why this happened,” they said.

Of course, there are animals in the wild that do actually resemble unicorns – there are the rhinoceros and the Arctic water-dweller, the Narwhal.

In June of 2008, deer made headlines for having a single horn, Time reported. The Italian deer lived on a wildlife preserve in Prato – just outside of Florence – and was also said to have a rare genetic mutation to thank for his unusual feature.