Flags with Animals

About Animals

Animals on national flags are usually heraldic — drawn from a country’s coat of arms — and they almost always carry political meaning. Eagles dominate: Albania, Egypt, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro and Serbia all fly single- or double-headed eagles. Lions appear on the flags of Sri Lanka and Spain. Other notable creatures include the dragon of Bhutan, the bird-of-paradise of Papua New Guinea, the quetzal of Guatemala, and the Andean condor of Ecuador. Flag designers often advise against animals because the detail is hard to read at a distance, but they remain popular because they carry the heraldic history of a state. A flag with an animal almost always traces back to a medieval royal seal or a national-revolutionary movement.