1 00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:05,840 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 2 00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:14,280 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey are you welcome to Stuff to 3 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:16,759 Speaker 1: Blow your Mind? My name is Robert Lamb and I'm 4 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:19,200 Speaker 1: Shoe mccorm making. We're back for part two of our 5 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:23,360 Speaker 1: two part exploration of the Unicorn, and it's mighty horn. 6 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 1: That's right now. I want you to imagine yourself in 7 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:29,480 Speaker 1: a in a medieval scenario. Robert, I know you're always 8 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 1: game for that. All right, Let's do it. Okay, I'm 9 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:36,360 Speaker 1: I'm I'm a medieval individual world it only by fire. Uh, 10 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:39,199 Speaker 1: probably not that clean. Let's do it. Well. You're you 11 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:41,440 Speaker 1: think of yourself as a young Viking, could be a 12 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:44,160 Speaker 1: young Viking on a sea voyage, and maybe the early 13 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:48,360 Speaker 1: Middle Ages, and you bravely sail the icy waters of 14 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:51,800 Speaker 1: the Arctic. Your head's full of Norse mythology about ice 15 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:55,000 Speaker 1: bound monsters and beasts that could lie waiting behind the 16 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,840 Speaker 1: icebergs the Great North. And one day, on this boreal voyage, 17 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:01,720 Speaker 1: you look out for the water, and maybe a hundred 18 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:04,440 Speaker 1: yards out, you see among gaps in the pack ice, 19 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:09,360 Speaker 1: a site you cannot possibly explain, dueling swords reaching just 20 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:13,959 Speaker 1: out of the water. So you see dozens of blades 21 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:17,760 Speaker 1: crossing and scraping one another in battle, poking just out 22 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: of the waves, as if there are nights or vikings 23 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:25,199 Speaker 1: or whatever with spears and sabers fighting one another, maybe 24 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:27,800 Speaker 1: as some kind of like icy mayor people out there. 25 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: So obviously you're thinking what could that be? But of 26 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:34,119 Speaker 1: course the captain of the boat, being a little more 27 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:39,720 Speaker 1: experienced than you, says, boys, we're rich. Now why would 28 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:44,080 Speaker 1: that be? Well, I'm guessing because those creatures over there, 29 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:47,200 Speaker 1: they seem to have something like a unicorn horn on them. Uh, 30 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:51,080 Speaker 1: that's gonna be worth a lot of money to various collectors, 31 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:55,279 Speaker 1: um magicians, etcetera. That is right, we are rich, boys, 32 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:58,000 Speaker 1: for the horn of the unicorn is worth more than 33 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:03,240 Speaker 1: its weight in gold, and for buyers of fraudulent unicorn 34 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 1: horns in the Middle Ages in Europe, that was absolutely 35 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:10,560 Speaker 1: true and medieval in early modern Europe, vikings were running 36 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: a terrific scam, trading in fake unicorn tusks that were 37 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:18,720 Speaker 1: literally worth more than their weight in gold. So I 38 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:21,000 Speaker 1: was reading a two thousand five New York Times article 39 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:23,800 Speaker 1: by one William J. Broad who writes about how in 40 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 1: the sixteenth century, Queen Elizabeth of England was gifted a 41 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:30,079 Speaker 1: possession of a narwhal tusk, and nor wal tusks of 42 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:33,200 Speaker 1: the time were valuated about ten thousand pounds, which he 43 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:36,800 Speaker 1: writes was roughly the cost of an entire castle, So 44 00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:40,280 Speaker 1: like one tusk you basically get a castle with. Broad 45 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:43,800 Speaker 1: also writes that there's an Austrian legend that Kaiser Karl 46 00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: the fifth paid down the nation's national debt with two 47 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:52,639 Speaker 1: unicorn tusks. But these tusks were being brought down from 48 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:56,040 Speaker 1: somewhere up in the north by Vikings and being sold 49 00:02:56,080 --> 00:02:58,919 Speaker 1: to the rich and gullible of Europe. What was going on? 50 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 1: What were these tusks poking up out of the water 51 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: that was allowing the Vikings to run this beautiful scam. Well, 52 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:08,880 Speaker 1: this was not the horn of the fabled unicorn. It 53 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:13,040 Speaker 1: was the tusk of the narwhal. Yes, now, the norwhale 54 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:16,000 Speaker 1: might very well be, I would say, the most unicorn 55 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:20,040 Speaker 1: like animal without legs. Yeah, it is. It is the 56 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:24,919 Speaker 1: creature that has this long, kind of spirally horn, or 57 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:27,040 Speaker 1: of what appears to be a horn when you look 58 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:30,520 Speaker 1: at it with the unicorn myth, you know, troloping around 59 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:33,320 Speaker 1: your head. It is the only creature that has something 60 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:36,120 Speaker 1: like that horn, and it goes great with the older 61 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:39,360 Speaker 1: stories of the unicorn, Like we talked in the last 62 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:42,880 Speaker 1: episode about the ancient world stories of the unicorn that 63 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:46,480 Speaker 1: had like a unicorn that was two cubits long, gigantic, 64 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:49,560 Speaker 1: you know, at least three feet. Actually, narwhal horns can 65 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:52,720 Speaker 1: get much longer than that. So the norwhale is a 66 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 1: marine mammal. It's a porpoise in the carnivorous order of 67 00:03:56,200 --> 00:04:00,760 Speaker 1: odonta city or the toothed whales, and narwhal's live exclusively 68 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:04,120 Speaker 1: up in the Arctic, up around Greenland and northern Canada, 69 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:07,200 Speaker 1: so they're not going to be normally recognized by the 70 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:10,240 Speaker 1: folk of Europe unless they are, say, uh, you know, 71 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:14,400 Speaker 1: travelers in the Northern Beyond, or they're they're very learned 72 00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 1: in the stories of travelers of the North. And they're 73 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:22,320 Speaker 1: actually best recognized for these tusks, which show a classic 74 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:25,600 Speaker 1: unicorn like helical growth pattern. You mentioned there was a 75 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:29,360 Speaker 1: spiral texture to them, and these tusks can grow up 76 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:33,200 Speaker 1: to almost three meters or about nine ft long. If 77 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:35,000 Speaker 1: you just try to picture that in your head, like 78 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:39,479 Speaker 1: this is a unicorn horn that's taller than any human. Yeah, 79 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:41,600 Speaker 1: and you can. You can definitely see how this may 80 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:44,200 Speaker 1: have influenced some of those depictions of unicorns we mentioned 81 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:47,080 Speaker 1: how and some of some paints, especially are modern UH 82 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:50,720 Speaker 1: paintings and artistic depictions of unicorns. You see a shorter horn, 83 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:53,960 Speaker 1: but in some of these medieval tapestries it is like 84 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,440 Speaker 1: a narwall horn. It is like a javelin. Yeah, just 85 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:01,320 Speaker 1: gigantic as long as the thing's body. The scientific name 86 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:05,640 Speaker 1: of the narwhale is Monodon mono serras, and given previous 87 00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:08,839 Speaker 1: Greek etymology discussions, it's pretty obvious where the name comes 88 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:13,800 Speaker 1: from here. But monodon means one tooth and monoserras means 89 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:17,200 Speaker 1: one horn, so it's literally pretty much the sea unicorn, 90 00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:20,960 Speaker 1: the unicorn whale, And according to the Arctic ecologist Dr 91 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:25,440 Speaker 1: Kristen Ladra, the the actual word narwhale. I didn't know 92 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:28,000 Speaker 1: this before reading some of her work. It comes from 93 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:33,159 Speaker 1: the Norse prefix nar, which means corpse, and then vall, 94 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:37,839 Speaker 1: which means whale, So the narwhale literally means the corpse whale. 95 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:41,279 Speaker 1: And this comes from how they apparently looked to these 96 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 1: Norse explorers of the Vikings sailing around in the northern seas. 97 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:48,680 Speaker 1: They would see the speckled kind of coloration patterns on 98 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:51,200 Speaker 1: the narwhal and think it looked like a washed up 99 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:54,960 Speaker 1: dead body or a drowned sailor. That is fascinating, because 100 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:58,280 Speaker 1: they do. The narwhale does look kind of ghastly, especially 101 00:05:58,279 --> 00:06:01,239 Speaker 1: if you compared to something like a uga whale, which 102 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:04,560 Speaker 1: seems to have been just carved out of out of 103 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:07,440 Speaker 1: out of marble, so white and pure. You know. Yeah, 104 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:09,600 Speaker 1: in the last episode, we were talking about how many 105 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:12,840 Speaker 1: of the ancient descriptions of unicorns described them as much 106 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:16,080 Speaker 1: more colorful, you know, that they're like purple or black 107 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:19,279 Speaker 1: and red and yellow and orange. And I like that 108 00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:21,920 Speaker 1: idea of the very colorful unicorn. I don't know why 109 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:24,200 Speaker 1: it is that we've ended up with the modern picture 110 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:27,640 Speaker 1: of the unicorn being this bleach white, you know, bone 111 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:30,440 Speaker 1: colored kind of creature. I mean, the only the only 112 00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:32,200 Speaker 1: thing I can think is that we kind of merged 113 00:06:32,279 --> 00:06:36,240 Speaker 1: our idea of the perfect unicorn with the with with 114 00:06:36,279 --> 00:06:39,960 Speaker 1: the worship of the white horses, the white horse being 115 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:43,480 Speaker 1: the the ultimate in equine beauty. Well, I happen to 116 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:47,160 Speaker 1: prefer more colorful horses as well, I guess, But yeah, 117 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:50,039 Speaker 1: you've got these porpoises, these marine mammals dwelling up in 118 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:53,440 Speaker 1: the Arctic with these tusks, and the tusks are found 119 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:58,760 Speaker 1: mostly on males, also occasionally on females, and in bygone days, 120 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:03,280 Speaker 1: this tusk was often harvested and sold on the magic 121 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:06,800 Speaker 1: market as a unicorn horn. And here's actually my favorite 122 00:07:06,839 --> 00:07:09,960 Speaker 1: fact about the narwhals tusk. If you look up pictures 123 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:12,480 Speaker 1: of the narwhal's face, you might notice something that doesn't 124 00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:17,200 Speaker 1: quite line up with the unicorn iconography usually, which is 125 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:19,280 Speaker 1: that the unicorn's got the horn right in the middle 126 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:22,080 Speaker 1: of its head, right, it's above the eyes, poking straight 127 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:25,240 Speaker 1: out from the middle. You'll notice that the tusk of 128 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:27,960 Speaker 1: the narwhal doesn't actually grow straight out from the middle 129 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:30,840 Speaker 1: of the face like a unicorn's horn does. Instead, it 130 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:34,520 Speaker 1: is off center, emerging from one side of the face, 131 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:40,160 Speaker 1: not above the eyes, but below the eyes. Why is that, Well, 132 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 1: there's actually a very good reason. Here's another clue. Occasionally 133 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:47,560 Speaker 1: nar walls can be found with two tusks growing side 134 00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:50,520 Speaker 1: by side. This is very rare, but it does occasionally happen. 