Trail cameras can pick up several different animals completing their daily tasks. A “unicorn” that was caught on a trail camera at an Arizona National Park was actually a yearling male elk that prematurely lost one of its antlers.
The park wrote in a Facebook post that this is typical for yearling male elk, which will grow their first set of antlers as “single beams.” Clearly, the elk recorded by the trail camera had lost one of his, giving the appearance of a unicorn.
“The shedding of antlers typically occurs in late winter or early spring, but early antler loss can result from sparring, poor nutrition, or disease/injuries that affect testosterone levels,” the post said.
Park officials joked that the elk, who was spotted on a nighttime walk during a full moon, was a mythical creature. “The full moon brings out the park’s unicorns,” the post said. “With the next full moon occurring on November 27th, we’ll be sure to watch for… Pegasuses?! Pegasi?! Whatever the plural term is for flying horses is.”
Source: https://www.facebook.com/PetrifiedForestNPS/posts/727732376063586