Who is the University of Readings Mascot? The culture of university mascots is not same in the UK, compared to that of our US counterparts. In the US there is a large amount of pageantry in university life with “college” sports, mottos and traditions and of course mascots. These mascots become a big part of the universities identity and are used to rival the crowd at sporting events. These are typically living animals such Ralphie the Buffalo of University of Colorado, and the Louisiana State University who actually had a real life tiger living at the University known as Mike VII.
Does University of Reading have a mascot?
The short answer is Yes, the University of Reading, in May 2020 tweeted to confirm there is a mascot and described him as “He’s a teaching model. He’s a good listener. He’s one of the first four-limbed vertebrates to appear in the fossil record. He’s a dancer. He’s the top-ranked university mascot in England.” He is known as Kevin the Ichthyostega, and we are confident he lives up to his university’s introduction. To clarify, Kevin is not a living mascot unlike the previous mascots mentioned and is in fact an extinct species.
What is a Ichthyostega? we hear you ask, Ichthyostega are late Devonian tetrapod that would have been found in freshwater. They were four limed creatures who would typically swim rather than walk.
University Mascot Rankings 2020
Kevin is Less known that his US counterparts Keven has had a rise in fame with the World University Mascot Rankings 2020. Set up by Bantshire, the competition is the who’s who of the mascot world where universities the world enter their university mascots. Kevin not only was entered but made it to the final four, where he was up against his rivals Dylan the Dragon from Cardiff, Stirling Squirrel, Wolfie from Limerick. After a closely fought vote, it was decided that Kevin lost to his Limerick counterpart Wolfie; however, Kevin was still able to claim the proud title of 3rd best mascot in the worlds according to Bantshire and their voters.
There has been little found out about Kevin, which could either be the lack of interest in him or the secrecy kept around him; however, we feel in this case it might be the former.
What’s next for Kevin the Ichthyostega?
Due to the lack of whereabouts of Kevin and lack of activity on social media it would be to much to speculate but as academic year the University of Reading has been allowing students more face to face learning and the opening of campus bars we hope Kevin has been taking full advantage of this and getting the full university experience this year. We wish hope he is doing well after the loss to Wolfie and if Kevin is ever looking for student accommodation in Reading then he knows where to find us. We hope we were able to answer Who is the University of Readings Mascot? and shed some light into Kevin.