135 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:54,520 Speaker 1: Why does that happen? The answer is that the narwhals 136 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:58,080 Speaker 1: tusk is not a horn at all. It is a 137 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:04,280 Speaker 1: single gigantic overgrown tooth, a canine or pre molar tooth, 138 00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:08,800 Speaker 1: which grows straight outward punctures through the narwhal's upper lips. 139 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:11,680 Speaker 1: So it's like that illustration from the Simpsons. And he 140 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:15,160 Speaker 1: has shown, you know, the Book of British teeth Um, 141 00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:17,320 Speaker 1: where the tooth is like growing up through the head. 142 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:21,960 Speaker 1: That's literally what's going on here. The narwhal's tooth grows 143 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:26,080 Speaker 1: straight out punctures through the lip and then goes nine 144 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:28,400 Speaker 1: feet out in front of it. This is literally a 145 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:32,920 Speaker 1: mammal with one gigantic forward facing fang growing in a 146 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:37,320 Speaker 1: counterclockwise spiral poking through the skin. I love it, and 147 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:40,120 Speaker 1: I wish our movie vampires were more like that. That 148 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:43,080 Speaker 1: is the fang world I want. Well, this reminds me 149 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:47,760 Speaker 1: of the Babarusa. The babarusa about that, well, the Babarusa 150 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:53,200 Speaker 1: the deer pig, if you will. The males have their 151 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:55,880 Speaker 1: their tusks growing out of the top of their snout 152 00:08:56,280 --> 00:08:59,720 Speaker 1: and curling back over. And these are these are canine 153 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:03,040 Speaker 1: to usks that actually pierced the flesh in the snout 154 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:05,959 Speaker 1: and the kind of twirl in this kind of curl 155 00:09:05,960 --> 00:09:08,840 Speaker 1: in this tortuous manner. That's kind of messed up design 156 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:12,160 Speaker 1: man well nested up or perfect in its own way. 157 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:14,000 Speaker 1: But but that's kind of the interesting thing here, right, 158 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:17,280 Speaker 1: that the unicorn being a creature of myth is perfectly 159 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:22,920 Speaker 1: symmetrical and uh and and pure and it's it's composition. 160 00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:27,880 Speaker 1: But in reality, reality is asymmetrical. Reality is a place 161 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:30,440 Speaker 1: where tusk grow through lips and out of the top 162 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:33,520 Speaker 1: of a pig snout. That's right nature. It smashes through walls, 163 00:09:33,559 --> 00:09:37,000 Speaker 1: it breaks down barriers, it punctures through lips. Now, generally 164 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:39,040 Speaker 1: when this happens in the norm whale, the tusk grows 165 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:42,080 Speaker 1: out of the left canine while the right canine stays 166 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:45,640 Speaker 1: embedded in the mouth. And otherwise, normals don't have any 167 00:09:45,679 --> 00:09:48,800 Speaker 1: teeth protruding into the mouth, so they don't use teeth 168 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:51,439 Speaker 1: for eating or chewing. They suck their food up into 169 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:54,000 Speaker 1: their mouth like a vacuum cleaner, or like sperm whales. 170 00:09:54,559 --> 00:09:57,840 Speaker 1: And I think this fact about the tusk is actually 171 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:01,160 Speaker 1: just a huge fang. It is a huge tooth. Is 172 00:10:01,679 --> 00:10:04,040 Speaker 1: probably the reason why so many of the people publishing 173 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:06,400 Speaker 1: academic research on our walls seem to be not just 174 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:11,800 Speaker 1: marine zoologists and biologists, but dentists. Now, this beautiful sea unicorn, 175 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:14,439 Speaker 1: you might tend to assume, Okay, what is a tusk 176 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:15,960 Speaker 1: like that good for? It's got to be a weapon, 177 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:18,400 Speaker 1: right right, Yeah, because we think of I mean, if 178 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:20,959 Speaker 1: you think of the unicorn, you imagine the unicorn skewering 179 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:23,640 Speaker 1: its enemies with that thing. Right, Wait, do you imagine that? 180 00:10:23,679 --> 00:10:26,160 Speaker 1: What do you imagine the unicorn uses its horn for? 181 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:29,560 Speaker 1: If anything? Well, actually you would probably assume that it 182 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:33,360 Speaker 1: uses it to purify water and to heal noble adventurers 183 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:35,760 Speaker 1: in their quest. But you have seeing I think it 184 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:39,360 Speaker 1: was a cabin in the woods. Cabin there's a character 185 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:42,640 Speaker 1: because is skewered by the rampaging unicorn. Yeah, as the 186 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:45,840 Speaker 1: Cinobyites and all of the you know guys from the 187 00:10:45,880 --> 00:10:48,680 Speaker 1: Strangers with creepy masks and the zombies and everything are 188 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:51,760 Speaker 1: running about, there's also a majestic unicorn that comes packed 189 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:54,000 Speaker 1: with its own rays of light. But it gallops down 190 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:56,960 Speaker 1: the hall and just impales a guy with its horn. Yeah, 191 00:10:56,960 --> 00:10:59,720 Speaker 1: but otherwise you would imagine that the unicorn's horn would 192 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:03,080 Speaker 1: would just heal people and maybe shoe laser beams. Yeah, exactly. 193 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:05,800 Speaker 1: So you probably think narwhale, it's got to be a spear, right. 194 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:08,200 Speaker 1: It works as a spear. It's a perfect natural spear 195 00:11:08,280 --> 00:11:11,959 Speaker 1: for skewering prey. And these are, of course carnivorous marine mammals. 196 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:14,280 Speaker 1: They eat fish, they eat squid, things like that, things 197 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:16,960 Speaker 1: that you could technically skewer if you wanted to. But 198 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:18,880 Speaker 1: you should think about the logistics of this for a 199 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:21,880 Speaker 1: second before you think that that's how it's used, because 200 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:24,600 Speaker 1: imagine how precise you would have to be to aim 201 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:28,840 Speaker 1: a spear that's nine ft long attached rigidly to the 202 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:32,079 Speaker 1: front of your face to skewer a fish that's small 203 00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:34,320 Speaker 1: enough for you to eat. Then, on top of that, 204 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:36,960 Speaker 1: think about if you spear to fish, how would you 205 00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:39,560 Speaker 1: get it. You'd have to somehow get it off of 206 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:42,200 Speaker 1: the end of your nine foot spear, and you don't 207 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:45,760 Speaker 1: have hands right like, and I say it got stuck 208 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:50,000 Speaker 1: halfway like this, this sort of shish kebab method of hunting. 209 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:52,040 Speaker 1: There are a number of problems with it. And you've 210 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:53,959 Speaker 1: got a rotting fish stuck in front of your face. 211 00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:56,120 Speaker 1: It's always like flying off in your eyes. It's like 212 00:11:56,160 --> 00:11:59,079 Speaker 1: what if you wore a ring toss on your your head, 213 00:11:59,440 --> 00:12:01,560 Speaker 1: and then someone through a donut onto it, and you 214 00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:04,199 Speaker 1: did not have arms with which to retrieve the donut, 215 00:12:04,559 --> 00:12:08,120 Speaker 1: how would you possibly eat it? That is a wonderful analogy. 216 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:11,120 Speaker 1: That's that's perfect. It's a problem that many of us 217 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:13,680 Speaker 1: face in our real life. Well, if it's not actually 218 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:17,560 Speaker 1: used for spearing, what is this tusk actually for? If 219 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:20,679 Speaker 1: you know, obviously the narwhal didn't evolve it so that 220 00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:23,440 Speaker 1: the narwhal could be killed and have its tusk harvested 221 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:26,840 Speaker 1: and sold to gullible buyers in the medieval European you know, 222 00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:31,560 Speaker 1: luxury market. So one hypothesis is that it was used 223 00:12:31,559 --> 00:12:34,360 Speaker 1: as an ice pick. Right. They live in Arctic regions 224 00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:36,400 Speaker 1: where the water is often covered with pack ice, so 225 00:12:36,480 --> 00:12:38,800 Speaker 1: you might think that maybe the tusk was used for 226 00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:41,960 Speaker 1: breaking up ice cover. But I couldn't find any evidence 227 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:44,400 Speaker 1: that anybody has ever observed this, So I think this 228 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:47,720 Speaker 1: is a lower rung hypothesis. But it's like it's still 229 00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:50,360 Speaker 1: we can see where one might wonder if this is 230 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:55,280 Speaker 1: the reason, because if it's not used to manipulate prey, 231 00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:57,959 Speaker 1: then perhaps it is used to manipulate the environment. Well, 232 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:00,840 Speaker 1: whether or not it's used to manipulate prey in some way. 233 00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:03,440 Speaker 1: We'll get to that in a second. So another big 234 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:05,120 Speaker 1: thought is that, oh, it's got to be a product 235 00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:08,800 Speaker 1: of sexual selection, right, Females are selecting for males with 236 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:12,760 Speaker 1: larger and larger tusks over generations because they're attracted to it. 237 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:16,679 Speaker 1: I mean, we already mentioned that they the female sometimes 238 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:20,239 Speaker 1: but don't always have them. This is primarily male narwhals. 