Snails, lizards, pelican and Co. – these 68 (!) animals are on our municipal coat of arms

Municipal coats of arms are just great fun. What you discover there in Switzerland. In the second part of our standalone series, we focus on animals in coats of arms (the first part was about colors).

641 of the 2136 municipalities show at least one animal on their coat of arms (20 have two, only one has three):

Not all municipalities are as focused on animals as in Bassins, but at least every third has an animal on its coat of arms.

Eagle, bear and lion are common. Fish, ibexes, horses or deer can also be seen again and again. But there are also more exotic animals on Swiss municipal coats of arms. But first, let’s get an overview of where the “animal weapons” are located:

Birds are used 162 times. In 160 we could clearly assign these to a subspecies. Municipal secretary Alexandra Wyprchtiger writes from Arbon that these are probably falcons. The reply to the corresponding request is still pending at Ederswiler JU. (Maybe some of you know that too?)

An eagle appears 58 times on the coat of arms. The crane (15), the rooster (12) and the mythical creature griffin (12, half lion, half bird of prey) follow at a great distance. The swan (11) has another bird on more than 10 coats of arms.

A total of 29 different birds are shown. Lavertezzo TI with the pelican, the capercaillie from Enges NE and the owl from Langendorf SO are certainly special.

Like many other Swiss communities, Langendorf introduced its coat of arms in 1939 for the national exhibition. The second Freischarenzug in 1845 is commemorated, when a cannon with the word "Forward" was carried. On top of the cannon sits an owl with a Swiss flag in its beak.

In addition to the birds, municipal coats of arms usually show a lion (133). Bear (63), fish (50) and ibex (35) follow at a great distance:

In addition to the normal animals, you will also find some exotic animals here. For example, the lizard of Coinsins VD, the snail of Zell ZH or the bees of La Chaux-de-Fonds NE. How the snail came to be on the coat of arms is not entirely clear, the heraldry does not assign any special symbolism to the snail.

Zell writes on her community website: "Much symbolism can be drawn from the image of the snail, whether moving slowly or withdrawing into the cochlea, which is not, however, directly characteristic of the nature of the Zell population."

The coat of arms of Unterschächen UR is also very special. There is an image of a little devil carrying a bell. Yes, we count here as the little devil among the animals. This arose from the following legend: St. Theodul received from the Pope the most beautiful bell in Rome. He forced the devil to carry the bell from Rome to Valera near Zion. The devil dropped the bell on the way. St. Theodul then compelled him to carry all parts of the broken bell to his episcopal city.

What is also striking in various municipal coats of arms with animals are the male genitalia. In heraldry, this masculinity or masculinity is often used to represent strength and power. The penis is often depicted only as a pointed organ.

Of the 641 coats of arms with animals, 173 show a country house. With 72 (out of 133), this is most often the case with the lion. Followed by Bear (32 out of 68) and Capricorn (21 out of 35).