Capricorse

The capricorse is a unique unicorn native to a small, open-forested upland region south of the nightforest, on the southern edge of the arctic plateau. It is generally regarded as the most basal member of the forest unicorn subgenus, possibly as a slightly modified relict population of the earlier species from which all others, including nightmares, equinox, and kelpies evolved. Physically and behaviorally, the capricorse appears intermediate between the forest unicorns and the upland unicorns, being both goat-like and horse-like, and tends to favor in-between habitats of open woodlands and lightly forest plains rather than high elevations or dense forest. Genetically, the capricorse is closest related to the kelpie, owing to more recent hybridization of their ancestors due to being the species which live closest together. It can hybridize with all other forest unicorns, however, in a very unusual exception to the normal lack of interbreeding that is typical of the majority of thorngrazer lineages, for though these animals are all very different in appearance and diet, they have only very recently diverged from one another. Periodic hybridization events over the last several million years may contribute to this species very much resembling an admixture of those other three species. A definite derived characteristic the capricorse does show is its unusual crests, which cross only once near their base and then arc backward, with the nostrils facing backwards and down - this formation evolved after the other three species split off from its ancestor, as none of the others show a similar crest development at any stage of life. 

Capricorses are relatively small forest unicorns, overlapping in size only with the nightmare. They are primarily low browsers, but can graze too, and they are omnivorous - 10-25% of their diet may be comprised of animal matter, depending on availability. All unicorns, indeed nearly every thorngrazer, will sometimes eat meat, even killing small animals, but this is a higher percentage than in their ancestor’s diet and in that of the contemporary  equinox, and so this diet is very likely not a basal trait, but a derived one acquired through distant kelpie interbreeding. Capricorses differ from all other living relatives in their genus in being adapted to survive in more open habitats and being strong runners with good endurance, though these were traits that their common ancestor shared to some extent, and which allowed it to spread across the continent five million years ago and ultimately evolve into all of the other species.

Males of this species are solitary and patrol well-defined territories,  as in earlier unicorns, while females are loosely social and don’t stick to any home range, but move freely in search of resources, including males. Like the kelpie, male capricorses demonstrate some capacity for vocal mimicry, and their courtship rituals involve playing through a varied repertoire of calls including those of birds and of other thorngrazer species - they have few species-specific vocalizations. Capricorses are not a common thorngrazer, even within their narrow range, and it can be difficult for males to claim a territory that is within the regular roaming range of any local females, which can force them to travel further at the very edges of their inhabited region to settle down at maturity. Often, this means that very few potential mates can be found of their own species, and this is why this species in particular is so prone to hybridization. Far-flung male capricorses will seek mates of other unicorn species, imitating the calls of their relatives to draw in younger, less experienced females, sometimes with success. First generation hybrids grow up with their mothers, and never meet their fathers, yet many of these female hybrids will seek out male capricorses, rather than males of their mother’s species, when the time comes for them to reproduce. This is because while female unicorns usually are drawn to the specific calls of a male of their own species, males are drawn to the scent of a female (since females do not call.) Male hybrids are often drawn to female capricorses because they smell similar to themselves, and because they tend to not look much like this species (as the unusual crest, by which males recognize conspecific rivals, is not inherited in hybrids), they are not driven out of the territories of capricorse males. The end result is that such male hybrids mate freely with capricorse females, imitating the songs used by their males to impress them while quieting down if confronted by a male capricorse. The genes from the other unicorn species thus continue to introgress into the capricorse population in this way, over time keeping the species genetically similar to its relatives, and suppressing its derivation into a more distinct species of its own. Such hybridization is not rare in Serinan birds, with trunkos being the most prone, but among thorngrazers there are no others which so frequently intermix.