239 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:23,800 Speaker 1: So anytime there is a strong sexual dimorphism like that, 240 00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:26,640 Speaker 1: you've got to think that sexual selection probably plays some 241 00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:29,880 Speaker 1: kind of role. And Darwin thought this was a good explanation. 242 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:33,880 Speaker 1: It remains commonly accepted among the hypotheses for the purpose 243 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:37,200 Speaker 1: of the narwhal's tusk, and it's suspected that this does 244 00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:41,000 Speaker 1: play some role for several reasons, including observed behavior. According 245 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:43,680 Speaker 1: to Dr Kristen Ladra, who I mentioned earlier in the 246 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:49,280 Speaker 1: summer months, researchers will observe male narwhal's crossing their tusks 247 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:52,080 Speaker 1: and making a strange kind of whistling sound, often with 248 00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:55,600 Speaker 1: a female between them, and she says quote such behavior 249 00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:59,360 Speaker 1: might help maintain dominance hierarchies or help young males develop 250 00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:03,480 Speaker 1: skills necessary for performance in adult sexual roles. So there's 251 00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:05,960 Speaker 1: some kind of some kind of showdowns, some kind of 252 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:10,080 Speaker 1: macho display going on here where you're dueling with your tusks, 253 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:12,600 Speaker 1: like I mentioned in the opening scenario. All right, and 254 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:14,720 Speaker 1: this is something we see that it definitely matches up 255 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:18,520 Speaker 1: with with other creatures of the earth. Absolutely lots of 256 00:14:18,559 --> 00:14:21,200 Speaker 1: creatures that have horns. In fact, the horns are involved 257 00:14:21,240 --> 00:14:24,720 Speaker 1: in male kind of hierarchy and dominance displays. Now, another 258 00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:27,200 Speaker 1: piece of evidence that there's a sexual role here, is 259 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:30,720 Speaker 1: something in sexual selection and mate choice is the tusk 260 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:35,280 Speaker 1: length seems to be correlated with sexual virility in males. 261 00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:38,840 Speaker 1: According to a paper published in Marine Mammal Science by 262 00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:42,840 Speaker 1: Trish Kelly at all quote, reproductive tracks from beluga and 263 00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:46,360 Speaker 1: narwhal were collected between nine and two thousand eight from 264 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:49,680 Speaker 1: five beluga stocks and two nar whale stocks across the 265 00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:52,239 Speaker 1: Canadian Arctic. And what do they find about the narwhals 266 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:56,040 Speaker 1: well quote, A significant relationship was found between narwhal tusk 267 00:14:56,240 --> 00:15:00,720 Speaker 1: length and testies mass, indicating the tusk maybe important in 268 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:04,320 Speaker 1: female mate choice. So if you're a male narwhale, there's 269 00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:07,640 Speaker 1: a general correlation that the longer your tusk, the larger 270 00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:10,520 Speaker 1: your testicles. All right, well, so this sounds like a 271 00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:13,120 Speaker 1: strong theory then, right, so this is a good one. 272 00:15:13,320 --> 00:15:15,680 Speaker 1: It still remains very much on the table. But also 273 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:18,760 Speaker 1: marine zoologists have continued to wonder could there be some 274 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:21,520 Speaker 1: kind of direct adaptive value as well that plays a 275 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:25,000 Speaker 1: role in survival. Uh So, to mention a couple more things, 276 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:28,080 Speaker 1: there's a question of is this tusk used as a 277 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:31,480 Speaker 1: sense organ? There is some indication that yes, it is 278 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:35,320 Speaker 1: used as a sense organ. Martin Nuia of Harvard's School 279 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:38,000 Speaker 1: of Dental Medicine has done extensive research on the nar 280 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:40,040 Speaker 1: wall over the years, and he and his colleagues found 281 00:15:40,040 --> 00:15:42,880 Speaker 1: that the Narwal's tusk is full of these millions of 282 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:45,960 Speaker 1: sensitive nerve endings. It's a very sensitive organ, kind of 283 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:49,760 Speaker 1: like an inside out tooth. And Nuilla has demonstrated more 284 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:54,080 Speaker 1: recently through experiments that is in vivo experiments, actually that 285 00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:57,840 Speaker 1: these neural pathways allowing the tusk to transmit information back 286 00:15:57,880 --> 00:16:01,240 Speaker 1: to the brain. Apparently they're used to transmit at least 287 00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:06,120 Speaker 1: information about changes in the salinity of water. Huh. Well, 288 00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:08,920 Speaker 1: I do have to say that the mere detail that 289 00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:11,520 Speaker 1: they are all these nerve endings in in the tusk, 290 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:13,520 Speaker 1: it makes it seem like it would be a very 291 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:17,960 Speaker 1: poor choice of of of saber for a duel, right, 292 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:22,120 Speaker 1: you wouldn't You wouldn't want like a sword that feels pain? Yeah, Like, hey, uh, 293 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:24,320 Speaker 1: do you have one of these giant inside out teeth 294 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:27,280 Speaker 1: like I do. Let's start bumping them together and see 295 00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:29,440 Speaker 1: how we feel about it. And yet they do it. 296 00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:32,840 Speaker 1: One last interesting thing is it used in hunting? Even 297 00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:36,200 Speaker 1: if it's not used as a spear for skeering, there 298 00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:39,400 Speaker 1: are some indications that yes. Now, one hypothesis is that 299 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:42,840 Speaker 1: the tusk somehow aids in echolocation nor walls. Like a 300 00:16:42,880 --> 00:16:47,160 Speaker 1: lot of other marine mammals, have sound based prey location strategies, 301 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:50,480 Speaker 1: and they map their surroundings and follow food animals by 302 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:54,440 Speaker 1: making these buzzing, clicking sounds that echo throughout the water 303 00:16:54,560 --> 00:16:57,560 Speaker 1: and then bounce back to the narwhale, carrying information about 304 00:16:57,600 --> 00:17:01,960 Speaker 1: what's nearby. Wales have very effe active and very sensitive echolocation, 305 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:04,159 Speaker 1: so it's possible the tusk could play some kind of 306 00:17:04,240 --> 00:17:07,400 Speaker 1: role in helping sharpen this sound based mapping skill. It's 307 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:10,879 Speaker 1: kind of an antennae. Could could be possible, but we 308 00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:13,440 Speaker 1: don't know that yet. But what about is a more 309 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:17,600 Speaker 1: direct offensive weapon for hunting. Obviously the spearing theory doesn't work. 310 00:17:17,600 --> 00:17:22,240 Speaker 1: But just recently in a group of Canadian researchers captured 311 00:17:22,280 --> 00:17:25,640 Speaker 1: for the first time ever drone footage of male nar 312 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:29,439 Speaker 1: walls using their tusks for hunting, not as spears, but 313 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:32,960 Speaker 1: as a kind of stunned baton. So the narwhals we're 314 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:36,400 Speaker 1: tracking a school of Arctic cod in this footage from overhead, 315 00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:39,480 Speaker 1: and as they pursued the prey, they would position their 316 00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:43,320 Speaker 1: tusk tips alongside a cod and then give the cod 317 00:17:43,480 --> 00:17:46,679 Speaker 1: a good solid whack with the tusk, which appeared to 318 00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:49,000 Speaker 1: stun the fish, and then the fish would stop moving, 319 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:51,119 Speaker 1: and then the narwhale would swoop in and suck the 320 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:53,600 Speaker 1: fish into its mouth. Okay, so this is interesting. It 321 00:17:53,720 --> 00:17:56,119 Speaker 1: kind of it kind of like would would pop up 322 00:17:56,119 --> 00:17:59,199 Speaker 1: behind the fish, reach up with its its tusk and 323 00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:02,160 Speaker 1: then just give it a good whack just enough to 324 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:04,560 Speaker 1: to to throw it off so that it can then 325 00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:08,600 Speaker 1: suck it in exactly. Now, this tap hunting strategy can't 326 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:11,800 Speaker 1: be essential to narwhal hunting survival, right because how would 327 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:14,600 Speaker 1: the tuskless females eat, But it looks like this might 328 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:18,040 Speaker 1: be some kind of supplemental preparatory strategy. It's like, you know, 329 00:18:18,520 --> 00:18:22,359 Speaker 1: it's guilding the lily food acquisition wise. And but one 330 00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:25,720 Speaker 1: thing that I think is interesting is that the normal tusk, 331 00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:29,159 Speaker 1: while a fake unicorn horn that did not actually have 332 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:32,280 Speaker 1: magical properties, I think in the biological sense, is in 333 00:18:32,359 --> 00:18:35,240 Speaker 1: fact quite magical. Look at all of these properties it 334 00:18:35,320 --> 00:18:38,960 Speaker 1: to some degree may have or probably has. It may 335 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:42,679 Speaker 1: have this powerful role in signaling sexual selection traits. It 336 00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:45,680 Speaker 1: may play a role in displaying dominance for males over 337 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:48,359 Speaker 1: each other. It does appear to play some role in hunting. 338 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:51,359 Speaker 1: It may play a role in sensing the environment. That 339 00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:54,040 Speaker 1: is fascinating. Yeah, And it does remind us of the 340 00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:58,560 Speaker 1: situation with any organism that is going to having to 341 00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:02,520 Speaker 1: have a tusk, girl worn or some sort of notable appendage, 342 00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:05,480 Speaker 1: like there has to be a reason that there has 343 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:08,440 Speaker 1: to be an advantage in having it, otherwise we would 344 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:10,520 Speaker 1: make no sense for that much energy to go into 345 00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:14,240 Speaker 1: its growth exactly. And so I think the male narwhal's 346 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:19,080 Speaker 1: tusk is actually a wonderful example of like a pluripotent adaptation, 347 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:21,840 Speaker 1: a thing where we're searching for the one thing it does, 348 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:24,200 Speaker 1: but actually the more we look, the more it looks 349 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:25,879 Speaker 1: like there are a lot of things it does. It's 350 00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:29,440 Speaker 1: a magic bag of tricks. All right. Well, on that note, 351 00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:31,280 Speaker 1: we're gonna take a quick break, and when we come 352 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:35,840 Speaker 1: back we will discuss a few more natural world organisms 353 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:41,639 Speaker 1: that have something like a unicorn horn. Thank so, in 354 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:44,120 Speaker 1: the first episode we talked a good bit about bulls, 355 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:47,200 Speaker 1: so I don't think we really have to go into 356 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:50,360 Speaker 1: that all that much. But basically the idea being if 357 00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:53,800 Speaker 1: you had a depiction of a bull that dough was 358 00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:56,040 Speaker 1: was a profile and made it look like it had 359 00:19:56,040 --> 00:19:58,680 Speaker 1: one horn, then that could be the origin of your unicorn. 