Quiz on Unicorns

The unicorn is the national animal of which country?

• Scotland ✓ (Correct answer)
• Ireland
• Wales
• Iceland

Source: Scotland adopted the unicorn as a royal symbol in the 1300s, a proud, untamable beast fit for a fierce nation.

Which children's franchise features colorful unicorns with magical powers?

• My Little Pony ✓ (Correct answer)
• Care Bears
• Pokemon
• Strawberry Shortcake

Source: My Little Pony's unicorns cast spells, while its pegasi fly and earth ponies tend the land.

A unicorn's single horn grows from which part of its body?

• Nose
• Forehead ✓ (Correct answer)
• Chin
• Tail

Source: Unlike a rhino's nose horn, the unicorn's spirals straight from its brow, a key giveaway in medieval art.

A startup nicknamed a 'unicorn' is valued at more than what amount?

• $1 million
• $100 million
• $1 billion ✓ (Correct answer)
• $10 billion

Source: Coined in 2013, 'unicorn' marked billion-dollar startups because they were once thought as rare as the mythical beast.

A viral 2017 color-changing 'Unicorn' drink was sold by which chain?

• Dunkin'
• McDonald's
• Costa
• Starbucks ✓ (Correct answer)

Source: Starbucks' 2017 Unicorn drink shifted from purple to pink and sold out in days despite mixed reviews.

For centuries, a unicorn's horn was believed to do what?

• Detect poison ✓ (Correct answer)
• Grant flight
• Heal wounds
• Summon rain

Source: Royals paid fortunes for 'unicorn horn' cups, convinced they would sweat or shatter if poison touched them.

The famous Unicorn Tapestries depict the creature being what?

• Crowned
• Tamed
• Hunted ✓ (Correct answer)
• Sacrificed

Source: The 'Hunt of the Unicorn' tapestries show the beast cornered, killed, then mysteriously alive again.

In Harry Potter, what does drinking unicorn blood do?

• Keeps you alive ✓ (Correct answer)
• Cures any poison
• Grants eternal youth
• Causes deep sleep

Source: Unicorn blood saves a dying person, but slaying so pure a creature leaves you with a cursed half-life.

Medieval 'unicorn horns' sold to royalty were really tusks from which animal?

• Walrus
• Narwhal ✓ (Correct answer)
• Elephant
• Hippopotamus

Source: Traders passed off spiral narwhal tusks as unicorn horns, earning many times their weight in gold.

The Chinese mythical creature 'Qilin' is often described as a kind of what?

• Unicorn ✓ (Correct answer)
• Dragon
• Phoenix
• Tortoise

Source: Qilin have scaled, deer-like bodies and a single horn, so many translations simply call them unicorns.

The word 'unicorn' derives from Latin roots meaning what?

• One horn ✓ (Correct answer)
• Pure horse
• White horn
• Sea horse

Source: 'Unus' (one) plus 'cornu' (horn) fused into 'unicornis', a literal label for its single defining feature.

The original Unicorn Tapestries are displayed at which New York museum?

• The Met ✓ (Correct answer)
• MoMA
• The Guggenheim
• The Frick

Source: The seven tapestries hang at The Met Cloisters, woven in wool, silk, and gold around 1500.

The unicorn emoji was first added to phones in which year?

• 2010
• 2015 ✓ (Correct answer)
• 2020
• 2005

Source: The unicorn emoji galloped onto keyboards with Unicode 8.0 in 2015, fueling the rainbow 'unicorn' food craze.

A unicorn depicted with wings is properly called what?

• Pegasus
• Alicorn ✓ (Correct answer)
• Hippogriff
• Wyvern

Source: A winged, horned horse is an 'alicorn', a word that confusingly also once meant the unicorn's horn itself.

By tradition, a gathering of unicorns is fancifully called a what?

• Herd
• Pack
• Blessing ✓ (Correct answer)
• Glory

Source: Folklore dubs a group of unicorns a 'blessing', fitting for creatures symbolizing purity and grace.

The Greek writer Ctesias described the unicorn as living in which land?

• Egypt
• Persia
• Greece
• India ✓ (Correct answer)

Source: Around 400 BC Ctesias described an Indian horned 'wild ass', likely a garbled rhino or antelope tale.

The 'unicorns' named in the King James Bible are now thought to be what?

• Antelopes
• Wild oxen ✓ (Correct answer)
• Buffalo
• Goats

Source: The King James 'unicorn' mistranslates the Hebrew re'em, an aurochs, a massive wild ox, not a horned horse.

In Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, the Lion and the Unicorn fight over a what?

• Sceptre
• Crown ✓ (Correct answer)
• Throne
• Kingdom

Source: Carroll borrowed an old nursery rhyme: 'The Lion and the Unicorn were fighting for the crown.'

The extinct 'Siberian unicorn' was actually a giant species of what?

• Bison
• Camel
• Rhinoceros ✓ (Correct answer)
• Horse

Source: Elasmotherium, the 'Siberian unicorn', was a shaggy one-horned rhino that lived alongside early humans.

Which real constellation is named after the unicorn?

• Monoceros ✓ (Correct answer)
• Pegasus
• Equuleus
• Camelopardalis

Source: Monoceros, Latin for 'unicorn', is a faint constellation charted near Orion in the 1600s.