The Scottish Unicorn. In the 15th century, most of the European nobility are adopting animal emblems, often wild and uncommon ones (the lion for the kings of England, the porcupine for the kings of France, the eagle in Spain, etc.). In Scotland, James I went for the unicorn. We don’t really know why. The unicorn: a mystical beast, representing both purity and innocence, power and ferocity, adopted as the national animal of Scotland in the 1300s. The unicorn is also the natural enemy of the lion, adopted by English royalty some 100 years before… The unicorn is Scotland’s national animal (Credit: StockImages/Alamy) From Edinburgh to St Andrews and Glasgow to Dundee, the one-horned mythological horse is real in Scotland. BU41.

unicorn national animal of scotland