360 00:19:59,359 --> 00:20:03,080 Speaker 1: You could also, of course, just have have tales of 361 00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:07,760 Speaker 1: actual one horned animals such as the rhinoceros of course, 362 00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:10,960 Speaker 1: and uh and and we we do find lots of 363 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:14,920 Speaker 1: early accounts depictions of rhinos. One that I came across 364 00:20:15,359 --> 00:20:19,119 Speaker 1: eleventh century Arab poly math al Baroni wrote of a 365 00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:22,960 Speaker 1: unicorn quote of the build of a buffalo with black 366 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:27,360 Speaker 1: scaly skin, a dew lap, and a single horn bent upwards, 367 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:30,159 Speaker 1: which sounds a lot like a rhino, especially like an 368 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:33,480 Speaker 1: Indian rhino, which has the one nos horn. Yeah. Now 369 00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:35,840 Speaker 1: another theory, and I've mentioned this one on the show 370 00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:39,119 Speaker 1: a couple of times, is that perhaps all these tales 371 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:41,959 Speaker 1: of the unicorn. And I'm not saying I really buy this, 372 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:45,960 Speaker 1: but I think it's an interesting theory. Is that essentially 373 00:20:46,119 --> 00:20:51,119 Speaker 1: we're describing traditions and uh and and sort of you know, 374 00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:54,840 Speaker 1: race memories. I guess you would say of the Elasma theorium. Now, 375 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:59,760 Speaker 1: the elasmotherorium itself could not really appear in history, right. Well, 376 00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:02,160 Speaker 1: that the thinking for a long time that you would 377 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:05,199 Speaker 1: have to just be going upon like fossil remains of 378 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:09,800 Speaker 1: the Elasma theoreum, because previously we as most estimates placed 379 00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:11,960 Speaker 1: it outside of the two hundred thousand year run of 380 00:21:12,040 --> 00:21:17,440 Speaker 1: human history. But there was a recent study that took place. 381 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:20,960 Speaker 1: It looked at the possible origins of the Elasma theorum 382 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:25,520 Speaker 1: in modern day um Kazakhstan that would place it merely 383 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:30,119 Speaker 1: twenty nine thousand years ago. So this would uh, this 384 00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:33,680 Speaker 1: was the study published in the American Journal of Applied Sciences. 385 00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:37,160 Speaker 1: So that gives us a little more room for consideration 386 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:40,960 Speaker 1: of the Elasma theorium. Like actual human encounters with the 387 00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:44,359 Speaker 1: Elasma theorium is providing some basis for our unicorn myths, 388 00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:48,119 Speaker 1: so they could at least contribute to oral folklore archetypes, 389 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:51,800 Speaker 1: even if this is before written history, right. But again, 390 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:53,959 Speaker 1: I think the problem with this is you're kind of 391 00:21:53,960 --> 00:22:00,080 Speaker 1: going to elaborate lengths to to establish human traditions and 392 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:04,880 Speaker 1: human tales of single horned animals when you have other 393 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:08,320 Speaker 1: single horned animals that you don't have to uh, you know, 394 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:09,879 Speaker 1: you don't have to to do as much math to 395 00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:12,200 Speaker 1: figure out you can just stick with the Indian rhino 396 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:15,639 Speaker 1: as the example of of a beast that people were seeing, 397 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:19,560 Speaker 1: and then word of is is traveling across the world, 398 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:22,480 Speaker 1: you know. I'm also very convinced by the possibility that 399 00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:26,159 Speaker 1: it was inspired by misinterpretations of art. The more I 400 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:31,040 Speaker 1: think about that Frederick Strader idea that somebody saw representations 401 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:34,879 Speaker 1: of animals depicted in profile with two horns that were 402 00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:38,280 Speaker 1: rendered as just one horn because they were on top 403 00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:41,200 Speaker 1: of each other in the perspective from which they were drawn, 404 00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:44,960 Speaker 1: and that created the idea of one horned beasts lying 405 00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:48,840 Speaker 1: somewhere out there elsewhere in the world. I think that 406 00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:51,320 Speaker 1: that seems highly possible to me. Now that being said, 407 00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:54,040 Speaker 1: there is another prehistoric creature that we can look to 408 00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:58,280 Speaker 1: as a as a potential precursor to the unicorn. And 409 00:22:58,359 --> 00:23:02,720 Speaker 1: that is a prehistoric pig genus from the Miocene epoch 410 00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:05,480 Speaker 1: that's twenty three to five point three million years ago 411 00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:08,600 Speaker 1: that was found in Eurasia, and the males had a 412 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:11,320 Speaker 1: mono horn. It's called the kuban atreus. And it does, 413 00:23:11,359 --> 00:23:15,320 Speaker 1: in fact look like a large prehistoric pig with a 414 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:18,920 Speaker 1: unicorn horn. I mean a unicorn horn has b uh 415 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:22,320 Speaker 1: exaggerating a bit, but it had a single horn like 416 00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:24,919 Speaker 1: protrusion from the top of its head as well as 417 00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:27,120 Speaker 1: I believe a couple of smaller ones near its eyes, 418 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:31,200 Speaker 1: but one that definitely stands out. Yeah, in the illustrations 419 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:33,960 Speaker 1: and skeletons that I've seen of this, it is much 420 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:38,119 Speaker 1: smaller than the unicorn horn is generally understood to be. Like, 421 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:41,280 Speaker 1: it's more like kind of a big nub over the eyes. 422 00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:43,960 Speaker 1: But if you were just if you're just looking for 423 00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:49,080 Speaker 1: examples of unicorn like skulls in the fossil record, that 424 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:53,600 Speaker 1: this is a creature you can point out and go at. Uh. Now, 425 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:57,119 Speaker 1: if you spend your time at any of the major 426 00:23:57,119 --> 00:23:59,840 Speaker 1: aquariums out there, then you may have encountered the unicorn 427 00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:04,280 Speaker 1: ish Uh, is that different than somebody just thinking in 428 00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:06,480 Speaker 1: our wall as a fish. No, No, these are These 429 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:09,080 Speaker 1: are actual fish, and you'll you'll find them at a 430 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:11,120 Speaker 1: number of aquariums. They have them at the Georgia Aquarium, 431 00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:14,800 Speaker 1: for instance. And specifically, we're talking seventeen species of the 432 00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:19,320 Speaker 1: Nasso genus, and they all have a frontal horn that 433 00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:22,399 Speaker 1: protrudes from their forehead. It really looks like a nose. 434 00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:28,040 Speaker 1: It looks like they look like snooty butlers. They've got 435 00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:31,040 Speaker 1: their nose turned up and they're like, oh, riff ruff. 436 00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:35,119 Speaker 1: Of course, when we look at it, we have the 437 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:37,359 Speaker 1: same situation with an oar wall. Why is this here? 438 00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:39,760 Speaker 1: It's it's so large that there's a lot of energy 439 00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:43,600 Speaker 1: going into the production of this this this horn like protrusion. 440 00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:47,159 Speaker 1: What purpose does it play? Well, it's not used as 441 00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:50,440 Speaker 1: a weapon or a swimming aid. It seems like it's 442 00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:53,600 Speaker 1: probably used as a just a courtship feature, used by 443 00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:58,480 Speaker 1: males as a social and reproductive feature, and it, along 444 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:01,680 Speaker 1: with other parts of their body, change colors during their 445 00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:04,159 Speaker 1: courtship displays. I think a lot of the times you 446 00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:06,159 Speaker 1: see a horn on the head or a horn on 447 00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:08,800 Speaker 1: the face or something like that, a major function of 448 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:13,080 Speaker 1: it will be some kind of uh, sexual competition or 449 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:16,919 Speaker 1: mate selection kind of role. Right. But then the added 450 00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:19,719 Speaker 1: feature here is those that it changes colors, and in 451 00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:22,960 Speaker 1: a way that's that's so unicorn, that's that's what I 452 00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:26,120 Speaker 1: want to see my fantasy newcorns doing whipping out there, 453 00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:29,119 Speaker 1: you know, the whipping their magical horns around in the 454 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:32,320 Speaker 1: air and watching all sorts of crazy colors displayed through it. Well, 455 00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:34,840 Speaker 1: it's like the Lisa Frankie unicorn. When you tilt your 456 00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:38,600 Speaker 1: what are those things called your traffer keeper, you know, 457 00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:40,800 Speaker 1: the thing where you tilt it and the colors change. 