Scottish Animal World Cup

Later rounds – held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday on our Facebook page – will feature such pairings as the Highland midge vs the small tortoiseshell butterfly, and everyone’s favourites, the bottlenose dolphin vs the Shetland pony!

Over the next ten weeks there’ll be two knockout rounds, a quarter final, a semi-final and the grand final on 10 June when Scotland’s favourite animal will be crowned.

Michael Terwey, Head of Heritage Services & Consultancy at the National Trust for Scotland said: ‘Most people know that Scotland’s national animal is the unicorn but you don’t see so many of them about the place. So, we thought we’d get the Scottish public to help us find the species that encapsulates Scotland’s diverse fauna and name it Scotland’s best.

‘Although we’ve had to temporarily close our properties, we wanted to celebrate the incredible variety of animals that we share these lands with. That’s why we’re asking the public to get involved and vote for who they want to win. We love them all (even the midge) so we couldn’t possibly decide – an online poll seemed like the best idea.

‘Pitching a Highland cow against a damselfly or an Atlantic puffin against a Scottish wildcat would have been a logistical nightmare anyway, so keeping it virtual makes things a lot easier.’

The first bout is open for voting from 10.30am this Wednesday at the National Trust for Scotland’s Facebook page.

To find out more about Scotland’s wildlife, visit our countryside pages.