What Is The National Animal Of Scotland?

Scotland is one of the world’s most beautiful and consistently underrated countries. According to TripAdvisor’s 2023 Travellers’ Choice awards, Edinburgh is the world’s 21st most popular travel destination. However, we believe that it, along with every other Scottish city and tourist location, deserves to be much higher on that list.

Whether it’s the cosmopolitan beauty of Scottish urban areas or the wild, untamed majesty of the heath, there’s plenty to love in Scotland. It’s a fascinating country from a cultural perspective as well. Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of Scotland is its national animal, which wrong-foots many who believe they might know the answer.

Think about which animals Scotland is best known for, then put them out of your mind. The real answer to what Scotland's national animal is will almost certainly come as a big surprise!

So, what is Scotland’s national animal?

Brace yourself: the national animal of Scotland is, in fact, a unicorn.

It’s true! You might think we’re making it up for comic effect, but Scotland hasn’t picked any one of the animals that actually appear throughout its varied and beautiful landscape to represent it. Instead, it’s chosen a fictional animal, albeit one with a huge amount of appeal to pretty much everyone around the world. After all, who can say they don’t love unicorns?

Don’t believe us? Just ask the National Trust for Scotland—they’ll confirm that Scotland’s national animal is the unicorn, and has been for many, many years!