LaTeX mascots/associated animals

Question

Some different animals have been associated with LaTeX, depending on where you look.

If i look on this site I will most likely come to believe, that the mascot of LaTeX is a duck.

If i look at the official LaTeX project I end up thinking: The mascot is a hummingbird.

And last but not least, if I look at google i might think either:

1 lion

2 hummingbird

3 some sort of chicken monster (.

The questions then stands:

Is there any official LaTeX master animal over them all? does the lion rule the TeX jungle? Are there other, non obvious animals that associate themselves with LaTeX?

I ask this question because I reasently discovered the lion on meta and I would like to know of other cool animal mascots. — Thorbjørn E. K. Christensen, Mar 13 '18 at 15:16
@AlanMunn IT answers why the lion is a mascot, but not what others there are, which are more "official" and why they are there. So while I agree that it's related, I don't think of it as a duplicate. — Thorbjørn E. K. Christensen, Mar 13 '18 at 15:27
@NicolaTalbot I know, it's just not the first impression one would get if looking for animals related to LaTeX on the site. (I asked the question you cited). — Thorbjørn E. K. Christensen, Mar 13 '18 at 16:32
@Fran is that a wider spread thing (like the lion, duck and hummingbird) or more situational (like the crazed chicken)? — Thorbjørn E. K. Christensen, Mar 13 '18 at 19:53
As widespread as the several answers to the question. :) The only official equine TeX is the horse of the logo of the Spanish TeX Users Group (CervanTeX). — Fran, Mar 14 '18 at 00:32

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 13 '18 at 22:59

8

The Lion is the TeX mascot used extensively in the TeXBook

The Lioness is his companion, representing MetaFont

LaTeX traditionally used a different Lion

Recently the LaTeX(3) project has adopted the Hummingbird as its logo used on the project website and elsewhere

Ducks have no official connection to anything, despite appearances to the contrary if you follow this site:-)

answered Mar 13 '18 at 22:59

David Carlisle

757,742

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+1; the mascots of TeX and METAFONT are IIRC called “TeX the lion” and “Meta the lioness” (i.e., they represent the programs themselves, and are not quite mascots in the modern sense… whatever that means :P). That the LaTeX lion(? big cat?) is different from the TeX lion can be seen in this answer (WARNING: contains disturbing images). Looking around I also found there's a mascot for the macro package eplain, named “TeXimilian”. – ShreevatsaR Mar 13 '18 at 23:11
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Might I ask if there is any history behind the hummingbird? Is it just chosen for fun, or to compliment the duck the same way the lioness compliments the lion? – Thorbjørn E. K. Christensen Mar 14 '18 at 11:41
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@ThorbjørnE.K.Christensen ask Paulo, he drew it:-) – David Carlisle Mar 14 '18 at 11:46

Stefan Kottwitz · Answer 2 · 2021-10-07T09:58:30.690

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The most recent mascot and logo is a hummingbird. To add to the book cover collection, here's my recent cover:

edited Oct 07 '21 at 09:58

answered Oct 06 '21 at 20:39

Stefan Kottwitz

231,401

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By the way, isn't it more appropriate here: https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/11/what-are-good-learning-resources-for-a-latex-beginner? – CarLaTeX Oct 07 '21 at 07:52
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@StefanKottwitz Thanks, this is much better to me now. You can (and should) mention credits to your publisher, e.g. in your last sentence “recent cover (credits to my publisher for designing it):”. – Archange Oct 07 '21 at 10:05
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Much better now, but I think you may update this post: https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/15178/101651 – CarLaTeX Oct 07 '21 at 10:43

LaTeX mascots/associated animals

2 Answers2