Saturday, November 07, 2009

Biodiversity on the coats of arms of Europe & surrounding areas

This post is also available in
Macedonian: Лавот наспроти орелот (на грбовите на Европа и околина)


As a contribution to the decades-long public debate on the coat of arms of Republic of Macedonia, I provide a graphic analysis of the animals used on the coats of arms and emblems of Europe and nearby areas. It's a kind of best practices study. Since the dispute in Macedonia focuses on two alternatives, with some ethnic Macedonians favoring the lion, and some ethnic Albanians favoring the eagle, the map pays special attention to these two symbols.

Click on the image for a larger and more detailed version of the map.

This is not a scientific study (yet), since the main source of data used is Wikipedia:
It would be interesting to do an overview of symbols used all over the world. For instance, no country uses an ostrich, but two have Kalashnikov assault rifles.
Note: on the map, the "no animals" category includes coats of arms featuring human figures (even though humans are animals, too).