National Animals of the Americas: From Bald Eagle to Condor

National animals of the Americas at a glance

North America

United States: bald eagle and American bison

The bald eagle has been the emblem of the United States since 1782, when it was placed on the Great Seal, but it only became the official national bird under a law signed in December 2024. It is also a conservation success: pesticides such as DDT and shooting cut it to fewer than 500 nesting pairs in the lower 48 states by the early 1960s, and after protection the US Fish and Wildlife Service estimated more than 300,000 birds there in 2019. The American bison became the national mammal in 2016; it is listed as Near Threatened. The story behind the eagle is told in why is the bald eagle the national bird?

Canada: the beaver

The North American beaver became an official symbol of Canada in 1975, a nod to the fur trade that shaped the country’s early history, and it has appeared on the five-cent coin since 1937. In 2002 Parliament also named the Canadian horse a national animal symbol. Canada has no official national bird; the Canada jay won a public contest run by Canadian Geographic in 2016, but the government never adopted it.

Mexico: golden eagle

The golden eagle is Mexico’s national bird. The country’s coat of arms shows an eagle on a prickly pear cactus devouring a rattlesnake, based on the Aztec legend that their god told them to build their city where they saw this sign; that city, Tenochtitlan, became Mexico City. The golden eagle is widespread across the Northern Hemisphere and listed as Least Concern.

Central America

Guatemala: resplendent quetzal

The resplendent quetzal appears on Guatemala’s flag and coat of arms and gives its name to the national currency. The male is iridescent green with a red belly, and his tail streamers, commonly around 75 cm (30 in) long and sometimes about 1 m (39 in), are about twice the length of his 36–40 cm (14–16 in) body. Maya and Aztec rulers prized its feathers. It is Near Threatened because of forest loss.

Belize: Baird’s tapir and keel-billed toucan

Belize’s national animal, Baird’s tapir, known locally as the mountain cow, is the largest native land mammal of Central and South America, weighing 150–300 kg (330–660 lb). It is Endangered. The national bird is the keel-billed toucan, with its huge rainbow-colored bill, listed as Near Threatened.

Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua

Honduras has the scarlet macaw as its national bird and the white-tailed deer as its national animal. El Salvador and Nicaragua share the same national bird, the turquoise-browed motmot, called torogoz in El Salvador and guardabarranco in Nicaragua. It has two bare-shafted tail feathers ending in racket-shaped tips, which it swings like a pendulum.

Costa Rica: a thrush, a deer, a manatee and two sloths

Costa Rica’s national bird is the plain brown clay-colored thrush, or yigüirro, chosen because its song is said to call in the rainy season. The white-tailed deer is the national animal and the West Indian manatee the national aquatic animal. In 2021 the country also declared its two sloths, the brown-throated sloth and Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth, national symbols.

Panama: harpy eagle and golden frog

Panama’s national bird is the harpy eagle, one of the world’s most powerful eagles, which hunts sloths and monkeys in the rainforest canopy. It is Vulnerable. The Panamanian golden frog is also a national symbol, celebrated on National Golden Frog Day, 14 August. It is Critically Endangered and may have been extinct in the wild since about 2007 after chytrid fungus swept through Central America; it survives in breeding programs.

The Caribbean

Cuba, Jamaica and Hispaniola

Cuba’s national bird, the Cuban trogon or tocororo, has red, white and blue plumage that echoes the Cuban flag. Jamaica’s is the red-billed streamertail or doctor bird, a hummingbird found only on the island; males have two long tail streamers. On Hispaniola, Haiti chose the Hispaniolan trogon and the Dominican Republic the palmchat, the only member of its bird family, which builds large shared stick nests in palm trees.

Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, and Dominica

The Bahamas has the American flamingo as its national bird, and one of the region’s largest flamingo colonies breeds on Great Inagua island. Trinidad and Tobago has two national birds, the scarlet ibis for Trinidad and the cocrico, or rufous-vented chachalaca, for Tobago, and both appear on its coat of arms. Dominica’s sisserou parrot, or imperial amazon, is shown on the national flag; it is Critically Endangered, with a small population in the island’s mountain forests.

South America

The Andean condor: Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Chile

The Andean condor is the national bird of Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Chile and a national symbol of Peru. With a wingspan of up to 3.3 m (10 ft 10 in) and a weight of up to about 15 kg (33 lb), it is one of the largest flying birds on Earth. It soars on mountain winds for hours with barely a wingbeat. The IUCN lists it as Vulnerable, mainly because of poisoning and persecution.

Chile and Peru: huemul, vicuña and cock-of-the-rock

Chile’s coat of arms shows a condor and a huemul, or South Andean deer, an Endangered deer of the southern Andes. Peru’s coat of arms features the vicuña, a wild relative of the llama whose fine wool only Inca royalty could wear. Peru’s national bird is the Andean cock-of-the-rock; males are brilliant orange or scarlet with a disk-shaped crest and gather to display for females.

Venezuela and Guyana: troupial, hoatzin and jaguar

Venezuela’s national bird is the Venezuelan troupial, an orange, black and white oriole that often takes over the nests of other birds. Guyana’s is the hoatzin, or Canje pheasant, whose chicks have claws on their wings to climb back into trees, and whose stomach ferments leaves much like a cow’s. Guyana’s national animal is the jaguar, the largest cat of the Americas; two jaguars hold up its coat of arms. Jaguars are Near Threatened.

Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay

Brazil’s national bird, since 2002, is the rufous-bellied thrush, a songbird familiar in parks and gardens. Argentina’s rufous hornero builds a hard, oven-shaped nest of mud and straw, which gives the bird its name, from the Spanish horno, oven. Paraguay chose the bare-throated bellbird, whose metallic call, like a hammer striking an anvil, is one of the loudest of any bird. It is Near Threatened.

Why so many eagles, condors and parrots?

Large birds of prey stand for strength, freedom and sovereignty, which is why eagles and condors fill the coats of arms of the Americas, just as eagles and lions dominate in Europe; compare the national animals of Europe. Smaller countries often picked a colorful bird found only there, such as the Cuban trogon or Jamaica’s doctor bird, to celebrate their own wildlife. Several of these symbols are now threatened, and their status as national emblems can help draw attention and support to their protection.