The kangaroo and emu are on Australia's coat-of-arms.

These two native creatures were selected because neither one is able to take a backwards step, thereby symbolising Australia's progression forwards.

A blazon (from Anglo-Norman French blason = a shield, or the armorial bearings on a shield) gradually came to mean the word-description of a grant of arms, always using Anglo-Norman French terminology and always without punctuation.

A typical blazon looks like this:

Per pale azure and gules three lions rampant argent

These are the arms of Herbert: a shield divided vertically into blue and red halves, with three superimposed white lions standing upright (two over one).

A blazon can be very much longer and far more complicated, and it can include the knight's crest, mantling, animal supporters and motto:

Azure semé of mullets of six points appointé argent and for the crest on a helm with a wreath argent and azure out of a circlet of chain broken argent an eagle wings displayed or grasping in the talons the chain mantled azure doubled argent.

The lion on the left side, supporting the shield is representative of the British descent of many Albertan settlers, while the pronghorn on the right of the shield is found in abundance in southern Alberta.

Above the shield is a helmet, a beaver and a crown. The beaver was once very common in Alberta, and is one of the major reasons the Europeans came here in the first place.

The Cross of St. George in the chief (top part of the shield) also celebrates the English heritage of many Albertans when the arms were granted. The cross of St. George is also highly reminiscient of the arms of the Hudson's Bay company, who were the fur traders who helped bring Europeans into the prairies.

The rest of the shield is a simple picture of Alberta's wheat fields, plains, hills and mountains The ground beneath the supporters is covered by the wild rose. The motto FORTIS ET LIBER, is Latin for "Strong and Free".

A coat of arms is a symbol, usually painted on an escutcheon (a shield), that represents a country, institution, Royal Personage or member of the noble class. Some coats of arms are painted on an oval or lozenge instead of a shield, because they belong to a noble woman or a member of the clergy, and they were forbidden to fight in the military in medieval society, so they would not use a shield.

Some people confuse the terms coat of arms and crest, thinking that a coat of arms is a "family crest", but in actual fact, a crest is something placed on top of a helmet displayed above the coat of arms. Many people in England passed their crest down the family line, but each person in the family had a different shield, leading to the term "family crest", but in Germany and Scandinavia, the shield would often be passed down the generations without changes while each member of the family had a different crest.

A display of heraldry including other parts around the coat of arms or shield is called an achievement of arms. This includes the escutcheon or shield displaying the coat of arms, a helm (helmet) which is usually wrapped with a torse and draped with a mantle and sometimes surmounted by a coronet of rank (or royal crown for the King or kingdom, imperial crown for the Emperor, or papal tiara for the Pope) and crest, and the shield may or may not be held up by a pair of animals called supporters. The whole thing is sometimes placed upon a sconce or compartment, and sometimes a banner is also displayed, showing a motto or battle cry. Many of these elements began to appear only at the end of the Middle Ages, and each was symbolic of social or governmental status. A wealthy merchant without noble titles might have a coat of arms (and probably a helmet, torse, mantle and crest) but would not have a coronet of rank, supporters, compartment or motto.

A Martlet or Swallow means 'one who has been dispossessed of land', or the sign of a fourth son.

An Eagle means 'a protector, a person of action, noble, power and strength'.

A Peacock signifies beauty and pride.

A Swan is a sign of a musical person, of poetry and harmony.

A Dove naturally means love and peace.

The Eagle has the presumed ability to stare at the sun without becoming blind and this became a source of metaphors.

The pelican was supposed to be able to open its breast with its beak to feed it's young in times of great distress, so it became a symbol of generosity, parental devotion and redemption. Its generally represented in the act of feeding it's young.