The Unicorn

285 million years post-establishment, the spire forests are increasing in size, both outwards and in height. Clusters of cementrees over time form single monolithic structures, and given enough time, they begin to raise the height of the forest itself, as new ones grow on top of the eroding spires of their predecessors. This creates rocky hills capped with trees. These elevated forests provide good protection from predators for smaller, lightly-built grazing  animals that feed on vegetation nearby them, so that if danger threatens they  can quickly dash up their slopes and hide in the tangle of their trunks. This is the habitat of the unicorn, a unique thorngrazer descended from the hillhopper, which has grown larger as the spire forests grow taller. 

The unicorn is so named for its long nasal crests which rise straight out and above its head until their very tips, where then - in mature males, at least - the two crests lightly twist together, giving the impression of being a single spiral horn at a distance. Unicorns are much bigger than their dwarfed immediate ancestor, because now good grazing grounds are further from the protection of the trees. Unicorns need their longer legs to move down to the grasslands, where they eat most of their food, and then to quickly dash up the hills and into cover if any carnivores come calling - now, a short-legged little animal like the hillhopper would be too vulnerable feeding down below the elevated forests.  Despite their size, unicorns are still excellent climbers, able to scale nearly vertical hillsides with concave hooves. But now they are also large enough to be less at risk moving over flat, open landscapes, and so they have spread out over the continent, migrating from one sheltering patch of forest to the next. The northernmost populations are larger than their southern counterparts and spend the most time in the open; several subspecies exist overall, some more adapted to climbing, others for running, and they show difference in coat pattern, leg proportion, and even slight variations in the shape of their hooves.

Female unicorns live in small herds, while adult males are solitary -  juveniles may form short-lived bachelor groups as they transition out of their natal herds. Young males resemble females, with only short, uncurled crests, and they are nomadic, often traveling up to a hundred miles from where they were born at adolescence and so being the dispersal sex of this species. Mature males are aggressive to one another and become territorial around two years of age, picking a home range centered around a suitable patch of spire forest surrounded on at least one side by good grazing land. Once settled they undergo changes - their crests enlarge and begin to twist together, as well as developing a blue coloration. With the swelling of these structures, the voice changes from a soft bleat to a booming low-pitched call which can carry for several miles, and advertises the male’s fitness and readiness to mate to traveling female groups, which do not stick to any one home range. If they like what they hear, they will come to meet him, and then go their separate ways.

If another male hears him and tries to challenge him, the two will first engage more in a battle of voice than anything truly physical, blaring their calls as loud as possible and mock-charging one another; if it truly becomes serious, they will fight by biting at one another’s faces and  shoving side to side with their shoulders and necks, taking care to avoid damaging their crests which have lost much of their durability over time in favor of ornamentation. Though these battles do not usually appear especially violent, at least compared to earlier thorngrazer conflicts, they can be prolonged and last a number of hours. One way males try to gain the upperhand against their foes is to bite at their ears, trying to pry open the muscles which seal them shut while calling, and so protect their hearing. One loud call directly into an open ear is a painful experience, and can lead to longterm hearing loss - it is temporarily incapacitated, and guarantees a win for its rival. Over their lives, many male unicorns become partially deaf in this way, which ultimately reduces their survival chances significantly as they can no longer hear predators. Females thus outlive males, and male territories might be taken over by a new owner as often as twice a year. Losing males may claim another territory later, but each time they lose one reduces their chance of taking another, so that by the age of four or five most of them - with damaged hearing and scars from battles - are effectively near the ends of their lives, and unlikely to succeed in mating again.