29. Which animal is depicted as the heraldic charge on the coat of arms of the Federal Republic of Germany?

Answer options

1. Lion
2. Eagle
3. Bear
4. Horse

Explanation

The heraldic animal of the Federal Republic is the Federal Eagle (Bundesadler), a republican re‑interpretation that deliberately continues the tradition of the Reichsadler of the Holy Roman Empire and later German polities. Its design and use are not set out in the Basic Law itself but by the Federal President’s Order on the Federal Coat of Arms and the Federal Eagle of 20 January 1950 (published in the Federal Law Gazette), supplemented by administrative regulations; Article 22 of the Basic Law refers only to the federal flag. In heraldic semantics the eagle signifies state sovereignty, unity, and continuity of the constitutional order, with standardized institutional variants (e.g., seals, service flags). The other animals appear in Länder heraldry (e.g., Berlin’s bear, Lower Saxony’s Saxon steed, lions in Bavaria and Hesse) but are not federal symbols.