Very bizarre, and thus, cool.

Thanks for the post.

Kind regards,
Wilhelm

Thanks for that. Very interesting!

here's an interesting question. With all of the genetic mapping and testing they're doing now, do you think it would be possible to actually breed this deer to create a new subspecies that would be one horned all the time?

Here's some related news I've found:

Wisconsin's Selena Fox says pagans abuzz about "unicorn."
By Tom Heinen
Tuesday, Jun 17 2008, 09:43 AM
People at an international summer solstice gathering in Ohio organized by a widely known representative of contemporary paganism from Wisconsin are abuzz about the recent discovery of a deer at a wildlife park in Italy with a single, unicorn-like horn in the center of its forehead.

Although identified as a genetic mutant, the deer is being seen as a propitious sign and as an addition to the list of possible explanations for the enduring myth of the unicorn.

"Unicorns are considered sacred creatures in ancient and contemporary pagan traditions," said Selena Fox, founder and senior minister of Circle Sanctuary, a Wiccan church, resource center and nature preserve with a worldwide ecospirituality ministry on a 200-acre nature preserve about 30 miles west of Madison. "Some pagans are part of the emerging field known as crypto zoology, in which science and myth converge. There are several theories about unicorns having actual origins in living creatures. Well, this report seems to confirm that.

"In both ancient and contemporary traditions, the unicorn is a sign of healing, of well-being, and of peace. It has just really positive significance," she added, noting that unicorn stories predate Christianity and that the animals were depicted on Medieval tapestries in Christian Europe as an outgrowth of folk tradition.

People have been talking about the "unicorn" at the solstice gathering, including before the start of a leadership workshop that Fox taught Monday on interfaith understanding.

"Most people saw that as a really positive thing, not just as a genetic anomaly, but as something that could be a positive sign of hope and healing," she said. Not only is the one-horned deer an unusual occurance in nature, but people at the gathering also thought it was significant that its discovery was being shared around the world through news and feature reports, she said.

Fox is the founder and executive director of Pagan Spirit Gathering, which describes itself as one of America's oldest and largest nature spirituality festivals. Begun in Wisconsin in 1980, it is now held on a nature preserve in southeastern Ohio's Meigs County. The gathering is a multi-day celebration of the summer solstice, which marks the start of summer and is the longest day of the year. This year's celebration began last weekend and ends this coming Sunday. It has drawn nearly 1,000 people for workshops, singing, drumming, dancing, bonfires, candle-light labyrinth walks and other activities. They are mainly pagans -- Wiccans, druids, and other expressions of nature-based religions, including Native American spirituality. But there also are some people who practice Celtic Christianity, Buddhism and other faiths, she said.

Fox has served as a consultant to the U.S. military, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections and other public and private institutions. The Wiccan religion, a form of paganism, celebrates nature and its natural rhythms as a central part of its spiritual practice. It incorporates traditions from pre-Christian Europe as well as contemporary adaptations.

Some Pagan Spirit Gathering events on Monday were interrupted by successive waves of thunderstorms, including a potluck dinner that was cancelled.

"Part of being in a nature religion is, you take what mother nature serves you up," Fox quipped in a cell phone interview as rain beat down on the RV she was in.

Source: blogs.jsonline.com

Tabz, to answer your original question, I could see where the myth came about due to horned animals in nature being born with only one horn. And probably on down the line when stories were told about these animals, the "unicorn" became a horse, or maybe because of simple language translations, it developed into the myth we all know today. Way back it would have been pretty shocking to see an animal who would normally have two horns, that they probably considered the animal sacred. Considering they did not understand how something like this could have happened.