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Alabama’s Official State Animals Explained: The 13 Categories Behind the “15” List

Alabama has multiple official animal symbols organized by category, not one all-purpose state animal. Here is the complete Archives list, its adoption years and the reason the often-seen “15” count is not an official grouping.

By Animalso Team 7 min read

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Alabama does not have one all-purpose “state animal.” Its official animal-related symbols are assigned to separate categories, including bird, game bird, mammal, insects, fish, amphibian, reptile, horse and shell. The Alabama Department of Archives and History table contains 13 category rows. Because the eastern tiger swallowtail holds two separate roles—official mascot and official butterfly—the table represents 14 named designations when those roles are counted individually. No state reference supplied for this article establishes a legally defined set of 15 animals, so the “15” in the common title should not be treated as an official statutory number.

What are Alabama’s official state animals?

Alabama’s animal symbols span birds, insects, mammals, fish, amphibians, reptiles and other categories. The state reference used by the Alabama Department of Archives and History lists each symbol with the category it represents and the year of adoption. Reading the combined “mascot and butterfly” row as two roles produces 14 designations, while the Archives table itself has 13 rows.

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The complete list is below. The adoption year is a designation date, not a claim about population size, habitat range or conservation status.

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Official category Animal or symbol Adoption year How it is counted
Agricultural insect Queen honeybee 2015 One category designation
Amphibian Red Hills salamander 2000 One category designation
Bird Yellowhammer 1927 One category designation
Crustacean Brown shrimp 2015 One category designation
Freshwater fish Largemouth bass 1975 One category designation
Game bird Wild turkey 1980 One category designation
Horse Racking horse 1975 One category designation
Insect Monarch butterfly 1989 One category designation
Mammal Black bear 2006 One category designation
Mascot Eastern tiger swallowtail 1989 First role in the combined Archives row
Butterfly Eastern tiger swallowtail 1989 Second role in the combined Archives row
Reptile Alabama red-bellied turtle 1990 One category designation
Saltwater fish Fighting tarpon 1955 One category designation
Shell Scaphella junonia johnstoneae 1990 One category designation

That table gives 14 role-based entries. The source page groups the two eastern tiger swallowtail roles in one “mascot and butterfly” row, which is why a direct row count is 13. A source-backed fifteenth designation is not identified here; adding one would require an additional state or statutory record rather than arithmetic on the existing table.

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Why Alabama has categories instead of one state animal

“State animal” is often used as a shortcut for any officially recognized animal symbol. Alabama’s system is more specific. A bird is not automatically the game bird, a butterfly is not automatically the general insect, and a freshwater fish is not interchangeable with a saltwater fish. Each label records a different designation.

Bird and game bird are separate

The yellowhammer is Alabama’s official bird, adopted in 1927. Wild turkey is the official game bird, adopted in 1980. These are separate entries, so the game-bird designation does not replace or duplicate the state-bird designation.

Insect, butterfly and mascot are separate roles

The monarch butterfly is the official insect, adopted in 1989. The eastern tiger swallowtail is designated as Alabama’s official mascot and butterfly, also in 1989. The monarch and swallowtail therefore represent different roles: one is the general insect symbol, while the other is the butterfly and mascot symbol.

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Alabama Code § 1-2-23 states: “The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail is hereby designated as the official mascot and butterfly of the State of Alabama.” The wording creates two descriptions for one species, not two different butterflies. The Archives table reflects that by combining the roles in one row.

Fish categories identify different waters

Largemouth bass is the official freshwater fish, adopted in 1975. Fighting tarpon is the official saltwater fish, adopted in 1955. Brown shrimp is listed separately as the official crustacean, adopted in 2015. Treating all three as simply “Alabama’s fish” would erase the distinctions the state made when adopting them.

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The 14 role-based designations, explained

Queen honeybee — agricultural insect (2015)

The queen honeybee represents Alabama’s agricultural-insect category. The 2015 adoption year comes from the Archives reference. This category is distinct from the general insect designation held by the monarch butterfly.

Red Hills salamander — amphibian (2000)

The red Hills salamander is Alabama’s official amphibian, adopted in 2000. Its listing answers the amphibian category specifically; it is not an alternative name for the state reptile.

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Yellowhammer — bird (1927)

The yellowhammer has been Alabama’s official bird since 1927. “Yellowhammer” is the common state-symbol name used in the Archives table, while the table does not present it as the game-bird designation.

Brown shrimp — crustacean (2015)

Brown shrimp is the official crustacean, with a 2015 adoption year. Crustacean is its own category, separate from both freshwater and saltwater fish.

Largemouth bass — freshwater fish (1975)

Largemouth bass is Alabama’s official freshwater fish, adopted in 1975. The category tells you which type of state fish designation it holds; it does not imply that Alabama has only one fish symbol.

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Wild turkey — game bird (1980)

Wild turkey is the official game bird, adopted in 1980. It should be listed alongside, rather than merged with, the yellowhammer’s state-bird role.

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Racking horse — horse (1975)

The racking horse is Alabama’s official horse, adopted in 1975. The Archives table gives “horse” its own category even though a horse is biologically a mammal; the category is a state-symbol designation, not a replacement for the mammal entry.

