What Purpose Would a Unicorn's Horn Serve in the Wild?

This famous tapestry shows all the "modernized" traits of a unicorn--basically just a pale-colored horse with a single horn on its head. Of course, single-horned animals do and did exist:

The only problem with such comparisons is that real-life one-horned animals have their horns on a practical area of the head--the upper snout. That way, the animals can have a longer reach against a charging predator, forcing it to brake its feet. The unicorn, by contrast, has its horn usually set on the forehead. That's no problem for the usual two-horned animal, as the V-gap resulted by the two horns makes it difficult for an opponent to strike directly at the skull. The two-horned animals also have their horns ridged to prevent slipping.

But the unicorn of classic mythology and fantasy doesn't have either advantage, so a unicorn can't use its single horn to fight other unicorns. And it doesn't look sturdy, either, so of/defense against predators can't be a factor, either. With those two eliminated, what else would the smooth single horn of a real-life unicorn be used for?

posted about 6 years ago

JohnWDailey‭

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