458 00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:45,520 Speaker 1: What is that? Oh? Um, like with glitter, like there's 459 00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:47,959 Speaker 1: a there's there's liquid in there. No, don't you remember 460 00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:49,840 Speaker 1: these things there were every where in the nineties. Will 461 00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:51,800 Speaker 1: be like a plastic covering of some kind of image, 462 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:53,520 Speaker 1: and when you tilt it up and down in the 463 00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:56,240 Speaker 1: lightwood shift, the colors on it would change like a 464 00:25:56,320 --> 00:26:00,520 Speaker 1: homographic image. Maybe maybe it was just magic. It was 465 00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:04,719 Speaker 1: just pure unicorn magic, Joe, that's obviously. Now we have 466 00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:07,880 Speaker 1: some other unicorn like creatures just to roll through here, 467 00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:11,919 Speaker 1: there's the Texas unicorn mantis. This is a manted species 468 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:15,280 Speaker 1: with horn like protuberants on its head. It's popular with 469 00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:18,600 Speaker 1: pet owners because they prey on smaller insects and so 470 00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:21,800 Speaker 1: they they don't cannibalize each other as much. But other 471 00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:26,440 Speaker 1: than that, no real magical unicorn properties that I could uncover. Now, 472 00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:31,040 Speaker 1: we don't think that inspired unicorn, like the it's quite 473 00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:33,600 Speaker 1: the reversal in a way. It's like someone saw it 474 00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:35,000 Speaker 1: and they said, hey, that mantis kind of looks like 475 00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:37,800 Speaker 1: a unicorn. Let's call it such. And then in a 476 00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:39,880 Speaker 1: in a you know, you know, kind of a curious 477 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:42,679 Speaker 1: call back to our discussion of the movie Legend, you 478 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:46,600 Speaker 1: have the goblin spiders of the genus unicorn. Thank you 479 00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:51,280 Speaker 1: for taking us here, and they these spiders, these are 480 00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:54,000 Speaker 1: like jumping spiders, and they have really interesting examples of 481 00:26:54,000 --> 00:27:00,600 Speaker 1: sexual dimorphism, including these male clypeel horns or injections on 482 00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:03,680 Speaker 1: their heads that occur between the eyes and the jaws. 483 00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:06,840 Speaker 1: So it's more kind of like a nose. Yeah, yeah, 484 00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:10,640 Speaker 1: pretty much, and again is not used in any way 485 00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:13,960 Speaker 1: like a unicorn horn. H Then you also have unicorn shrimp, 486 00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:18,480 Speaker 1: and these are just shrimp that have an elongated horn 487 00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:22,240 Speaker 1: like roastrum that extends in front of its eyes. Now, 488 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:25,520 Speaker 1: other crustaceans have this pointy bit as well, it's just 489 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:28,960 Speaker 1: elongated in this species. Thus, the nod to the unicorn, 490 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:31,879 Speaker 1: or actually it's a it's it's scientific name, is a 491 00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:35,879 Speaker 1: nod to the narwhale. It is pleasant anika narvall so 492 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:39,399 Speaker 1: pleasi unica corpse whale. Yes, and people put in that 493 00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:42,919 Speaker 1: slime all over everything. Now I got to bring the 494 00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:46,880 Speaker 1: bad corpse whale vibes in on some honest shrimp. God. 495 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:49,679 Speaker 1: The idea of of corpse whales being sighted from a 496 00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:53,080 Speaker 1: Viking ship, it's it's like, that's that's some some serious 497 00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:56,440 Speaker 1: Norse energy there that I want to see reflected u 498 00:27:57,040 --> 00:28:00,479 Speaker 1: in one of these Viking TV shows. Somebody should create 499 00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:05,920 Speaker 1: a really good, like medieval Viking water horror movie. It's 500 00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:09,800 Speaker 1: like the cross between Dagon and Vikings the corpse whales. 501 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:12,280 Speaker 1: You know, as long as we're thinking about real live 502 00:28:12,359 --> 00:28:15,840 Speaker 1: creatures that could have inspired unicorn legends, one thing we 503 00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:19,640 Speaker 1: haven't really talked about is anomalies. Oh yes, like birth 504 00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:22,480 Speaker 1: effects and injuries. Yeah. Well, I mean one of the 505 00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:25,280 Speaker 1: things that we've just sort of been assuming is that 506 00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:29,240 Speaker 1: if there were some kind of creature that inspired unicorn, legends. 507 00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:33,720 Speaker 1: It was probably like a creature as it normally typically appears. 508 00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:36,480 Speaker 1: But just one example I want to mention in two 509 00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:39,680 Speaker 1: thousand and eight and apparently mutant deer with a single 510 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:41,600 Speaker 1: horn in the middle of the top of its head 511 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:44,480 Speaker 1: was found in a nature preserve in Italy. Their news 512 00:28:44,520 --> 00:28:46,200 Speaker 1: reports about it at the time they were calling it 513 00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:48,920 Speaker 1: the unicorn deer. It was, you know, one of those 514 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:52,240 Speaker 1: weird little splashes in the press about here's an odd animal. 515 00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:54,960 Speaker 1: And it wasn't like this is how this breed of 516 00:28:55,040 --> 00:28:57,680 Speaker 1: unicorn is. It just happened to be a single individual 517 00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:00,240 Speaker 1: deer with a mutation which I think could ease really 518 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:03,120 Speaker 1: be part of the inspiration too. I mean, mutations like 519 00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:06,960 Speaker 1: that probably occurred in some small number of cases throughout history. 520 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:09,160 Speaker 1: And people see something like that and they think it's 521 00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:12,400 Speaker 1: some rare, unusual animal that there, and then there are 522 00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:14,480 Speaker 1: other ones like it out there. Or perhaps you're a 523 00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:18,720 Speaker 1: goat hurd and you you observe this birth defect in 524 00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:21,520 Speaker 1: one of your goats, and on one hand, you you 525 00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:23,680 Speaker 1: know that this creature wasn't going to survive, and then 526 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:27,840 Speaker 1: this is essentially the appearance of a of an unfit goat. 527 00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:30,520 Speaker 1: But then perhaps you cannot help, but imagine what you 528 00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:32,720 Speaker 1: have a creature like this, we're healthy? What if that? 529 00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:36,600 Speaker 1: What if this creature were to survive and thrive in 530 00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:40,160 Speaker 1: our world? What kind of fabulous beast would that be? 531 00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:42,320 Speaker 1: What kind of virgin could I use to betray it 532 00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:45,600 Speaker 1: and kill it? Well, on that note, Joe, let's take 533 00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:48,840 Speaker 1: one more break, and when we come back, we will 534 00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:52,560 Speaker 1: talk of the wizard and the unicorn. Thank thank you, 535 00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:56,200 Speaker 1: thank God. All right, we're back. So, Robert, do you 536 00:29:56,320 --> 00:30:00,920 Speaker 1: remember ads TV commercials in the nineteen eighties for the 537 00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:04,880 Speaker 1: Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus tours. Yes, yes, 538 00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:08,000 Speaker 1: I believe so. Yeah. So I actually had a gigantic 539 00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:10,600 Speaker 1: Ringling Brothers poster in my room when I was a kid, 540 00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:13,680 Speaker 1: even though I don't remember ever actually going. I think 541 00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:16,160 Speaker 1: I get the poster as a gift. That's just one 542 00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:17,800 Speaker 1: of those weird kind of gifts you get when you're 543 00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:21,520 Speaker 1: a kid. That doesn't make any sense. Um, I guess 544 00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:24,480 Speaker 1: there's still gifts like that adults give right, It's probably 545 00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:27,800 Speaker 1: best I think that I didn't make those memories of 546 00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:32,000 Speaker 1: the Ringling Brothers circus itself, because if you go back 547 00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:35,480 Speaker 1: and watch those commercials. Now, my god, they are frightening, 548 00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:38,239 Speaker 1: and I honestly do not want to give in too 549 00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:41,280 Speaker 1: much to the clowns are scary meme because hey, I'm 550 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:45,120 Speaker 1: pro clowns. Actually, uh, you know, there's nothing necessarily wrong 551 00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:47,600 Speaker 1: with clowns. I think people have leaned too hard into 552 00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:49,680 Speaker 1: the clowns are creepy thing. Yeah. I feel like I've 553 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:52,440 Speaker 1: probably gotten on this tangent before, but my main points 554 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:54,920 Speaker 1: are always clowns are for kids. They're not for the 555 00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:57,640 Speaker 1: grown ups. And it's the grown ups that are creating 556 00:30:57,640 --> 00:30:59,560 Speaker 1: all the creepy clown things, because it's the grown ups 557 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:02,880 Speaker 1: who can't help but twist their innocence of childhood into 558 00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:05,760 Speaker 1: something warped. It's the it's the grown ups who hunt 559 00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:09,440 Speaker 1: the unicorn. Uh. And then also, there are so many clowns, 560 00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:12,640 Speaker 1: Like if you're basing this on like old footage of 561 00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:15,680 Speaker 1: creepy clowns such is from this commercial, you're not basing 562 00:31:15,720 --> 00:31:18,760 Speaker 1: them on, say, clowns that are currently going to hospitals 563 00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:22,360 Speaker 1: and helping kids work through uh you know, the recovery. Yeah, 564 00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:24,440 Speaker 1: I think the all clowns are creepy thing comes out 565 00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:28,640 Speaker 1: of this, I don't know, overpowering nihilistic energy of irony 566 00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:32,360 Speaker 1: culture run a mock. Uh it's yeah. Not all clowns 567 00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:34,040 Speaker 1: are that bad, come on, give them a chance. But 568 00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:37,160 Speaker 1: these clowns in these commercials, I'm sorry. They're just these 569 00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:41,160 Speaker 1: armies of dingy nightmare clowns that look like when you 570 00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:44,240 Speaker 1: see them moving and like looking into the camera, it 571 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:47,719 Speaker 1: seems like the Unsolved Mysteries theme should play in the background. 