<\/p>
Scotland\u2019s national animal is the unicorn, a\u00a0 purely fictional animal. We can\u2019t list its scientific name because it doesn\u2019t have one!<\/p>\n
Scotland isn\u2019t the only country to have a mythical beast as its national symbol, Wales, of course, has a dragon, and the Czech Republic has a two-tailed lion.<\/p>\n
This mythical animal is similar to a horse, but has a large, pointed, spiralling\u00a0horn coming from its poll\/forehead<\/p>\n
The Scottish association with unicorns goes back centuries, first being placed on the royal coat of arms in the 12th Century by William I. Its royal connection is thought to stem from a medieval legend that only a king could hold a unicorn captive due to its strength, a legend which was encouraged by Scots kings. It is seen still as an important symbol of purity, power, courage, and unity.<\/p>\n
You can however also learn about some real-life \u2018unicorns\u2019! Read our handy guide to learn all about narwhals<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 the \u2018unicorns of the sea\u2019. Learn also about the \u2018Siberian unicorn\u2019<\/a> that was made extinct in the last ice age but is thought to have lived alongside ancient peoples.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> \u00a0<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n By Debbie Graham Published: Monday, 16 January 2023 at 12:00 am Scotland\u2019s national animal is the unicorn, a\u00a0 purely fictional animal. We can\u2019t list its scientific name because it doesn\u2019t have one! Scotland isn\u2019t the only country to have a mythical beast as its national symbol, Wales, of course, has a dragon, and the Czech […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":24172,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/01\/whats-the-national-animal-of-scotland.jpg",2050,1462,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/01\/whats-the-national-animal-of-scotland-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/01\/whats-the-national-animal-of-scotland-300x214.jpg",300,214,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/01\/whats-the-national-animal-of-scotland-768x548.jpg",768,548,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/01\/whats-the-national-animal-of-scotland-1024x730.jpg",800,570,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/01\/whats-the-national-animal-of-scotland-1536x1095.jpg",1536,1095,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/01\/whats-the-national-animal-of-scotland-2048x1461.jpg",2048,1461,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Debbie Graham Published: Monday, 16 January 2023 at 12:00 am Scotland\u2019s national animal is the unicorn, a\u00a0 purely fictional animal. We can\u2019t list its scientific name because it doesn\u2019t have one! Scotland isn\u2019t the only country to have a mythical beast as its national symbol, Wales, of course, has a dragon, and the Czech…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/24171"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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