Useless Knowledge of the Day

So... some of you may recognize the coat of arms to the right as the Australian Coat of Arms and you would be correct. Now that is unusual in itself, but the useless knowledge part of this post is that the coat of arms has a Kangaroo and an Emu on it.

Why are these fine creatures on the coat of arms? If you were to guess that, the Emu and Kangaroo are creatures that are native to Australia. Therefore, that is the reason they are on the coat of arms. You would be half-right, but that is not the reason they are on the coat of arms.

These two creatures are also the only two animals that can not walk backwards. This was the original reason why they used these creatures. The coat of arms also used to have a scroll with the motto Advance Australia. As the Emu and Kangaroo could only advance and not go back, these two animals became synonymous with the unusual coat of arms.

By the way the six badges on the shield represent each of the six states of Australia... left to right top are New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland. In the bottom half, from left to right: South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania.