Narwahl-Unicorn Theroy

There is something that has always sort of bothered me and I know I get obcessed with odd things at times and things that might seem irrelevent and that most do not perhaps pay attention to, but some things to me just seem so obvious that I do not know how others seem to completely miss it, or not see it.

I have heard on countless different accoutns on varrious shows on the History channel and other such soruces from different scholars, and historians, and such types, that one of the most common theories explaining the idea of the unicorn might be the narwhal. Which for those whom do not know a narwhal is a whale and it looks like this:

They live in Artica costal waters and rivers.

Now the thing that has always baffled me about this theroy and explination of the Unicorn, is the fact that the people of the Middle Ages and even pre middle ages were perfectly familar with the concept of horses, they used horses on a regular bassis and the unicorn is very clearly descirbed as being an equine, horse like create but with a horn. I perosnally find it illogical, and just generally very hard to beleive that people even living back then, happend to see a narhwal swiming in the water, and somehow got in confused with a land dwelling mamal which strongly resmebles the horse an animal they wer closely familar with.

I really do not see how they could have spotted a narwhal and then began sprending stories about some sort of horned horse running around. There is just no way a person whom as seen a horse before, can in anyway shape or form get it confused with a narwhal however strnage the creature might look.

Here are some images of the unicorn created between 1495-1505

The below image came from a very rare collection, Topsells book of The History of Foor-Footed Beasts and Serpants, it was put togethe in the 1600s

It can clearly be seen in all the above images that the unicorn was an animal the people of the day associated with the land and with horses. I do not think there is anyway that the narwhal could have been mistaken for the animal that can be viewed in the above images.

10:41 PM - 12/13/2007 - post comment

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