The coat of arms of North Ossetia is a disk gules with a snow leopard passant or with sable spots on a ground or with as background seven mountains argent (i.e. a red disk with a yellow snow leopard with black spots standing on a yellow ground and with seven white mountains in the background). The mountains on the coat of arms symbolize the Ossetian landscape, while the snow leopard is a iconic (but now seriously endangered) inhabitant of the Caucasus mountains.
The coat of arms was adopted by North Ossetia on November 24, 1994. A very similar device was adopted by the separatist Republic of South Ossetia, part of Georgia, in May 1998.
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