www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/why-is-the-unicorn-scotland-s-national-animal-1-3953188
Why is the Unicorn Scotland’s national animal?
AN American historian has uncovered the roots of how the Unicorn became Scotland’s national animal in the late 1300s.
Elyse Waters, who is hosting Unicorns: A Zoological Analysis as part of Scotland’s history festival, first became interested in the subject when she discovered a medieval cookbook that included a recipe for how best to cook the mythical beast.
During her research, the historian found that the Unicorn was believed to be the natural enemy of the lion - a symbol that the English royals adopted around a hundred years before.
According to folklore, the lion and the unicorn hate each other - a tradition going back to the ancient Babylonians in 3,500 B.C.
The second natural enemy? The elephant.
“It was always said that the unicorn would always defeat the elephant, that it had this immense strength to it, even despite its diminished size, it couldn’t be beaten by something as large and powerful as an elephant.
“I think it also had to do with the idea of nobility and purity.
“In the various depictions of the unicorn, the stories that go along with it there’s one in particular, the water cleansing story. A snake would come up to the watering hole and poison it, but then the unicorn would then come along and dip its horn into the watering hole to purify it for all the other animals.
“So it had a combination of this power to dominate, but instead of using the power, it used it to protect and provide other resources for other animals. And in medieval times, when there was this great focus on chivalry, it became the ultimate animal. It could do what ever it wanted because of that power, but it chose to use this power to make better for other things.
“When you combine this with all the other stories about its greatness, its power and its ferocity - you can understand why they wanted it.”
In Western parts of the world, the unicorn was believed to be real for around 2,500 years and was adopted as Scotland’s national animal by King Robert in the late 1300s.
The existence of the mythical creature was only disproved in 1825 by scientist Baron George Covier, who said it was not feasible for an animal that had a split hoof to have a single horn coming from the top of its head. Worldwide, belief in the unicorn lasted well over 4,000 years, particularly in eastern Asia where it was a benevolent bringer of good luck.
You'll note the Scottish unicorn is in chains.