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On the trail of mythical beasts

By Sumit Paul-Choudhury

1 April 2009

Âé¶¹´«Ã½. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

(Image: HarperCollins)

WHAT makes so many people want to believe in fabulous creatures? and set out to explore this question, and although one tackles an ancient myth and the other a modern one, they come up with remarkably similar answers.

The Natural History of Unicorns might sound whimsical, but in fact it is an erudite, scholarly book which uses the unicorn to illuminate millennia of social and geographical change. appear in many guises in many cultures – from the ferocious one-horned ass described by the Greeks to the courtly, Christianised goat of medieval…

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