- Virginia Tech Hokies – “The official definition of “hokie” is “a loyal Virginia Tech Fan. The HokieBird has evolved from a turkey. Virginia Tech teams were once called the “gobblers!”
- Harvard Turkeys (“The city of Cambridge and Harvard’s campus is filled with wild turkeys just walking around. Almost every student on campus has a personal story with a wild turkey encounter, many ending in the turkeys actually chasing students down. Turkeys are fierce and will unhesitatingly take on humans, dogs, and birds of prey. They’re also proud and stick together, as any team should be and do. The turkey isn’t meant to replace the Crimson branding, but to interact at sporting and campus events — similar to Stanford University’s unofficial tree mascot, or Cornell University’s bear.”
- South Carolina Gamecocks – “a rooster bred and trained for cockfighting. They are bred and conditioned for increased stamina and strength. Gamecocks possess congenital aggression toward all males of the same species.”
- Coastal Carolina Chanticleers – “a proud and fierce rooster. The proper pronunciation is SHON-ti-cleer.” Meant to connect to their former home institution, U. of South Carolina’s Gamecock.
- Delaware Fighting Blue Hens – “The Blue Hen is a blue strain of American gamecock also called the Blue Hen Chicken. It is the official bird of the State of Delaware.”
- Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens – “a greater sage-grouse which is a large ground-dwelling bird native to the western U.S., and is distinguished by its long, pointed tail and complex lek mating system. A lek is an aggregation of male animals gathered to engage in competitive displays and courtship rituals, known as lekking, to entice visiting females which are surveying prospective partners with which to mate.”
Deep Thoughts on Higher Ed 