Flags With Animals on Them (and What They Mean)

Most national flags are stripes, crosses and stars. A small number carry an animal – a dragon, an eagle, a crane, a parrot – and once you know the story behind each one, those flags become some of the easiest in the world to recognise. This guide goes through them grouped by animal, says what each one stands for, and gives you one clear way to tell it from its look-alikes.

There are two kinds of animal flag. On some, the animal is the design – Bhutan's dragon, Uganda's crane. On others it sits inside a coat of arms in the middle, small enough to miss at quiz size. Both are covered below.

The big, obvious ones

These are the flags where the animal fills the design. Learn the animal and you have the country.

Bhutan – a white dragon across a flag split diagonally into yellow and orange. It's Druk, the Thunder Dragon, which also gives Bhutan its own name, Druk Yul, "land of the Thunder Dragon" – thunder in the mountains was said to be its voice. The jewels in its claws stand for the nation's wealth. The yellow half represents the king, the orange half Buddhism. See Nepal vs Bhutan for its neighbour's very different flag.

Sri Lanka – a golden lion holding a sword on a dark red panel, with a bo leaf in each corner. The lion stands for the Sinhalese people and the sword for sovereignty; the four leaves are Buddhist virtues. The green and orange stripes on the left were added for the Muslim (Moor) and Tamil communities.

Uganda – a grey crowned crane in a white circle, on six stripes of black, yellow and red. The crane is Uganda's national bird, chosen in 1962 partly because it didn't belong to any one region or group. Black is for the people, yellow for sunshine, red for brotherhood.

Papua New Guinea – a gold Raggiana bird of paradise on red, with the Southern Cross on black below it. The flag was designed in 1971 by Susan Karike, a 15-year-old schoolgirl.

Kiribati – a golden frigatebird flying over a rising sun, above blue and white waves for the Pacific. The design comes straight from the coat of arms the islands were given in 1937.

Dominica – a Sisserou parrot (the imperial amazon) in a red circle, ringed by ten green stars, one for each of the island's parishes. The parrot lives only on Dominica, and its purple feathers make this the national flag where purple is easiest to spot. See Dominica vs Dominican Republic – the names are close, the flags are not.

Zimbabwe – the Zimbabwe Bird, based on soapstone birds found at the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, standing on a red star in a white triangle.

Zambia – an orange African fish eagle flying above a block of three stripes at the fly end. It stands for freedom and for the people's ability to rise above the nation's problems.

Hook for this pair: Zimbabwe's bird sits still in the triangle; Zambia's eagle flies in the corner. Both have a bird, which makes Zambia vs Zimbabwe harder than it looks.

Eagles

Eagles are the most common animal on flags, mostly through coats of arms, so they are worth learning carefully.

Mexico – an eagle on a cactus, eating a snake. It comes from the founding legend of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan – now Mexico City – which was to be built where this sign appeared. Without the eagle, Mexico's flag is almost identical to Italy's.
Albania – a black double-headed eagle on red. The hero Skanderbeg raised a red flag with a black eagle in 1443 in his revolt against the Ottomans, and Albanians revived it in the 19th century. See Kosovo vs Albania.
Montenegro – a gold double-headed eagle on red with a gold border, and a lion on the eagle's chest. Serbia's flag also has a double-headed eagle, but white, inside a coat of arms on red-blue-white stripes – see Serbia vs Montenegro.
Kazakhstan – a golden steppe eagle under a sun with 32 rays, on sky blue, with a strip of traditional ornament along the hoist.
Egypt – the golden Eagle of Saladin in the white middle stripe. Take the eagle away and you have Yemen's flag, which has no emblem at all.
Moldova – an eagle holding a cross in its beak, with a shield on its chest showing the head of an aurochs, the extinct wild ox.

Hook: Albania black, Montenegro gold, Serbia white – and Mexico's is busy eating a snake.

Birds in the coat of arms

These are less obvious, but they're often the detail that settles a look-alike pair.

Ecuador – an Andean condor spreads its wings on top of the coat of arms. Colombia has the same yellow, blue and red stripes but no arms – see Ecuador vs Colombia.
Bolivia – the version with the coat of arms (the one used by the government and shown on this site) has a condor on top and a llama inside the shield.
Guatemala – a resplendent quetzal, the national bird, perches on the scroll in the middle. Guatemala's currency is also called the quetzal.
Fiji – the shield has a golden lion at the top holding a cocoa pod, and a dove of peace in one of its four quarters.

Smaller animals that decide look-alikes

Andorra – two red cows in one quarter of the shield. Andorra and Moldova both have blue-yellow-red stripes with arms in the middle, so look for the cows (Andorra) or the eagle (Moldova) – see Andorra vs Moldova.
Spain – a lion in the coat of arms for the old Kingdom of León, next to a castle for Castile.
Croatia – the small crown of five shields above the red-and-white chequerboard includes a goat (for Istria), a marten (for Slavonia) and three lion heads (for Dalmatia).
Vanuatu – not a whole animal, but a curled boar's tusk, worn as a symbol of prosperity, with two crossed namele leaves inside it.

Not countries

Some famous animal flags belong to places that aren't independent countries, so they won't come up in a country quiz: Wales (the red dragon), and many US states, such as California (a bear) and Louisiana (a pelican). Try the US states flags quiz for those.

Practise it

Whole World – flags – count how many animals you spot.
The Balkans – flags for the eagles side by side.
Southern Africa – flags, East Africa – flags and Oceania – flags for the birds.

Tip: learn the animal first – dragon = Bhutan, crane = Uganda, frigatebird = Kiribati, parrot = Dominica. Then play the region quiz the next day and let the Mistake Bank collect the ones that still slip.

FAQ

Which country has a dragon on its flag?

Bhutan. The white Thunder Dragon, Druk, also gives the country its own name, Druk Yul. Wales has a red dragon too, but Wales is part of the United Kingdom rather than an independent country.

Which flag has an eagle eating a snake?

Mexico. The eagle on a cactus with a snake in its beak shows the legend of how the Aztecs chose the site of Tenochtitlan, today's Mexico City.

Which countries have a bird on their flag?

Birds that fill the design appear on the flags of Uganda, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Dominica, Zimbabwe and Zambia, and eagles appear on Mexico, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, Kazakhstan, Egypt and Moldova. Ecuador, Bolivia, Guatemala and Fiji have birds inside their coats of arms.

Which national flag has purple on it?

Dominica, in the Sisserou parrot's feathers. Small purple details also appear in the coats of arms on the flags of Nicaragua, El Salvador and Spain.