A Single Horn Imagine taking a walk in the woods Suddenly you notice a large white animal through the trees It’s bent down drinking from a stream As you get closer you see it has the body of a horse It raises its head and you spot a single horn sticking out of its forehead It’s a unicorn Next you might find a camera and take a picture as quickly as you can An authentic photo would turn this creature from legend to actual animal While stories about unicorns have been passed down over centuries they’ve never been proven to be true Is it fair to label unicorns as a myth just because they’ve never been photographed or captured Let’s learn more about them before deciding if they could exist THE U.K. AND THE UNICORN The unicorn is on the coat of arms of the British queen Elizabeth II The legendary animal is a symbol of Scotland while the lion represents England In the coat of arms these animals are depicted or shown supporting a shield between them with more symbols within the shield representing England Scotland and Ireland The unicorn is a common decoration in Great Britain It’s found on the front gates of Buckingham Palace shown on the next page the Queen’s London home 4
FACT A IT'S The word unicorn was first used in the 13th century People have been talking about these creatures for a long time Unicorn comes from the Latin terms uni and cornu meaning having one horn 5
like like Not So Strange Myths are filled with strange creatures A sphinx has a human head and a lion’s body Centaurs have the lower body of a horse and the upper body of a man A griffin has a lion’s body and a bird’s head often an eagle’s It may or may not have wings A hippogriff is part horse and part griffin A phoenix is said to be a bird with red and gold feathers that sets itself on fire so another phoenix can be reborn from its ashes Compared to these legendary beasts unicorns might not seem so strange They’re often described as horse and sometimes goat with a single long horn on their head It wasn’t hard for people in the past to believe in unicorns even if they had never seen one A MIX OF CHARACTERISTICS Throughout history people have told stories about unicorns Reports of these creatures come from India Africa Asia and Europe In some tales these animals are gentle kind and loving In others unicorns are fierce strong and fast It’s said they like to be alone and are almost impossible to catch which helps explain why so few have seen them Their coats have been described as different colors though often white and sometimes reddish and their horns are said to be various colors too 6
IT'S A FACT The myth of the griffin also called a griffon or gryphon may have been told as early as 2000 BCE In the 17th century German scientist Otto von Guericke said animal bones found in a cave were a unicorn skeleton They were actually the remains of a woolly rhinoceros 7
