Saturday, October 24, 2026

Question: One University of California campus, tucked in the redwoods above Santa Cruz, rallies its sports teams behind a famously slow, bright-yellow creature of the forest floor. What is this unusual mascot?

Answer: The banana slug. UC Santa Cruz adopted the bright-yellow banana slug, a gastropod common on the redwood forest floor around campus, as its unofficial mascot early on. When the university joined NCAA competition, student athletes chose the more dignified “Sea Lions,” but students revolted, and an overwhelming 1986 student vote made the beloved banana slug, “Sammy the Slug,” the official mascot.