572 00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:50,400 Speaker 1: It's just terrible. Well, they were, I guess, kind of 573 00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:54,920 Speaker 1: nostalgic clowns even then, right, they were. They were supposed 574 00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:57,200 Speaker 1: to look like clowns of a of a of a 575 00:31:57,280 --> 00:31:59,680 Speaker 1: bygone age. Yeah, I mean, I don't mean to insult 576 00:31:59,760 --> 00:32:01,680 Speaker 1: those actual performers. I think a lot of it is 577 00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:04,000 Speaker 1: probably like the colors and how it comes through in 578 00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:07,520 Speaker 1: a TV commercial of the nineteen eighties. Nothing looks good 579 00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:09,920 Speaker 1: in the TV commercial in eighties. I mean, I'm sure 580 00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:13,200 Speaker 1: in the eighties like McDonald's probably tasted good, but you 581 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:17,320 Speaker 1: look at those commercials, it's like, get it away. But anyway, 582 00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:20,320 Speaker 1: we're getting totally sidetracked, and that's my fault. In the 583 00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:23,600 Speaker 1: mid nineteen eighties, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey 584 00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:27,800 Speaker 1: Circus debuted a pretty weird new animal superstar. They you 585 00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:30,120 Speaker 1: might remember they'd have like a big elephant for this 586 00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:34,760 Speaker 1: tour or something like that. And in ninetive a supposed 587 00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:41,280 Speaker 1: real life unicorn named Lancelot became the Ringling Brothers and 588 00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:45,080 Speaker 1: Barnum and Bailey big big attraction. And you can look 589 00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:49,280 Speaker 1: up pictures of Lancelot today. He looks like a pale, white, 590 00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:54,680 Speaker 1: fluffy goat with long, luxurious hair and a huge brown 591 00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:58,040 Speaker 1: single horn sticking up from the top of his head 592 00:32:58,160 --> 00:33:01,760 Speaker 1: roughly about a foot or so long. Well, that sounds 593 00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:04,280 Speaker 1: like many depictions of the unicorn. It sounds essentially like 594 00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:06,800 Speaker 1: the unicorn that we see in one of the tapestries 595 00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:09,320 Speaker 1: we discussed in the last episode. Exactly right, is this 596 00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:12,960 Speaker 1: this nice, beardy, white goat with a big horn in 597 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:15,720 Speaker 1: the middle of its head. And the thing is, the 598 00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:19,200 Speaker 1: horn looks kind of real. So the Ringling Brothers official 599 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:23,520 Speaker 1: story for how they acquired Lancelot the unicorn was interesting. 600 00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:27,320 Speaker 1: Of course, after they started displaying this unicorn quote in 601 00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:30,960 Speaker 1: shows and commercials, animal rights groups got kind of suspicious. 602 00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:36,320 Speaker 1: But a Circus spokesperson, Joe Gold told reporters in March nineteen, quote, 603 00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:40,480 Speaker 1: it's a living unicorn that appeared in Houston, Texas in July. 604 00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:44,000 Speaker 1: It wandered up to the tent and circus producer Kenneth 605 00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:48,160 Speaker 1: Feld was there to see it. It's magical. Even Heather, 606 00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:51,960 Speaker 1: the unicorns trainer says she can feel the energy every 607 00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:56,040 Speaker 1: time she touches it's horn. Well, that's that's some great 608 00:33:56,720 --> 00:34:01,280 Speaker 1: pr copyright. Now the official story and that Heather the 609 00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:04,720 Speaker 1: trainer who could feel the energy h is circus performer 610 00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:07,920 Speaker 1: Heather Harris, who you'll see beside the unicorn creature in 611 00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:11,400 Speaker 1: lots of press photos and so in. She told a 612 00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:16,360 Speaker 1: Pennsylvania newspaper called The Morning Call, and that Lancelot quote 613 00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:20,120 Speaker 1: arrived mysteriously. I don't know whether it flew here or 614 00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:22,440 Speaker 1: whether it took a train, but it seems to be 615 00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:26,200 Speaker 1: very comfortable and at ease here. So it was basically 616 00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:29,040 Speaker 1: drawn to the circus like it was lost in this 617 00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:32,640 Speaker 1: world and knew that this was the one place it 618 00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:35,360 Speaker 1: could find a home. That was their official story, that 619 00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:39,200 Speaker 1: it was literally a magic creature who just appeared in Houston, Texas. 620 00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:42,439 Speaker 1: But let's say for a second we don't believe Joe 621 00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:45,440 Speaker 1: gold story that the unicorn is real magic and just 622 00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:48,120 Speaker 1: wandered up to the Wringling Brothers tent in Texas in 623 00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:52,120 Speaker 1: the summer of eighty four. What is this thing? Now? 624 00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:54,239 Speaker 1: The pretty obvious answer would be that it is a 625 00:34:54,280 --> 00:34:56,839 Speaker 1: goat with a fake horn strapped to its head. Right, 626 00:34:56,880 --> 00:34:59,000 Speaker 1: it looks like a goat, except it's got a huge 627 00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:00,799 Speaker 1: horn in the middle of its head. Uh. You know, 628 00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:03,799 Speaker 1: you could probably create that with a strap or some 629 00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:06,839 Speaker 1: tape or some glue. And in fact, I've looked up 630 00:35:06,960 --> 00:35:11,080 Speaker 1: videos of circus acts featuring quote unicorns more recently, and 631 00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:15,120 Speaker 1: they're quite obviously just horses with horns strapped to their heads. Right. 632 00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:17,360 Speaker 1: But if they were going to strap a horn to 633 00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:20,200 Speaker 1: an animal's head, why didn't they strap a horn to 634 00:35:20,320 --> 00:35:23,080 Speaker 1: a horse's head? Why do these animals look like goats 635 00:35:23,120 --> 00:35:26,000 Speaker 1: with single horns? Because you can strap a horn to 636 00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:29,000 Speaker 1: a horse's head and create a fake unicorn. I've seen one. 637 00:35:29,239 --> 00:35:31,800 Speaker 1: They they they at least had one at the Georgia 638 00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:36,359 Speaker 1: Renaissance Festival. Yeah, and I took my son to see 639 00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:38,120 Speaker 1: it and it was like, is that a unit real unicorn? 640 00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:41,320 Speaker 1: I said no, But if it's come on, this is 641 00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:44,160 Speaker 1: Ringling Brothers, why wouldn't they go full horse? Yeah? It's 642 00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:46,839 Speaker 1: not like they don't have a bunch of animals under 643 00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:51,920 Speaker 1: the tent there unicorns. Mysteries abound. Well, let's go forward 644 00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:54,880 Speaker 1: in time. So in the spring of a group of 645 00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:57,160 Speaker 1: investigators from the s p c A, which is an 646 00:35:57,160 --> 00:36:01,880 Speaker 1: animal rights organization, UH, including one veterinarian, went to see 647 00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:04,480 Speaker 1: these unicorns at a New York City performance of the 648 00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:06,719 Speaker 1: circus to figure out what was going on. And the 649 00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:10,600 Speaker 1: circus actually had four unicorns on staff. Lancelot was the 650 00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:13,080 Speaker 1: big star with the big horn, but they also had 651 00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:17,239 Speaker 1: three other unicorns that were named Galahad, Avalon, and Perceval, 652 00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:21,120 Speaker 1: all our Thurian legend names. It's curious because I don't 653 00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:24,399 Speaker 1: recall ever encountering a unicorn in Outherian legend. I could 654 00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:26,759 Speaker 1: be wrong, because there are a lot of different installments 655 00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:30,640 Speaker 1: of Utherian legend. I do not recall unicorns, and I 656 00:36:30,640 --> 00:36:32,600 Speaker 1: don't either. They could be in there, but I don't 657 00:36:32,600 --> 00:36:35,879 Speaker 1: remember that. But anyway, so the investigators they get there, 658 00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:39,680 Speaker 1: they're looking at these unicorns and they're horrified, concluding after 659 00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:43,880 Speaker 1: inspection that the animals were quote farm goats with surgically 660 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:48,960 Speaker 1: implanted horns. That's like the worst possible answer, really, it 661 00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:51,960 Speaker 1: is but of course the circus still maintained that they 662 00:36:51,960 --> 00:36:54,600 Speaker 1: were real magic unicorns who had appeared of their own 663 00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:58,560 Speaker 1: accord in Houston, and Wringling Brothers vice president Alan Bloom 664 00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:01,560 Speaker 1: said at the time, quote, they are the only unicorns 665 00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:04,839 Speaker 1: in the world. They're priceless. They are all males, and 666 00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:08,359 Speaker 1: I believe their brothers. We don't know how they reproduce. 667 00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:12,040 Speaker 1: I think they're between three and five years old, but 668 00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:15,880 Speaker 1: because unicorns are ageless, they may be hundreds of years old. 669 00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:18,920 Speaker 1: We just don't know. So this was a real response 670 00:37:19,239 --> 00:37:23,759 Speaker 1: to essentially charges of animal cruelty. Yeah, that's what they 671 00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:27,399 Speaker 1: They're like maintaining that it's real magic. Uh. And so 672 00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:30,160 Speaker 1: to prove the horns were some kind of surgical implant, 673 00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:32,799 Speaker 1: John Kolberg, the president of the s p c A 674 00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:35,799 Speaker 1: at the time, and other animal rights activists wanted to 675 00:37:35,840 --> 00:37:37,959 Speaker 1: have the goats x rayed. Right. They figured, like, Okay, 676 00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:39,920 Speaker 1: if this is just an implant, we can x ray 677 00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:42,360 Speaker 1: the goat, the goats skull, see that the horn is 678 00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:45,440 Speaker 1: not actually attached to the skull, and then you know, 679 00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:48,640 Speaker 1: we'll be able to show that they have been cruelly altered. 