Quick Reference: Quadruped Postures

Quadrupeds (four-legged creatures) come in many shapes and sizes. Pictured below are but a few of the myriad of creatures known to heraldry.


Antelope	Bear	Rabbit	Dog	Dragon	Griffon

Lion	Panther	Squirrel	Stag	Tiger	Unicorn

In addition to the many different types of four legged creatures found in heraldry, most all of the creatures can be depicted in many different manners, known as postures. Below is a list of standard heraldic postures, along with depictions and descriptions of each.

Position	Defining Characteristics	Stylised Drawing	Example
Rampant - Rearing	Body erect, forelegs apart and out, back-rear leg off the ground.
Salient - Leaping	Body erect and elongated, forelegs out and together, rear legs together and on the ground
Courant - Running	Body elongated, head erect, all four legs extended.
Passant - walking	Body horizontal, head angled or erect, three feet touching the ground with the right foreleg raised.
Statant - standing	Body horizontal, head angled or erect, all four feet touching the ground.
Sejant - sitting	Body angled, head erect, all four legs touching the ground, rear legs curved and front legs straight.
Sejant Erect - sitting upright	Body and head erect, the rear legs as in sejant and the forelegs apart and out.
Sejant Affronty - sitting facing the viewer ("in full aspect")	As Sejant, but viewed from the front, so the belly of the creature is fully visible. The 'knees' of the rear legs are splayed to give a better 'view'.
Sejant Erect Affronty - sitting upright facing the viewer	As Sejant Affronty, but with the forelegs upraised and spread wide.
Couchant - lying down	Body horizontal, head erect with legs tucked under the body.
Dormant - sleeping	Body horizontal, legs tucked under body and head down in a sleeping position using forelegs as a pillow.

Finally, the position of the head, if not looking 'forward', is blazoned explicitly. If the beast is looking at the viewer, it is considered "gardant" and if it is looking back over it's shoulder, it is considered "regardant". Thus:


a lion sejant	a lion sejant gardant	a lion sejant regardant

This page originally appeared in a Heraldic Primer originally created by Iulstan Sigewealding (Stephen Gold) and expanded/updated by Meradudd Cethin (Timothy Shead). Some minor formatting changes, fixes, and updates have been made to bring it in alignment with current practice.

Maintained by Codex Herald. This page was last updated on Tuesday, May 16, 2023.
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