The White Oryx
The myth of the unicorn is thought to originate with the white oryx. When seen from the side the oryx appears to have only one horn. That is how the ancient Egyptians, to whom the animal was sacred, depicted them, as seen from the side. The tranquility that this graceful white animal radiates obscures the lethal power of its horns when it is attacked by a predator. Its horns were not powerful enough however against the weapons of modern man. During the course of the twentieth century, the oryx was hunted to extinction in the wild, surviving only in zoos.
There is a happy ending to this story: with the help of zoos and the World Wildlife Fund, the animal preserve, Hai-Bar has been able to breed and reintroduce herds of oryx into the wild. The groups that have been released are thriving and will hopefully continue to do so.