680 00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:53,000 Speaker 1: And the circus initially refused and then in nineteen in April, 681 00:37:53,080 --> 00:37:57,000 Speaker 1: Kolberg said he gave them twenty four hours for a 682 00:37:57,080 --> 00:37:59,960 Speaker 1: good faith aid to their investigation, but if they didn't 683 00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:04,880 Speaker 1: aid in the investigation, they would investigate legal remedies. So 684 00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:07,160 Speaker 1: you got this showdown, right. You got the animal rights 685 00:38:07,200 --> 00:38:10,440 Speaker 1: people saying, I think you have hurt a goat, and 686 00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:13,800 Speaker 1: then you've got the circus people saying, real magic unicorn, 687 00:38:15,360 --> 00:38:21,560 Speaker 1: this is such a ridiculous situation to define ourselves in. Well, 688 00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:25,279 Speaker 1: then the circus responded and things got more interesting. That 689 00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:28,560 Speaker 1: same month, the AP had an article I read reported 690 00:38:28,560 --> 00:38:31,080 Speaker 1: on a press conference that Wringling Brothers held on the 691 00:38:31,160 --> 00:38:34,480 Speaker 1: unicorn issue, which included an X ray. So they got 692 00:38:34,520 --> 00:38:38,960 Speaker 1: two doctors from the University of Pennsylvania to attest to 693 00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:42,399 Speaker 1: the animals good health and its state. Dr Charles Reid, 694 00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:45,560 Speaker 1: who is a professor of radiology and Dr William Doniwick, 695 00:38:45,680 --> 00:38:48,040 Speaker 1: who is a professor of surgery at the University of 696 00:38:48,080 --> 00:38:52,239 Speaker 1: Pennsylvania Animal Hospital, and both professors apparently agreed that the 697 00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:57,560 Speaker 1: animal was technically a unicorn. Reads radio graphs apparently showed 698 00:38:57,560 --> 00:39:00,359 Speaker 1: that the horn was not just implanted on the goat skin, 699 00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:03,759 Speaker 1: but was fully attached to the bone and quote, it 700 00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:07,080 Speaker 1: is an integral part of the animals skull. So the 701 00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:09,239 Speaker 1: horn that was in the middle of the head was 702 00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:12,439 Speaker 1: fused to the goat's skull, not just like a thing 703 00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:17,200 Speaker 1: surgically sewing onto the skin of the skull. Right, But 704 00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:20,600 Speaker 1: how about the unicorn thing, So Dona Wick told reporters, quote, 705 00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:23,600 Speaker 1: it's a unicorn. That's what you call an animal with 706 00:39:23,719 --> 00:39:28,239 Speaker 1: one horn. A reporter asked, how about a rhinoceros. Don 707 00:39:28,239 --> 00:39:33,440 Speaker 1: O Wick said, that's a unicorn too, well and technically 708 00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:37,040 Speaker 1: in a way. Yes. Reporter asks, was the unicorn a 709 00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:40,080 Speaker 1: goat on the day it was born? Dona Wick says, 710 00:39:40,280 --> 00:39:45,319 Speaker 1: I don't know. Reid says, I wasn't there. Now that's 711 00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:48,520 Speaker 1: getting into semantics. Yeah, So the circus dudes were, I'm sure, 712 00:39:48,560 --> 00:39:52,080 Speaker 1: obviously giddy about this, Alan Bloom, the Ringling Brothers guys, 713 00:39:52,120 --> 00:39:56,000 Speaker 1: apparently having reporters feed the animal rose petals during the 714 00:39:56,040 --> 00:40:00,200 Speaker 1: press conference. So come on, that's just bribery, right, Get 715 00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:02,480 Speaker 1: a goat, even a normal goat, to eat rose petals 716 00:40:02,520 --> 00:40:04,399 Speaker 1: out of your hand. You're gonna say whatever they want 717 00:40:04,400 --> 00:40:05,960 Speaker 1: you to say. You're going to be overcome by their 718 00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:08,759 Speaker 1: their their the charm of their strange eyes. So I'm 719 00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:11,600 Speaker 1: not sure exactly how they got these credentialed experts to 720 00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:14,000 Speaker 1: play along so well in terms of their framing of 721 00:40:14,040 --> 00:40:16,600 Speaker 1: the issue. Right, well, yeah, it's sure it's a unicorn, 722 00:40:16,880 --> 00:40:19,000 Speaker 1: but it does at least seem true that the horns 723 00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:21,600 Speaker 1: of these goat unicorns were not just something that had 724 00:40:21,640 --> 00:40:25,040 Speaker 1: been implanted on the head. But we're actual single horns 725 00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:29,400 Speaker 1: attached to the skull. So what happened. Well, here we 726 00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:31,719 Speaker 1: get to the truth, and the truth is known to 727 00:40:31,800 --> 00:40:34,560 Speaker 1: those who seek it. I think first I should just 728 00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:36,160 Speaker 1: give it to you straight. Then we'll back up and 729 00:40:36,200 --> 00:40:40,560 Speaker 1: explain the real unicorns of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum 730 00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:43,200 Speaker 1: and Bailey circus of the nineteen eighties were created by 731 00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:47,440 Speaker 1: a wizard from California, a literal wizard, and not as 732 00:40:47,480 --> 00:40:50,080 Speaker 1: in like Mr Wizard, but but as in a man 733 00:40:50,239 --> 00:40:54,200 Speaker 1: who is the headmaster of a wizardry academy. This wizard 734 00:40:54,320 --> 00:40:58,680 Speaker 1: is known as Oberon Zell Ravenhard born in nineteen forty two, 735 00:40:58,760 --> 00:41:02,279 Speaker 1: as Timothy Zell, and sometimes throughout his life just going 736 00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:05,560 Speaker 1: simply as Oz Well the one would expect a modern 737 00:41:05,600 --> 00:41:08,640 Speaker 1: wizard to go by various names. Yes, there is actually 738 00:41:08,680 --> 00:41:11,279 Speaker 1: a really great short documentary about him that came out 739 00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:13,960 Speaker 1: within the past couple of years called The Wizard Oz. 740 00:41:14,120 --> 00:41:16,799 Speaker 1: That title makes it kind of hard to google, but 741 00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:20,040 Speaker 1: the Wizard Oz not the Wizard of Oz, And having 742 00:41:20,120 --> 00:41:22,600 Speaker 1: watched it, I can say about this guy, he's one 743 00:41:22,640 --> 00:41:26,319 Speaker 1: of those people who you can tell just just committed it, 744 00:41:26,440 --> 00:41:29,120 Speaker 1: just said I'm just gonna plunge straight into a life 745 00:41:29,120 --> 00:41:34,200 Speaker 1: of profound and unapologetic weardness and just just doesn't really 746 00:41:34,239 --> 00:41:38,120 Speaker 1: look back. So a few facts about Oberon Zel Raven Heart, 747 00:41:38,120 --> 00:41:40,560 Speaker 1: just to get a flavor of the guy. In the documentary, 748 00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:43,839 Speaker 1: Oz talks about how he grew up being fascinated by 749 00:41:43,840 --> 00:41:47,480 Speaker 1: Greek myths and pagan stories full of magic, and he 750 00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:49,880 Speaker 1: tells of when he was a child he would sometimes 751 00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:53,000 Speaker 1: at night run outside naked on nights with full moons, 752 00:41:53,040 --> 00:41:56,279 Speaker 1: and he believed that he had telepathic connections with his 753 00:41:56,320 --> 00:42:00,560 Speaker 1: pet snake. In around n nineteen sixty two, he co 754 00:42:00,760 --> 00:42:05,520 Speaker 1: founded the Church of All Worlds, which is a neopagan religion, 755 00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:08,239 Speaker 1: perhaps an example of a hyper real religion. Let me 756 00:42:08,239 --> 00:42:10,640 Speaker 1: know what you think, Robert. It was named after a 757 00:42:10,760 --> 00:42:14,920 Speaker 1: fictional religion and Robert Heinlein's a stranger in a strange land, 758 00:42:15,640 --> 00:42:18,000 Speaker 1: and he has since served in a leadership role or 759 00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:22,600 Speaker 1: as quote primate of this religious organization. Uh. In fact, 760 00:42:22,640 --> 00:42:26,239 Speaker 1: I believe some of the material that we we looked 761 00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:30,839 Speaker 1: at for hyper real religions did reference this, uh, this group. Really. Yeah, 762 00:42:30,960 --> 00:42:32,440 Speaker 1: I don't think we spent much time with it, just 763 00:42:32,480 --> 00:42:35,160 Speaker 1: because I don't. I don't think you or I had 764 00:42:35,239 --> 00:42:39,479 Speaker 1: much grounding. And Robert Heinland's work, Yeah, I'm under read 765 00:42:39,520 --> 00:42:41,960 Speaker 1: on Heinlan. Yeah. I read Starship Troopers, and I think 766 00:42:41,960 --> 00:42:44,879 Speaker 1: that's the only thing that I have I've read by him. Well. 767 00:42:44,880 --> 00:42:47,840 Speaker 1: Oz describes this real version of the religion as a 768 00:42:47,920 --> 00:42:50,520 Speaker 1: sort of I think, as a sort of gathering place 769 00:42:50,600 --> 00:42:54,760 Speaker 1: for all religious and mythological traditions, sort of without judgment 770 00:42:54,880 --> 00:42:58,440 Speaker 1: or views of superiority of any one tradition. And he 771 00:42:58,440 --> 00:43:01,319 Speaker 1: actually claims he was the first person to adopt the 772 00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:06,000 Speaker 1: terms pagan and neopagan to describe these emerging nature religions 773 00:43:06,120 --> 00:43:10,040 Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties. Part of his personal theology is that 774 00:43:10,160 --> 00:43:13,440 Speaker 1: all life on Earth is not actually separate, but it 775 00:43:13,520 --> 00:43:17,080 Speaker 1: is part of a single unified organism called Gaia or 776 00:43:17,160 --> 00:43:20,840 Speaker 1: Mother Earth. You know, I I think Guya theory is 777 00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:23,040 Speaker 1: one of our is one of the topics on our 778 00:43:23,120 --> 00:43:26,319 Speaker 1: to do list. Yeah, I think it wouldn't be exactly 779 00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:30,319 Speaker 1: that proposition, something kind of parallel. More recently, he runs 780 00:43:30,360 --> 00:43:33,600 Speaker 1: a wizardry academy with a virtual campus on Second Life 781 00:43:34,120 --> 00:43:36,200 Speaker 1: and in the In the past he has done crypto 782 00:43:36,280 --> 00:43:39,560 Speaker 1: zoological investigations, including a trip to an island off New 783 00:43:39,600 --> 00:43:42,800 Speaker 1: Guinea to track down an alleged string of mermaid sightings 784 00:43:43,200 --> 00:43:44,839 Speaker 1: and the creature turned out to be a du gong. 785 00:43:45,120 --> 00:43:47,160 Speaker 1: Oh well, that makes it makes sense that it would 786 00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:50,960 Speaker 1: the do Gong, of course, being um essentially the the 787 00:43:51,040 --> 00:43:54,600 Speaker 1: open sea manity. Yeah. Well, you know all of this 788 00:43:54,840 --> 00:43:59,120 Speaker 1: is is weird and wonderful, Joe, but it all sounds 789 00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:01,200 Speaker 1: kind of a is given that you led with the 790 00:44:01,239 --> 00:44:05,440 Speaker 1: fact that this man created unicorns. So tell me how 791 00:44:05,480 --> 00:44:09,120 Speaker 1: did the wizard Oz create unicorns? Well, obviously, as a 792 00:44:09,160 --> 00:44:12,320 Speaker 1: person interested in myths and magic, Oz had a healthy 793 00:44:12,360 --> 00:44:16,600 Speaker 1: appetite for mythological creatures, including the unicorn. He and his wife, 794 00:44:16,600 --> 00:44:19,200 Speaker 1: who was a woman named Morning Glory in the late 795 00:44:19,280 --> 00:44:22,520 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies, so they had this fascination with unicorns that 796 00:44:22,600 --> 00:44:26,040 Speaker 1: led them in nineteen seventy nine to initiate a project 797 00:44:26,200 --> 00:44:29,440 Speaker 1: of creating living unicorns, and they did this after they 798 00:44:29,440 --> 00:44:32,239 Speaker 1: read about the research of an American biologist named W. 799 00:44:32,600 --> 00:44:37,160 Speaker 1: Franklin Dove. Now W. Franklin Dove was a university of 800 00:44:37,200 --> 00:44:40,360 Speaker 1: main biologists who lived from eighteen ninety seven and nineteen 801 00:44:40,400 --> 00:44:43,080 Speaker 1: seventy two. And Dove spent a lot of his career 802 00:44:43,120 --> 00:44:46,480 Speaker 1: on topics related to agriculture, like animal production, but he 803 00:44:46,520 --> 00:44:50,239 Speaker 1: also tackled things like the phenomena of food acceptance and 804 00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:53,440 Speaker 1: food rejection, which I think is an interesting thing I've 805 00:44:53,480 --> 00:44:56,040 Speaker 1: barely even considered as its own field of science, Like 806 00:44:56,080 --> 00:44:58,799 Speaker 1: what causes an animal to eat or to turn down 807 00:44:58,840 --> 00:45:01,600 Speaker 1: food offered to it? That is interesting that maybe maybe 808 00:45:01,680 --> 00:45:04,120 Speaker 1: something we'll have to return to in a future episode. Yeah. 809 00:45:04,400 --> 00:45:07,920 Speaker 1: In his work on animal production, Dove had this hypothesis 810 00:45:08,320 --> 00:45:11,480 Speaker 1: about the growth of horns in livestock in animals like 811 00:45:11,520 --> 00:45:15,440 Speaker 1: goats and cows. He wanted to prove that instead of 812 00:45:15,480 --> 00:45:20,040 Speaker 1: growing directly out of the skull, horns began as buds 813 00:45:20,239 --> 00:45:23,080 Speaker 1: in the soft tissue of the skin over the skull 814 00:45:23,560 --> 00:45:27,320 Speaker 1: and then only later in development, fused with the skull 815 00:45:27,480 --> 00:45:30,680 Speaker 1: to lock in place. So in the nineteen thirties, Dove 816 00:45:30,800 --> 00:45:34,400 Speaker 1: demonstrated this by performing surgery on a one day old 817 00:45:34,520 --> 00:45:38,040 Speaker 1: male calf, and in this procedure, Dove removed the two 818 00:45:38,160 --> 00:45:41,240 Speaker 1: horn buds from their original location of the two sides 819 00:45:41,280 --> 00:45:43,920 Speaker 1: of the top of the head and grafted them together 820 00:45:44,480 --> 00:45:47,640 Speaker 1: side by side in the center of the calf's head. 821 00:45:47,920 --> 00:45:50,800 Speaker 1: And he predicted that if the buds were moved before 822 00:45:50,800 --> 00:45:54,040 Speaker 1: they could attach themselves to the skull, the developing calf 823 00:45:54,080 --> 00:45:57,359 Speaker 1: would grow horns wherever the buds had been placed, in 824 00:45:57,400 --> 00:46:00,960 Speaker 1: this case, in a single unified growth in the middle 825 00:46:01,000 --> 00:46:05,000 Speaker 1: of the forehead. And it worked. The calf developed and 826 00:46:05,040 --> 00:46:08,320 Speaker 1: grew as a normal, healthy bulb, but with a single 827 00:46:08,440 --> 00:46:10,920 Speaker 1: huge horn in the middle of its head, just like 828 00:46:10,960 --> 00:46:14,120 Speaker 1: a unicorn. So what we have here is not quite 829 00:46:14,160 --> 00:46:18,600 Speaker 1: the like the nightmare scenario of someone surgically implanting a 830 00:46:18,600 --> 00:46:21,880 Speaker 1: fake horn onto a goat, but something that is a 831 00:46:21,920 --> 00:46:25,319 Speaker 1: little more manipulative. Right. It's the idea of removing a 832 00:46:25,360 --> 00:46:29,400 Speaker 1: couple of patches of skin that have primordial cell lines 833 00:46:29,520 --> 00:46:33,880 Speaker 1: within them that will tend to develop into horn tissue 834 00:46:34,400 --> 00:46:37,520 Speaker 1: as the animal grows up, but grafting them into different 835 00:46:37,520 --> 00:46:41,279 Speaker 1: places before they connect and continue their horn growth before, 836 00:46:41,400 --> 00:46:44,600 Speaker 1: especially before they fuse to the bone. Okay, so that's 837 00:46:44,640 --> 00:46:47,080 Speaker 1: just a form of just a form of body modification 838 00:46:47,120 --> 00:46:50,600 Speaker 1: really exactly. And this is the procedure that Oberon Zel 839 00:46:50,760 --> 00:46:54,840 Speaker 1: Ravenhart picked up on to create his goat unicorn. So 840 00:46:54,880 --> 00:46:58,120 Speaker 1: there's actually a patent in nineteen eighty awarded to one 841 00:46:58,160 --> 00:47:00,920 Speaker 1: Timothy Zel, remember that was his birth name, and it's 842 00:47:00,920 --> 00:47:05,360 Speaker 1: a patent for a surgical procedure to produce unicorn goats. 