in the US, Canada, and Australia, states and provinces have their own official animal. Curious to know if your local subdivision does as well.

25 comments

  2. In Romania we have 3 historical regions and their official animals are:

    Moldova – Aurochs (also on it’s [emblem](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/Coat_of_arms_of_Moldova.svg/800px-Coat_of_arms_of_Moldova.svg.png))

    Transylvania – Brown bear

    Wallachia – Lynx (which is also the national animal) and White Pelican (which is also the national bird)

    The first two are pretty heavily featured across emblems etc from our history (the last 2 not so much). Also, if we look at counties and cities we can find a lot of animals on emblems and seals. For ex see my home town’s emblem [Târgu Mureș](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Coa_Romania_Town_Marosv%C3%A1s%C3%A1rhely.svg/180px-Coa_Romania_Town_Marosv%C3%A1s%C3%A1rhely.svg.png) or all the [county emblems](https://preview.redd.it/a83geho8w2f61.jpg?auto=webp&s=8464a20425a7675bd7e1ada28f178eb1073e7c7e).

  4. Not really in Denmark, but the three constituent countries of the Kingdom of Denmark do:

    Greenland: Polar bear

    Faroe Islands: European oystercatcher (bird)

    Denmark: Mute swan, red squirrel

  5. Some do, some don’t. Switzerland is a confederation of 26 cantons (or 23, 3 of which are split into two half-cantons, giving a total of 26), here are the ones whose animals I know from the top of my head:

    – [Grisons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grisons?wprov=sfla1): [Ibex](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_ibex?wprov=sfla1) (It’s 1/3 of the [flag](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Canton_of_Graubünden.svg))
    – [Uri](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canton_of_Uri?wprov=sfla1): Bull (it’s on the [flag](https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Canton_of_Uri.svg))
    – [Basel-Stadt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basel-Stadt?wprov=sfla1): Basilisk (imaginary dragon-chicken thingy, seen [here](https://live.staticflickr.com/5256/5506704733_c20311090c_b.jpg) with the coat of arms of Basel-Stadt)
    – Edit: almost forgot Bern (both the [city](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bern?wprov=sfla1) and the [canton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canton_of_Bern?wprov=sfla1)): Brown Bear (It’s on the [flag](https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wappen_Bern_matt.svg) as well as in the “[Bärengraben](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A4rengraben?wprov=sfla1)” – a bear enclosure where the city of Bern keeps it’s official animal for people to look at since at least 1513)

  6. I don’t think there is such a thing as official animals here in Spain.

    Similarly, we don’t have other “official things” that I have seen in the USA, like official drink, official food, official dessert, official tree, etc.

  7. There are mytholgical creatures associated with some of the UK “Home Nations”. Not sure if there’s anything at a lower level for counties.

    England – Lion

    Wales – Dragon

    Scotland – Unicorn

  8. I had to google it, but apparently the white-tailed deer is the regional animal of Pirkanmaa. Pretty vanilla.

    As I was googling this I noticed that the shape of the region on a map looked odd, and apparently it changed last year when a municipality changed over from another region. What the fuck, I had no idea?

  9. Belgium : Gold Lion

    Flanders: Black Lion

    Wallonia: Coq Hardi (Fighting roster)

    Prov. Lux: Red Lion with gold teeth and claws, and 2 tails, also the Stag

    Arlon (Town): Braying Stag

    Luxembourg (Country): Red Lion with red teeth and 2 tails, also the fox iirc

    Edit: For Prov. Luxembourg it is to be the Boar and not the stag

  10. My *landskap* (similar provinces, but not administrative anymore) Bohuslän (the costal landskap between gothenburg and Norwegian border has *knubbsäl* (Harbour seal). From what I can find knubb mean essentially chubby.

  11. I think for most places in Germany there aren’t really official state animals. Just the one that may be depicted in the state symbols.

    For [Bavaria ](https://www.bavariaworldwide.de/en/about-bavaria/state-symbols/#:~:text=The%20golden%20lion&text=It%20was%20originally%20the%20symbol,House%20of%20Wittelsbach%20for%20centuries.) that would be, most notable, a lion but there are also some other animals on it as well.

    For Bavaria there is also the [Wolpertinger ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolpertinger).
    It’s not really official but I guess a considerable amount of bavarians would consider it that.

  12. Our Counties have them (remnant of medieval times, replaced by provinces as administrative subdivisions 400 year ago but we still tie identity to county and not province) ours here in Närke is the Hazel dormouse and our county flower is the Cowslip.

  13. The coat of arms of Lower Saxony shows a white steed on red ground and yeah, well, it’s called *Sachsenross* (Saxon’s steed) and it’s pretty much the “official animal” though no one would call it that.

    The local municipality’s coat of arms is a black eagle with red claws and tongue on golden shield. And that’s also the animal of the city. Yeah. It’s the same as Germany’s coat of arms and official animal. Makes somewhat sense as it was the capital a thousand years ago when that coat of arms had been invented.

    But that *official X* business isn’t a thing over here in general.

  14. There isn’t one in Southwest Finland. At least the list of regional symbols on the website of the region doesn’t list any. Wikipedia however claims that it would be fox but I trust the official source more. Fox also doesn’t make any sense as an official animal as the region doesn’t have anything particular to do with them. They live in the entire Finland.

    We do have official bird and fish which are European jackdaw and Baltic herring. They both fit as the jackdaws are well known to live in the tower of the Turku cathedral and Baltic herring has historically been an important food and source of income in the coastal area.

