system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why do countries have "official" animals, flowers, and other such things?
gpt
Why not? it's a sign of identity, tradition, mark of culture, history, it's nature and speciality. Not all things must have a clear practical purpose, and humans are nothing if not deeply in love with symbolism. We jam symbolism into everything we can, no matter how big or small. It's not exactly suprising that we invent symbols to represent our nations.