Unicorn Psychology
Unicorns like and need privacy, open spaces, and clean environment for survival. Unicorns walk in a graceful and delicate manner, carefully placing each foot down in such a way as to avoid trampling on flowers, small insects, or other animals. They will sometimes make large detours in order to avoid confrontations with other more belligerent creatures. When in a hurry they trot, and when frightened they gallop. Besides trotting, they are also able to make unusually long jumps when running. These may cover as much as twenty feet and enable them to cross small rivers or roads without getting wet or leaving footprints. When playing, unicorns delight in jumping over one another, over fences, or over other tall objects.
At times, they take a special enjoyment in jumping over sleeping dragons or some of the other dangerous creatures of their native habitat.
Like other hoofed animals, unicorns rest and sleep while lying on the ground with their legs folded in against the body, with the body tilted slightly toward one side and the head turned back toward the rear. This way, their legs are always almost directly under them, allowing them to leap to their feet in an instant. Not even newborn fawns sleep completely on their sides, or with their legs out from under them. With the slightest sound their ears are turned in the direction of the noise, and their large eyes scan the distance for any danger. When alarmed, resting unicorns utter a small sneeze like sound that alerts other nearby unicorns to possible danger, this is especially true of mothers guarding their fawns.
possible danger, this is especially true of mothers guarding their fawns. On hearing such a sneeze, the fawn will lower its head and fold its ears back, so that
it becomes almost invisible in the grass, and it remains thus until its hidden mother calls to it. The unicorn doe tries to lead danger away from her hidden foal. Unicorns rise early in the morning, often before sunrise, and graze until the sun is well up and the insects become annoying. Then, at least on hot summer days, they retire to the densest part of the woods to rest and nap until late afternoon. Then they rise to graze again until dark, or even after dark on moonlit nights, finally going to sleep about midnight. Baby unicorns nurse off and on throughout the day, but especially at dawn and
dusk, and often follow these nursing periods with bouts of playful running and jumping, when they resemble lambs gamboling about in the fields. As they grow older, they gradually reduce such periods of play, and young males begin to engage in mock sparring sessions with other youngsters, in anticipation of their later jousting over mates.
Besides their alarm "sneeze," unicorns have a variety of other calls or signals that they use for
communication. Babies have a soft, bleating call with which they answer their mother's "contact
call ". This contact call is used by the mother to reassure her fawn and keep it informed of her
location, even when they are fairly close together. Both adult and young unicorns have a distress call, which brings other unicorns to assist their fellows. Unicorns have an "all clear" call to inform others of the departure of any source of danger, especially if there has been a sneeze call alarm. Unicorns also use their tails to communicate information.
In combination with fully raised ears, a lifted tail signals danger, and a side to side flicking of the tail indicates pleasure or contentment.
For much of the year, unicorns live a fairly easy life, for they eat many kinds of leaves and grasses that grow in abundance in the European forests. In the spring and summer, when plants are in full bloom, the animals are careful not to eat the blossoms of particularly beautiful flowers. This is partly because they do not like to disturb the flowers' beauty and partly so that they will have fruit or berries to feast on later. They are very fond of many kinds of berries, such as wild strawberries, and also enjoy crab apples and wild cherries. Sometimes, unicorns will shake or strike fruit laden branches with their horns or stand on their hind legs in order to reach the fruits they crave.
By late fall, after the last fruits have been eaten and the leaves have fallen from the trees, the unicorns have grown very fat and are well able to endure the winter months' limited foods and cold temperatures. Unlike deer, which form herds during the winter, at least after the short fall mating season, unicorns continue to live their solitary lives. During winter, unicorns move into thicker forests, where the snow does not lie as deeply
and where they can reach grasses by digging down into the snow with their hooves or horns. At this time of the year they must be very alert to predators like wolves, which can run over 50 ft snow easily and quickly overtake a fleeing unicorn. However, unless it is badly outnumbered, a unicorn is able to keep wolves at bay with its sharp horn. Even under such conditions a unicorn will try not to kill the wolves, but only to frighten them away.

After unicorns are no longer able to reproduce, they tend to wander about in the woods, rarely seen by anyone, and sometimes travel great distances. Perhaps these old animals with the wanderlust account for the occasional sightings of unicorns well beyond their known ranges. They have been seen in places as far south as southern Italy, and even as far away as Alaska and Canada. They apparently reached North America by crossing the Bering Strait on icebergs.