# What's this creature on the Canadian Space Agency coat of arms, and why is it there?
Tags: insignia, space-agencies
- Score: 16
- Views: 5402
- Answers: 2
- Answered: yes
- Asked by: DrSheldon (49636 rep)
- Asked: 2020-09-23
- Edited: 2020-09-24
- Site: space
## Question
The Canadian Space Agency has a coat of arms with the following creature on it. What is this creature, and why is it there?
A1 Aardvark / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)
## Answers
### Answer by Russell Borogove (score: 31 [ACCEPTED])
It's not a unicorn, but a pantheon:
The Pantheon is a mythical or imaginary creature used in heraldry, particularly in Britain. They are often depicted as white deer with the tail of a fox and spangeled with purple stars along their back.
They first became popular in heraldry in the 16th century, but had a comeback in technical and engineering fields in the 20th:
Examples are the arms of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, granted in 1955; two pantheons also appear as the supporters of the arms of the Engineering Council (the United Kingdom regulatory body for the engineering profession), granted in 1984.
I think someone thought a beast w