onoceros Europus, or the European Unicorn, is the unicorn that is most often portrayed in modern art. A horselike creature with an almost straight horn rather than a sinuous one, with the horn tightly twisted and sharply pointed.
Standing about one metre (3½ feet) at the shoulder, an adult European unicorn can weigh upwards of 45kg (100 lbs). Females are slightly smaller in both weight and size. Depending on where they are in relation to the equator and in what sort of vegetation and environment they live. Their coats vary in color from nearly black, through coffee coloured, rich chestnut, tawny gold, to the paler shades like cream, ivory, or a pure white. During winter, the coat becomes thicker and longer, lightening to fawn or creamy white tints. The tail is moderate to long and full, while manes tend to be 'flowing' and well developed.
While born with tufty beards, these disappear quite quickly, after birth and males begin to gradually acquire fuller shaggy beards under the chin over time. Hence a unicorn with a well developed beard can be judged to be a venerable one.
Unicorns have extremely fine vision. Their eyes are very large and and range from blue through the greenish shades, to browns and appear soulful and full of stars. Their ears too are very large, and their hearing is unusually acute.
Unicorns are able to converse with humans telepathically, without the need for words. When they do use their audible voice, it is sometimes a mournful wail, though rarely heard. It is said that when driven to rage beyond endurance, they will scream a cry so dreadful in sound that may destroy the sanity of an aggressor. In spring, the mating call of the male, a bellow or wail, can be heard.
European Unicorns are recognized at once by the single coiled horn, which is present soon after birth. Although sometimes confused in the field with the chamois (Ru pica pra) of the Italian Alps, and possibly with deer elsewhere in Europe, unicorns are generally much more shaggy around the chin and lower legs than any of these animals.
Living by choice in remote and unspoiled areas, well forested and with scattered open glades and unpolluted waters, through high population densities necessity may cause them to seek out parkland areas or even, at times, large gardens with lush vegetation.
The European Unicorn is active throughout the year, but extremely shy at all seasons. Usually the only times that two unicorns (a "charm") may ever be seen together is during the mating season in early fall, or when females are accompanied by their young. The footprints of a unicorn closely resemble those of a fallow deer (Dama)being about 3 inches long and symmetrical, though marks made by the hair round their hooves allow for separation from deer prints.
When walking, the individual hoof print pairs are about a foot apart, while when bounding, the four hoof prints are clustered, and separate clusters of hoof marks are about 10 to 15 feet apart. Droppings and browse marks of unicorns cannot be distinguished with certainty from those of deer.
A unicorn sighting is a serendipitous happening and is considered a wondrous event. Unicorns need a great deal of peace and tranquility, so if they allow contact with a human being, it is a rare and special privilege and one should be very careful not to display the tendencies to greed and ownership that are prevalent in our society and attitudes today.