Monarch butterfly — insect (1989)

The monarch butterfly is Alabama’s official insect, adopted in 1989. Its designation is broader than a butterfly-only label: the state uses the monarch for the insect category.

Black bear — mammal (2006)

The black bear became Alabama’s official state mammal in 2006. The Encyclopedia of Alabama notes that the Florida black bear occurs in the Mobile River Basin, providing geographic context for the mammal designation. That context does not change the adoption year or establish a statewide population estimate.

Eastern tiger swallowtail — mascot (1989)

The eastern tiger swallowtail serves as Alabama’s official mascot. The designation was made in 1989, and the Encyclopedia of Alabama says it followed a request from Selma’s city council, whose city is known as the Butterfly Capital of Alabama.

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Eastern tiger swallowtail — butterfly (1989)

The same species is also Alabama’s official butterfly. Counting “mascot” and “butterfly” separately is a way to show both legal roles; it does not mean Alabama selected two eastern tiger swallowtails.

Alabama red-bellied turtle — reptile (1990)

The Alabama red-bellied turtle is the official reptile, adopted in 1990. Its reptile designation is separate from the red Hills salamander’s amphibian designation.

Fighting tarpon — saltwater fish (1955)

Fighting tarpon is Alabama’s official saltwater fish, adopted in 1955. It predates the 1975 freshwater-fish designation for largemouth bass, demonstrating that the two fish categories have their own histories.

Scaphella junonia johnstoneae — shell (1990)

Scaphella junonia johnstoneae is listed as Alabama’s official shell, adopted in 1990. The shell is included because the state’s animal-related symbols extend beyond living-animal categories to a shell designation.

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Which animal is Alabama’s state animal?

If the question is singular, the most accurate answer is that Alabama has no single all-purpose state-animal designation in the reference used here. The black bear is the official mammal, but it is not the state’s only animal symbol. Depending on the category being asked about, the answer could be yellowhammer for bird, monarch butterfly for insect, eastern tiger swallowtail for mascot and butterfly, or one of the fish, amphibian, reptile, horse, crustacean, agricultural-insect or shell entries.

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For a short answer, say: “Alabama recognizes several official animal symbols by category; its state mammal is the black bear.” That wording answers the common singular question without implying that the black bear replaces every other designation.

Designation years are history, not wildlife statistics

The adoption years show when Alabama assigned each official title. They do not show when a species arrived in the state, how abundant it is today, whether its range is expanding, or whether it has a particular conservation status. Those questions require separate wildlife or conservation data and should not be inferred from the state-symbol table.

The dates also show that Alabama added symbols over many decades. The fighting tarpon dates to 1955; largemouth bass and the racking horse to 1975; wild turkey to 1980; the monarch and eastern tiger swallowtail roles to 1989; and the shell and Alabama red-bellied turtle to 1990. Later additions include the red Hills salamander in 2000, black bear in 2006, and queen honeybee and brown shrimp in 2015.

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How to use the list in a classroom or family activity

Alabama’s Archives educational materials make the category system easy to turn into a matching exercise. The Statehood Backpack contents include “State Animal Match,” state-symbol pictures, a statehood memory game, a hands-on state-symbols matching game and the book Y is for Yellowhammer. These are examples of educational resources documented by the Archives, not a guarantee that a particular kit is currently sold or available through a specific retailer.

A simple matching activity

  1. Write the 13 Archives category labels on one set of cards: agricultural insect, amphibian, bird, crustacean, freshwater fish, game bird, horse, insect, mammal, mascot and butterfly, reptile, saltwater fish and shell.
  2. Write the corresponding symbols on a second set of cards.
  3. Have learners match each symbol to its category and adoption year.
  4. Ask why the eastern tiger swallowtail appears once in the Archives row but can be discussed under two roles.
  5. Ask learners to distinguish the bird from the game bird and the insect from the mascot-and-butterfly designation.

For families looking for an additional activity, “Alabama state symbols activity book” is a useful search phrase. Check the current publisher, date and availability before relying on any listing.

Common mistakes to avoid

  • Calling the black bear the only state animal: It is Alabama’s official mammal, not the sole animal-related symbol.
  • Replacing the monarch with the eastern tiger swallowtail: The monarch is the official insect; the swallowtail is the official mascot and butterfly.
  • Merging bird and game bird: Yellowhammer and wild turkey occupy different categories.
  • Calling the Archives list an official set of 15: The table has 13 grouped rows and 14 role-based entries when the swallowtail’s two roles are separated. A fifteenth designation is not established by the sources used here.
  • Reading adoption years as conservation facts: They are historical designation dates only.
  • Assuming a shell is outside the list: Alabama’s official-symbol reference includes a shell category, so it belongs in a complete animal-related inventory.

Bottom line

Alabama’s official animal symbols are a category-based system rather than one state-animal title. The Archives table lists 13 rows: queen honeybee, red Hills salamander, yellowhammer, brown shrimp, largemouth bass, wild turkey, racking horse, monarch butterfly, black bear, eastern tiger swallowtail, Alabama red-bellied turtle, fighting tarpon and Scaphella junonia johnstoneae. The eastern tiger swallowtail carries both mascot and butterfly roles, giving 14 named designations when counted separately. The black bear is the state mammal, while the monarch is the state insect and the eastern tiger swallowtail is the official mascot and butterfly.

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