Which animal appears on the national flag of Bhutan?

A dragon appears on the national flag of Bhutan.

Bhutan’s flag shows a white dragon, Druk, crossing diagonally between a yellow upper field and an orange lower field. Druk means “thunder dragon,” a name linked to Bhutan’s traditional identity as the Land of the Thunder Dragon.

The dragon holds jewels in its claws. These symbolize Bhutan’s wealth and prosperity, while the dragon’s open mouth represents the protection of the country. Yellow represents the authority of the secular government and orange represents the spiritual tradition of Buddhism.

The design was developed in the twentieth century and was formalized in 1969. The dragon is sometimes mistaken for a generic Asian dragon, but Druk is specifically connected to Bhutanese culture and the Drukpa Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. Bhutan’s flag is also unusual because its diagonal division follows the dragon’s body rather than a straight horizontal or vertical layout.