  15. So the county I live in has on their flag a horse. So.. I guess that counts.

    [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilnius_County#/media/File:Vilnius_County_flag.svg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilnius_County#/media/File:Vilnius_County_flag.svg)

    Many of the counties here have bears or horses included. Or fish or birds. Its awesome. or Flowers!!!

    My home territory in Australia has a flag of two swans looking to fight eat other over a shield.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Capital_Territory#/media/File:Coat_of_Arms_of_the_Australian_Capital_Territory.svg

  16. Contrary to popular belief Y Ddraig Goch (the red dragon) is not our national animal (its our national symbol but not our national animal). That honour goes to the Red Kite.

    Scotland’s is a unicorn though, and England’s is a lion.

    I haven’t heard of subdivisions below the 4 nations having official animals, and I don’t know if Northern Ireland has one.

  17. None that I’m aware of, but a few incorporate animals in their crest design but it’s not a specific thing.

    There are 4 historic provinces in Ireland

    Leinster (East) – symbol is a harp.
    Munster (South) – 3 gold crowns.
    Connacht (West) – one half is an eagle’s wing and the other an armed human knight’s arm.
    Ulster (North, including but not exclusively Northern Ireland) – symbol is a red hand.

    That’s all four (Wikipedia)

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Ulster#/media/File%3AProvincial_Arms_of_Ireland.svg

    Munster Rugby adopted a giant elk (stag / deer) as part of their symbol but that’s a modern branding thing. I’m not aware of it being associated with the province itself.

    The 26 historical counties, most of which still exist as regions of local government, are usually represented by colour flags rather than crests. The counties and towns all mostly have crests but they’re usually not animal based. Often things like harbours, boats, crowns, castles, musical instruments etc. There are a few animals but they’re just one of many symbols.

  18. I do not think there are any here, unless one considers heraldic animals as such. In this case: the winged lion for Veneto, the golden eagle for Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Pegasus for Tuscany and the green woodpecker for Marche.

  19. Federal state? Not really but we have the Prussian eagle and the Bear of Anhalt on our coat of arms.

    The bear goes back to Albrecht der Bär who founded Anhalt and the Mark Brandenburg in the 11th century.

    So lots of local weapons use the bear as a symbol.

    Unofficially, we also have the [Capercaillie](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1a/Auerhahn-balz.jpg/1280px-Auerhahn-balz.jpg) as a symbol, since they live here and are used as the logo of a brewery.

  20. I’m living in Bavaria and some (very) old farmers believe in wolpertingers. they’re not real animals, but they are a mix of many animals: It’s a rabbit with duck feet, a squirrel’s tail, eagle wings and an antler.

  21. I don’t know how official it is but the eagle is a very frequent symbol for my city : Nice, France. It’s the main element on the city’s coat of arms, it’s the animal for our football team OGC Nice, and the flag of the region (PACA, which Nice is the second biggest city of after Marseille) has an eagle on it.

  22. Voivodeship emblems usually have a white/golden/black eagle/gryffin/lion (and in Podlasie’s case, lithuanian horse with the polish eagle) on them, but most of these animals are mythicals, so I won’t include them.

    No as far as I know, but National Parks do, either animals, plants or geographical features, which can be seen in their logos. It goes like this:

    * *Biabiogórski Park Narodowy-* “laserpitium archangelica” (plant that in Poland only grows there)
    * *Białowieski-* european bison, obviously
    * *Biebrzański-* ruff
    * *Bieszczadzki-* lynx
    * *Bory Tucholskie-* capercaillie
    * *Drawieński-* otter
    * *Gorczański-* fire salamander
    * *Table Mountains-* Szczeliniec Wielki, which is a mountain in Sudetes
    * *Kampinoski-* moose
    * *Karkonoski-* campanula bohemica+ willow gentian
    * *Magurski-* lesser spotted eagle
    * *Narwiański-* western marsh harrier
    * *Ojcowski-* just a bat
    * *Pieniński-* Trzy Korony, “three crowns” which is again, a mountain
    * *Poleski-* crane, because Polesie is kind of a marsh area, magical place imo
    * *Roztoczański-* polish konik, a kind of really small pony
    * *Słowiński-* gull
    * *Holy Cross-* red deer
    * *Tatrzański-* Tatra chamois, my grandma’s a really mountain person, she used to tell me stories from chamois’ lives
    * *Ujście Warty-* bean goose
    * *Wielkopolski-* tawny owl
    * *Wigierski-* beaver and the lake Wigry
    * *Woliński-* white tailed eagle, which is also by chance a symbol of Poland

  23. Not officially, although both golden eagles and stags (specifically stags heads/antlers) are traditional symbols of the Highlands.

    The boar is sometimes used for Aberdeen, although it’s more correctly associated with the two universities there.

  24. we dont have official animals but some cities are associated w certain animals for several reasons. ours is the dragon, it used to be in the city coat of arms and its present around the city in the town hall, palace of justice, bag palace (funny translation heh), in statues and more. its also famously known as our football clubs symbol (FCP) who kept our former coat of arms in their insignia

  25. The bat, although it’s more properly for the city of València itself.

    Fun fact: DC Comics sued València CF over the bat logo on the poster for their 100th anniversary. The logo had been in use since before DC even existed, and it’s based on the bat featured on the coat of arms since the 13th century.

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