The unofficial national animal of Luxembourg is the red lion. Of course, there is no such thing in nature as a “red lion”. Rather, the red lion is a national emblem and ensign used on flags, coats of arms and livery. The red lion has been an important symbol in many European countries since the Middle Ages.
So, somewhat confusingly, Luxembourg’s national animal is not an animal at all.
It’s worth remembering that while many countries have an officially recognized national animal, Luxembourg does not.
Its national animal is instead the red lion that has been so important as a symbol in the country.
Let’s find out more.
What is the national animal of Luxembourg?
Officially, Luxembourg has no national animal.
Not all countries have a national animal in an official way, though many do have a popularly recognized national animal.
This might mean any animal that happens to be very important to people locally or just an animal that people associate with the country in question.
In Luxembourg, things are slightly different, and while the country has no officially recognized national animal, the unofficial national animal is the red lion.
If you know anything about lion taxonomy, you probably know that there is no such thing as a red lion; they are not a real animal.
And this is certainly true; Luxembourg’s unofficial national animal is not a real animal in the strict sense of the word.
The red lion is simply a symbol which has been used in Luxembourg for a very long time simply to denote nationality in many cases.
For example, the red lion features on the country’s civil ensign, which is a maritime flag used to denote the nationality of a ship at sea.
Often, the civil ensign is simply the same as the country’s national flag, though this is not the case in Luxembourg.
The flag is red, white and blue in horizontal stripes.
The civil ensign depicts alternating white and blue horizontal stripes with a red lion over the centre of the flag.
So, all the colors are still present, but the red has been switched to the lion.
The red lion also features on some of the country’s coats of arms, such as the grandes armoires or the national armory.
This has been an important symbol to the people of Luxembourg for many centuries, then, and so it has become the country’s popularly recognized, though unofficial, national animal.
Why is the red lion the national animal of Luxembourg?
The red lion is a symbol of many things for the people of Luxembourg.
Lions, of course, are the basis for the emblem and lions are considered to be one of the most influential animals on the minds of Eurasian and African peoples.
The lion is a symbol of strength, courage, power and yet at the same time grace, beauty and nobility.
Lions have been used as symbols for many different countries and royal houses in Europe since the Middle Ages.
In this way, the red lion is simply an instantly recognizable symbol.
To the people of Luxembourg it no doubt signifies these things on a largely subconscious level.
The importance of the lion is so great in Europe today, even many millennia after the lion no longer is found in the wild in this part of the world.
It may be that at some time Luxembourg officially adopts a member of its own local fauna as its national animal.
This is the much more common way of doing this; national animals tend to be real animals found in the country natively rather than animal emblems.
Nothing called a “red lion” has ever existed in nature—so where does the symbol come from?
Where does the red lion come from?
The red lion in Luxembourg’s coat of arms derives from the 12th Century, when the count of Luxembourg chose the animal as the symbol of its coat of arms.
The first sovereign of the House of Luxembourg who used this symbol, as far as we know, was Henry V the Blonde, who died in 1281.
The design has not changed a great deal since this time.
So, the answer really is not more complicated than that the red lion was chosen by a medieval count of the region at some time.
Whether it was Henry V or one of his predecessors we may never know for sure.
Are there lions in Luxembourg?
There are no lions in Luxembourg, you may not be surprised to hear.
While it’s true that lions once had a much greater range than they do today, there’s not much evidence of large populations north of Greece.
Certainly, lions would not have been present in Luxembourg in the 13th Century.
Whether they ever were is not completely out of the question but there’s no evidence to support this position today.
Lions, as mentioned, have simply been very important symbols to many parts of the world even in those places where they are not found natively.
So, again, some things that are important to remember: Luxembourg has no official national animal, and the red lion is not a real animal but merely a symbolic icon.
The red lion is nonetheless a very important symbol in Luxembourg that, among other things, helps identify ships in the sea as being from Luxembourg.
There are no lions in Luxembourg and they may never have stretched this far north.