Cultural Significance
Due to its striking hunting technique, the Peregrine has often been associated with aggression and martial prowess. Native Americans of the Mississippian culture (c. 800–1500) used the Peregrine, along with several other birds of prey, in imagery as a symbol of "aerial (celestial) power" and buried men of high status in costumes associating to the ferocity of "raptorial" birds. In the late Middle Ages, the Western European nobility that used Peregrines for hunting, considered the bird associated with princes in formal hierarchies of birds of prey, just below the Gyrfalcon associated with kings. It was considered "a royal bird, more armed by its courage than its claws". Terminology used by Peregrine breeders also used the Old French term gentil, "of noble birth; aristocratic", particularly with the Peregrine.
The Peregrine Falcon is the national animal of the United Arab Emirates. Since 1927, the Peregrine Falcon has been the official mascot of Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. The 2007 U.S. Idaho state quarter features a Peregrine Falcon.
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