There is evidence that the animal may have been the prototype for the ancient legend of the unicorn. The oryx antelope has a uniform white coloration and, when viewed in profile and from a distance, could be mistaken for a creature with a single horn - its two horns appear to be one.
According to another concept, if it loses one of its horns for any reason, it never grows back. In the old print "Peregrinatio in terram sanctam" from 1486, which describes a pilgrimage through Egypt and Mount Sinai to Jerusalem, there are woodcuts depicting animals encountered on the journey - crocodiles, camels and a unicorn, which is most likely an oryx.
