Medieval Animals

Pliny the Elder / The Aberdeen Bestiary

Bonnacon

Themes & interpretation: Fabulous self-defence; modern comic appeal

In bestiary legend, the bonnacon resembles a bull whose inward-curving horns are useless for defence. It escapes pursuers by ejecting dung that burns them. Accounts vary in the distance described; this is a fabulous animal story, not zoology.

Sources & Provenance

No illumination available.
Related manuscript
The Aberdeen Bestiary

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