The Coat of Arms Flag for Bern, Switzerland, displays a black bear (the city’s namesake), on red and yellow, with black fur, and a red tongue and claws. The flag comes from the founding legend of Bern, where Duke Berthold V of Zähringen declared the city would be named after the first animal he encounted in the forest that was to be cleared to make way for the city. The use of the bear as a symbol for the city dates back as 1224 where it was used on seals for the marking of official government documents.