Last year I got the opportunity to visit Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands. These are a group of islands in the English Channel, near Normandy, France. The Balliwicks of Guernsey and Jersey are Crown Dependencies—a status they share with the Isle of Man—which means that they are not part of the UK but are self-governing possessions of the British Crown. (Wait, this is a LEGO site, right? Trust me, we’ll get there, but the geography lesson is important to the overall story.)

Photo from my trusty Philip’s World Atlas

The islands have a long and interesting history with evidence of a human presence since Neolithic times, circa 5000 BCE. The islands have a mixed British-Norman culture and although the British cultural influence is stronger, with English being the main language and Pound Sterling being the primary currency, each island has its own traditional patois, which are heavily influenced by French.

During our time there we took the opportunity to take a day trip to one of the other islands, Alderney. The island is full of wildlife, friendly and very walkable – it’s only 3 miles / 5 km long and 1.5 miles / 2.4 km wide. I would recommend not going on a day quite as windy as the one we chose – the Dornier 228, even fully loaded with its 19 passengers, pilot, and co-pilot, felt like a buffeted leaf in the high winds on our mercifully very short flights!

Whilst there, I learned that the Islands all have national animals – not unusual I grant you – but what was unusual was that I was pretty sure that there were LEGO versions of each of them.

Alderney: Vaques (Cows) or Lapins (Rabbits)

Channel island cows produce AMAZING milk, and they are very pretty to look at. The most recent addition to LEGO’s bovine herd is a perfect colour for a Jersey Cow. Alderney did have its own specific breed of cow, but they are now sadly extinct.

There are a surprising number of cows available across System, Duplo, Fabuland and Minecraft scales, and many decorated and gear items too. Debuting alongside this medium nougat beauty is the first system-scaled calf, in tan.

Both appeared in 2022’s LEGO City farm sets and the adult was also included in the much-longed-for Lion Knight’s Castle set (10305).

The island of Alderney is also known for its rabbits. Not only is this the Year of the Rabbit, but it is also nearly Easter, so what better topical example than this newest LEGO Store BAM-exclusive rabbit, adding medium blue to the existing offerings in white and light bley.

This is only one out of over 100 items that BrickLink lists against a search term of ‘parts, rabbit’ - a significant number! Someone needs to keep those rabbits away from each other!

Sark: Corbins (Crows)

Sark is a fascinating place; cars are banned from the island. Only bicycles, tractors and horse-drawn vehicles are permitted. I believe they have recently granted exceptions for the emergency services too, but prior to that even those were tractor-drawn. It was also designated the world’s first Dark Sky Island in 2011.

Their national ‘animal’ the crow must feel right at home in all that blackness. LEGO crows are fewer in number, and BrickLink’s results are muddied somewhat by the minifig head descriptor of ‘crows feet’, but right at the top, we have this wonderful headgear accessory piece.

It first appeared in the 2013 Lone Ranger theme as part of Tonto’s minifigure (read more about LEGO’s Native American representation here) and later the same year adorning the head of the collectible minifigure Sscarecrow.

In 2014 it took a sideways leap into the Ningajo Rebooted NinjaCopter where it represented the robot falcon that became Zane’s friend and ally.

And we can’t forget Fabuland’s Charlie Crow. His ‘Carry All’ set is just lovely—almost as good as Michael Mouse’s car!

Jersey: Crapauds (Toads)

Ok, so LEGO doesn’t actually have a toad animal mould, but the OG frog can definitely hold its own. Simon Liu does a fantastic job of getting nerdy about frogs in his 2021 article. Since then, Coral, Neon Yellow and Magenta have been added to its colour palette, bringing the total to 14 – a big number for a little guy!

But then I did a quick check and, seriously, who could resist this super cute bunch of Toads from the Super Mario line?!

This cheeky character is attendant to Princess Peach, long-time protector of the Mushroom Kingdom, and has been part of the Super Mario theme since its inception in 2020.

It’s inevitable that Peach’s toads are way more colourful than Jersey’s ones, but who’s looking to cartoon characters for realism? All I know is I’m definitely looking to add some of these cuties to my Beastiary.

Guernsey: Les Ânes (Donkeys)

Donkeys were used extensively as beasts of burden on the steep streets of St. Peter’s Port, Guernsey’s capital. And people from Guernsey are said to be ‘as stubborn as a donkey, with a kick like a horse’.

LEGO is little light on donkeys, however, we currently have two representatives: one from Minecraft and of course a very popular depressive, Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. Eeyore now comes in three versions originally only in Duplo scale, but now joined in System scale with the Winnie the Pooh Ideas set from 2021.

Minecraft has over 100 creatures across the "animal air, land and water” categories, some of which are only slightly representative of their kind in the LEGO-verse. Minecraft’s animal is a much more realistic, if inevitably a bit blocky, donkey.

Interestingly both of these donkeys are from licensed themes and that trend is going to be continued with the Donkey Kong addition to the Super Mario line, teased earlier this month on MAR10 day.

Other National Animals

My country, Scotland, is one of less than a dozen countries in the world that has a mythological creature as its national animal. We are represented by the Unicorn, which is really very cool. (A full unicorn round-up will have to wait, so enjoy this Magical Unicorn set in the meantime.)

I found this interesting article showing many countries’ national creatures alongside their classification and conservation status. You probably know your own country’s national animal, but what about those of your friends and extended family?

Maybe go check them out and then see if they are any LEGO representations? And who knows, we may feature them on BrickNerd!

What is your national animal? Let us know in the comments below.

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