25 Most Popular Animals Used as Mascots

The 25 most popular animals used as mascots tend to be used over and over by several schools and professional teams. It’s actually tough to find any that are unique these days.

Cougars

Chicago State University and Washington State University are two of the well-known schools that use this popular mascot. The cougar is a powerful symbol, that’s for certain.

Huskies

UConn and UW stand out as two of the more prominent schools that use this type of dog as their mascot. Of the two, UW is probably the best known.

Bobcats

It’s hard to say how many different teams use the Bobcat as their mascot. This is one of the more popular animals.

Jaguars

The NFL utilizes this animal for one of their 32 teams, but plenty of colleges make use of this wild cat as well. The jaguar is a powerful creature, which is just one reason why so many teams love using it as their mascot.

Hawks

From the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL, birds of prey are popular animals for a lot of reasons. One of them is that they’re great symbols to use.

Panthers

Considering how panthers are regarded in nature, it’s not hard at all to see how South Carolina would want to represent this animal when promoting their NFL team. It’s tough not to see strength, willpower, and a few other traits that people would want to emulate.

Tigers

From the MLB to the NFL to college to, well, a lot of other teams. The tiger is one of the most popular animals in sports for a lot of reasons.

Penguins

Pittsburgh used to have a penguin mascot, and Youngstown has one. But so does Clark College in Vancouver, Washington.

Bears

Da Bears! There’s also UCLA and a few other organizations that love using bears as their mascot.

Dolphins

Miami is probably the perfect team to have a dolphin as their mascot. Anywhere else just feels a little weird.

Rays

Tampa Bay of the MLB is by far one of the most recognizable teams using this mascot. But there’s bound to be a few others.

Eagles

Don’t bother trying to tell Philadelphia about other teams that use the eagle as their mascot. As far as Philly is concerned, the eagle belongs in the NFL, with their team.

Ravens

Baltimore is the first team that comes to mind, as the NFL is kind of animal-heavy when talking about mascots. But in a lot of ways that’s kind of perfect.

Lions

So, who makes the lion look more regal with their overall record, the Nittany Lions or the Detroit Lions? It’s a tough call.

Bulldogs

This is kind of an odd mascot since bulldogs aren’t known to be incredibly powerful or swift. But they are stubborn, that’s for certain.

Ducks

Oregon comes to mind first, but there are other teams throughout the USA that use this symbol. Still, when college football time comes around, the Civil War game is highly anticipated.

Beavers

Ah yes, back to Oregon, where the Beavers are one of the more popular teams even if they’re having an off year. Still, the amount of school pride is impressive.

Hornets

Charlotte in the NBA is a big source of popularity for this type of mascot. But colleges make even greater use of the hornet.

Wolves

In some ways wolves are really overplayed when it comes to their use as mascots. Trying to count how many teams use the wolf as their mascot is bound to take a while.

Bulls

The NBA comes to mind first, doesn’t it? After all, the Bulls were a dynasty for a while.

Badgers

Wisconsin made the badger its official mascot after a while, and used a live badger to start with. You can imagine that didn’t go over too well with the badger, at least at first.

Owls

Using an owl as a mascot is kind of interesting since despite being predatory birds, owls are still kind of an odd symbol to use. In pop culture they’re usually seen as being wise, not aggressive.

Cardinals

Hello St. Louis. Using a bird as your mascot has been a popular thing for quite a while with a lot of sports teams.

Falcons

Sleek, predatory, and deadly, it describes an impressive animal. But the sports teams that use the symbol are kind of hit and miss when it comes to toppling their opponents.

Pelicans

It’s one of the strangest mascots to use, but it’s not the worst. After all, some mascots are colored balls of fuzz with eyes.