843 00:47:05,760 --> 00:47:09,280 Speaker 1: Now there, I think there are some highly questionable claims 844 00:47:09,320 --> 00:47:12,560 Speaker 1: within the patent. Language like one, so he describes this process, 845 00:47:12,600 --> 00:47:16,400 Speaker 1: which clearly worked in creating the single horned goat, but 846 00:47:16,520 --> 00:47:20,240 Speaker 1: he also says stuff like quote thereafter the resulting horns 847 00:47:20,360 --> 00:47:23,040 Speaker 1: grow as one and connect with the frontal portion of 848 00:47:23,040 --> 00:47:26,120 Speaker 1: the skull directly over the pineal gland to render the 849 00:47:26,239 --> 00:47:30,200 Speaker 1: unicorn of higher intelligence and physical attributes. Yeah, I'm not 850 00:47:30,239 --> 00:47:32,440 Speaker 1: sure about it. Once you start tying the pineal gland 851 00:47:32,440 --> 00:47:37,439 Speaker 1: into the whole unicorn horn scenario, begin to have questions. Yeah, 852 00:47:37,440 --> 00:47:40,239 Speaker 1: so I think that's that's a little bit overstepping, But 853 00:47:40,400 --> 00:47:42,799 Speaker 1: there might be some interesting things to consider about how 854 00:47:42,840 --> 00:47:45,600 Speaker 1: it affects mental development. But we'll come back to that 855 00:47:45,640 --> 00:47:48,000 Speaker 1: in just a minute. So when Oz and his wife 856 00:47:48,000 --> 00:47:51,879 Speaker 1: warning Glory created these unicorn goats. First they toured with them, 857 00:47:51,880 --> 00:47:55,720 Speaker 1: appearing at like renaissance fairs and conventions. Robert, you mentioned 858 00:47:55,760 --> 00:47:58,280 Speaker 1: you saw a horse at a renaissance fair, a horse 859 00:47:58,360 --> 00:48:00,719 Speaker 1: horse with a horn strapped on. Yes, I did see 860 00:48:00,719 --> 00:48:03,719 Speaker 1: if a false unicorn. Apparently, if you'd gone to this 861 00:48:03,800 --> 00:48:05,839 Speaker 1: fair in the early nineteen eighties you might have seen 862 00:48:05,880 --> 00:48:09,480 Speaker 1: a literal one horned goat. But then in the in 863 00:48:09,520 --> 00:48:13,279 Speaker 1: the nineteen five period, they first leased them out to 864 00:48:13,640 --> 00:48:17,800 Speaker 1: the circus. And a quote from this documentary, Oz says, quote, 865 00:48:18,040 --> 00:48:20,440 Speaker 1: everybody has their own creative way of making a living 866 00:48:20,480 --> 00:48:22,560 Speaker 1: in the country. A lot of people do arts and 867 00:48:22,640 --> 00:48:26,480 Speaker 1: crafts type things. Some people do farming. We raise unicorns. 868 00:48:26,640 --> 00:48:30,319 Speaker 1: It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it. 869 00:48:30,440 --> 00:48:34,719 Speaker 1: Somebody has to do it. Yes, Now, of course the 870 00:48:34,719 --> 00:48:37,920 Speaker 1: circus at couldn't last forever and Ringling brothers in Barnum 871 00:48:37,960 --> 00:48:40,839 Speaker 1: and Bailey leadership, they like to rotate the main attractions 872 00:48:40,880 --> 00:48:43,920 Speaker 1: fairly often, so in nineteen eighties seven Felled claimed that 873 00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:47,440 Speaker 1: Lancelot had been retired and the circus company moved on 874 00:48:47,480 --> 00:48:49,760 Speaker 1: to their next big attraction, which was a huge elephant 875 00:48:49,840 --> 00:48:54,040 Speaker 1: named King Tusk. Okay, a little more traditional really for them. Yeah, 876 00:48:54,120 --> 00:48:56,479 Speaker 1: so what happened to the goats? What happened to the unicorns? Well, 877 00:48:56,760 --> 00:49:00,359 Speaker 1: Oberon and morning Glory stopped creating goat unicorns around teen 878 00:49:00,440 --> 00:49:03,320 Speaker 1: ninety and they kept them for a long time. Apparently 879 00:49:03,320 --> 00:49:06,360 Speaker 1: the last one passed away in two thousand five. But 880 00:49:06,480 --> 00:49:08,880 Speaker 1: that's the story of how we ended up with real 881 00:49:09,040 --> 00:49:13,280 Speaker 1: single horned goats. It's apparently a fairly straightforward surgical procedure 882 00:49:13,640 --> 00:49:15,600 Speaker 1: that can be done in the first week of the 883 00:49:15,600 --> 00:49:18,520 Speaker 1: goat's life and allows them to grow a single horn 884 00:49:18,719 --> 00:49:21,560 Speaker 1: like a unicorn horn. And he patented it because he 885 00:49:21,600 --> 00:49:27,280 Speaker 1: wanted to create a franchise. I'm not sure why credit 886 00:49:27,360 --> 00:49:29,360 Speaker 1: he wanted credit for the procedure. I don't know the 887 00:49:29,400 --> 00:49:33,120 Speaker 1: answer there um anyway, Yeah, that would be interesting to know. 888 00:49:33,960 --> 00:49:37,080 Speaker 1: But uh so, there was some interesting observations linked to this. 889 00:49:37,360 --> 00:49:39,799 Speaker 1: One of them is that there are some reports that 890 00:49:39,960 --> 00:49:45,120 Speaker 1: having a single horn actually changed the behavior and personality 891 00:49:45,160 --> 00:49:47,759 Speaker 1: of these altered goats and cattle. And that makes me 892 00:49:47,800 --> 00:49:51,640 Speaker 1: think kind of all about the like weird personality or 893 00:49:51,800 --> 00:49:55,520 Speaker 1: moral traits attributed to the unicorn that would obviously separate 894 00:49:55,560 --> 00:50:00,239 Speaker 1: them from other normal four legged beasts. Dove report that 895 00:50:00,400 --> 00:50:02,840 Speaker 1: his unicorn bull, Remember this was the guy from the thirties, 896 00:50:03,200 --> 00:50:06,799 Speaker 1: Franklin Dove. He reported that his unicorn bull became the 897 00:50:06,840 --> 00:50:09,960 Speaker 1: dominant member of the herd and faced very few challenges 898 00:50:10,040 --> 00:50:13,080 Speaker 1: from rivals for dominance. At the same time, it seemed 899 00:50:13,080 --> 00:50:16,240 Speaker 1: to be of a very calm temperament, and Dove also 900 00:50:16,280 --> 00:50:18,920 Speaker 1: reported that the unicorn bull used its horn as a 901 00:50:18,920 --> 00:50:22,120 Speaker 1: tool to like lift fences and pass under them, or 902 00:50:22,160 --> 00:50:25,440 Speaker 1: as a weapon during fights when it had them. And 903 00:50:25,480 --> 00:50:28,279 Speaker 1: that makes me think about the ways in which our 904 00:50:28,360 --> 00:50:32,480 Speaker 1: morphology can shape our mentality. In what ways does the 905 00:50:32,520 --> 00:50:37,000 Speaker 1: shape of an animal's body and anatomical equipment change what 906 00:50:37,200 --> 00:50:39,840 Speaker 1: kind of being you are, down to your very character 907 00:50:40,000 --> 00:50:43,240 Speaker 1: and personality, even if it doesn't change the physical structure 908 00:50:43,280 --> 00:50:45,560 Speaker 1: of the brain. I mean, it's kind it's a complicated 909 00:50:45,600 --> 00:50:48,400 Speaker 1: scenario that he suggests here, because it's it's almost as 910 00:50:48,440 --> 00:50:51,400 Speaker 1: if he's he's making a case that the the unicorn 911 00:50:51,480 --> 00:50:54,480 Speaker 1: form of the goat is kind of the ideal form, 912 00:50:54,560 --> 00:50:57,640 Speaker 1: it's the it's the higher form. And if that were true, 913 00:50:57,960 --> 00:51:00,480 Speaker 1: then why isn't it the form of the Why are 914 00:51:00,520 --> 00:51:04,640 Speaker 1: not all goats uh single horned animals? Well, that's a 915 00:51:04,640 --> 00:51:07,120 Speaker 1: good question. I mean, you might wonder if if it 916 00:51:07,200 --> 00:51:10,160 Speaker 1: were actually adaptive, would um I don't know, if you 917 00:51:10,200 --> 00:51:13,640 Speaker 1: could somehow select for a gene towards single horned goats. 918 00:51:13,719 --> 00:51:16,040 Speaker 1: That seems like a thing. I mean, that wouldn't happen 919 00:51:16,040 --> 00:51:17,520 Speaker 1: in this case because it's not a gene for it 920 00:51:17,560 --> 00:51:20,080 Speaker 1: as a surgical procedure. But so you know, you had 921 00:51:20,120 --> 00:51:23,040 Speaker 1: a goat with a mutation that had just one horn 922 00:51:23,040 --> 00:51:24,440 Speaker 1: in the middle of its head like that deer we 923 00:51:24,480 --> 00:51:27,440 Speaker 1: talked about. Uh, you know, would that goat actually have 924 00:51:27,520 --> 00:51:30,560 Speaker 1: a survival advantage compared to others. I don't see any 925 00:51:30,640 --> 00:51:34,440 Speaker 1: reason to think it necessarily would, but maybe who knows, Um, 926 00:51:34,520 --> 00:51:37,600 Speaker 1: you gotta wonder it's it. I guess the thing is, 927 00:51:37,640 --> 00:51:39,239 Speaker 1: if there was a case to be made that this 928 00:51:39,320 --> 00:51:41,480 Speaker 1: is the superior form of the goat, it is a 929 00:51:41,480 --> 00:51:45,399 Speaker 1: form that is obtained through body modification, which we can 930 00:51:45,600 --> 00:51:48,200 Speaker 1: you know, we could probably make some interesting comparisons to 931 00:51:48,320 --> 00:51:52,880 Speaker 1: various human customs of body modification, especially the more established 932 00:51:53,239 --> 00:51:56,880 Speaker 1: body modification rituals, but you don't really see much of 933 00:51:56,920 --> 00:52:00,000 Speaker 1: that in the animal world. Well, in the same way 934 00:52:00,080 --> 00:52:02,920 Speaker 1: much human body modification is cultural. I mean, I wonder 935 00:52:02,960 --> 00:52:05,440 Speaker 1: if it would depend on sort of the personality of 936 00:52:05,440 --> 00:52:08,359 Speaker 1: the individual, herd or pack. Yeah, what all leads to 937 00:52:08,560 --> 00:52:11,719 Speaker 1: the question should we even be trying to make unicorns? 938 00:52:11,800 --> 00:52:16,120 Speaker 1: Is it ultimately by making I mean, I think there 939 00:52:16,280 --> 00:52:18,920 Speaker 1: is a case to be made that this early modification 940 00:52:19,120 --> 00:52:22,719 Speaker 1: to goats it was not necessarily as cruel as like 941 00:52:22,800 --> 00:52:26,160 Speaker 1: an adult modification implanting a horn out of nothing would 942 00:52:26,160 --> 00:52:29,240 Speaker 1: have been. But at the same time, I don't really 943 00:52:29,280 --> 00:52:31,319 Speaker 1: see that there's any reason to do any kind of 944 00:52:31,400 --> 00:52:36,400 Speaker 1: unnecessary surgeries on animals. And then on the other hand, uh, 945 00:52:36,880 --> 00:52:39,920 Speaker 1: this is not a unicorn in the spirit of the unicorn, Like, 946 00:52:39,960 --> 00:52:43,719 Speaker 1: this is a creature that is held captive by a circus. Right, 947 00:52:43,800 --> 00:52:46,000 Speaker 1: Maybe unicorn need needs to be a thing that is not, 948 00:52:46,760 --> 00:52:48,840 Speaker 1: you know, engineered. It needs to be a thing that 949 00:52:48,960 --> 00:52:52,480 Speaker 1: is that is wild and free of human interference. Remember plenty, 950 00:52:52,560 --> 00:52:56,640 Speaker 1: it cannot be taken alive, and likewise it cannot be 951 00:52:56,640 --> 00:52:59,960 Speaker 1: be made like to to make it, uh in captivity, 952 00:53:00,120 --> 00:53:02,719 Speaker 1: to to make it a thing of captivity betrays the 953 00:53:02,760 --> 00:53:05,640 Speaker 1: whole idea. I mean, at least if it's a birth defect, 954 00:53:05,880 --> 00:53:07,880 Speaker 1: then it is kind of it's an anomaly. It's a 955 00:53:07,960 --> 00:53:12,200 Speaker 1: natural anomaly that you may get to witness, but it 956 00:53:12,320 --> 00:53:15,319 Speaker 1: is not something that you're just manufacturing and putting a 957 00:53:15,360 --> 00:53:17,839 Speaker 1: patent on. Yeah. I agree. While I think the story 958 00:53:17,880 --> 00:53:20,759 Speaker 1: is incredibly interesting, I do hope we don't give the 959 00:53:20,800 --> 00:53:23,680 Speaker 1: impression that you you should be going out trying to 960 00:53:23,719 --> 00:53:28,080 Speaker 1: engineer normal animals to become unicorns. There's no reason to unicorns. 961 00:53:28,200 --> 00:53:30,399 Speaker 1: You know, they can stay in the myths, that's right. 962 00:53:30,440 --> 00:53:32,600 Speaker 1: And you know, like as you said, feeding a goat 963 00:53:32,640 --> 00:53:36,919 Speaker 1: a normal goat, rose petals or any of the vegetable. Uh, 964 00:53:37,040 --> 00:53:39,279 Speaker 1: that's going to be pleasant in and of itself. No 965 00:53:39,360 --> 00:53:43,000 Speaker 1: need to drag myth into the whole scenario. Alright. So 966 00:53:43,040 --> 00:53:46,160 Speaker 1: there you have it. Uh, unicorns of the natural world 967 00:53:46,239 --> 00:53:48,680 Speaker 1: as well as unicorns of the mythic world. We have 968 00:53:48,800 --> 00:53:52,280 Speaker 1: covered both in this week's episodes. We hope you enjoyed 969 00:53:52,520 --> 00:53:55,239 Speaker 1: the ride. Uh. You can check out more episodes of 970 00:53:55,239 --> 00:53:57,000 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow your Mind at stuff to Blow your 971 00:53:57,000 --> 00:53:58,760 Speaker 1: Mind dot com. That's where we find all the episodes, 972 00:53:58,800 --> 00:54:01,360 Speaker 1: as well as links out to our various social media accounts. 973 00:54:01,640 --> 00:54:04,400 Speaker 1: And I'll remind everybody, uh to rate and review the 974 00:54:04,440 --> 00:54:07,279 Speaker 1: show wherever you have the opportunity to do so. It's 975 00:54:07,280 --> 00:54:10,240 Speaker 1: a wonderful way to support what we do. Big thanks, 976 00:54:10,320 --> 00:54:13,719 Speaker 1: as always to our awesome audio producers Alex Williams and 977 00:54:13,719 --> 00:54:16,000 Speaker 1: Tory Harrison. If you would like to get in touch 978 00:54:16,040 --> 00:54:18,160 Speaker 1: with us to let us know feedback on this episode 979 00:54:18,200 --> 00:54:21,280 Speaker 1: or any other, or to suggest future topics for the show, 980 00:54:21,520 --> 00:54:24,040 Speaker 1: or just to say hi, you can email us at 981 00:54:24,280 --> 00:54:36,800 Speaker 1: blow the Mind at how stuff works dot com for 982 00:54:36,960 --> 00:54:39,279 Speaker 1: more on this and thousands of other topics. Is it 983 00:54:39,360 --> 00:55:00,600 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com at the b