Arkansas’s Secretary of State groups six creatures in its Arkansas State Symbols – Animals activity sheet: the Diana fritillary, white-tailed deer, alligator gar, honeybee, mockingbird and Arkansaurus fridayi. They are not six animals sharing one legal designation. The list combines a state butterfly, mammal, insect, bird and dinosaur; the activity sheet includes the alligator gar without establishing a separate statutory state-fish category.
What are the official state animals of Arkansas?
The best-supported answer depends on what “state animals” means. For the broad educational list, Arkansas’s Secretary of State names these six:
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- Diana fritillary
- White-tailed deer
- Alligator gar
- Honeybee
- Mockingbird
- Arkansaurus fridayi
That list comes from the Secretary of State’s animal-symbol activity sheet. It is a mixed group of state symbols, not a list of six mammals or six creatures all designated in the same statute. Arkansas law explicitly identifies the white-tailed deer as the state mammal, the honeybee as the state insect, the Diana fritillary as the state butterfly and Arkansaurus fridayi as the state dinosaur. A separate Arkansas educational lesson supports the mockingbird as the state bird. The reviewed material places the alligator gar on the activity sheet but does not establish a statute naming it Arkansas’s official state fish.
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Arkansas’s six animal symbols at a glance
| Animal | Arkansas designation | Clue from the state activity sheet | Designation evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diana fritillary | Official state butterfly | Lives in moist mountain areas; females have bright blue markings. | Arkansas Code § 1-4-126 |
| White-tailed deer | Official state mammal | Fawns have red coats with white spots; adults become brownish gray. | Arkansas Code § 1-4-122 |
| Alligator gar | Included in the animal-symbol activity sheet | Lives in shallow water, can breathe air and water, and has a broad snout with sharp teeth. | No state-fish statute established in the reviewed material |
| Honeybee | Official state insect | Collects pollen and helps plants produce fruit and seeds. | Arkansas Code § 1-4-110 |
| Mockingbird | State bird | Imitates sounds made by birds, frogs and insects. | Supported by Arkansas’s educational state-symbols lesson |
| Arkansaurus fridayi | Official state dinosaur | A right hind foot was discovered by Joe B. Friday in Sevier County. | Arkansas Code § 1-4-135 |
The categories matter. A butterfly is an insect, but Arkansas treats the Diana fritillary as its own butterfly symbol; the honeybee represents the broader insect category. The deer is the mammal, the mockingbird the bird, and Arkansaurus fridayi the dinosaur. Keeping those labels attached prevents the common mistake of presenting every entry as a generic “state animal.”
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Diana fritillary: Arkansas’s state butterfly
How to recognize it
The Diana fritillary is Arkansas’s official butterfly under Arkansas Code § 1-4-126. The Secretary of State activity sheet places it in moist mountain areas and notes a striking difference between the sexes: females show bright blue markings. Those short clues are intended for identification in a classroom activity, not as a complete field guide to the species’ range, life cycle or conservation status.
What the law says
The code provision designates the Diana fritillary butterfly as Arkansas’s official butterfly. It also specifies that the designation does not grant the butterfly protected status. In other words, the symbol law is a recognition measure; it is not, by itself, a wildlife-protection rule.
White-tailed deer: Arkansas’s state mammal
Appearance and seasonal clue
Arkansas’s official mammal is the white-tailed deer, designated in Arkansas Code § 1-4-122. The activity sheet uses the animal’s coat to help readers identify it. A young deer has a reddish coat marked with white spots, while an older deer’s coat is described as brownish gray. Those spots are a useful clue for recognizing a fawn, whereas the adult coloration is more subdued.
Adoption date
An Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration 2016 historical statistics schedule records 1993 as the year the white-tailed deer became the state mammal. That date is a historical adoption reference, not a current estimate of Arkansas’s deer population.
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Alligator gar: an activity-sheet animal without a confirmed state-fish category
Why it appears on the list
The alligator gar is one of the six entries in the Secretary of State’s animal-symbol activity sheet. Its clue points to a shallow-water fish that can breathe air as well as water and has a broad snout lined with sharp teeth. Those features distinguish it from more familiar streamlined fish and explain the “alligator” part of its common name.
What you can and cannot call it
The evidence reviewed for this article does not establish an Arkansas statute designating the alligator gar as the official state fish. It is accurate to say that the fish is included in the state’s animal-symbol educational material. It would go further than the available evidence to label it Arkansas’s official state fish or to assign it another legal category.
Honeybee: Arkansas’s state insect
Pollination role
Arkansas Code § 1-4-110 designates the honeybee as the official state insect. The activity sheet highlights the practical reason many students encounter honeybees in lessons about plants: bees collect pollen and help plants make fruit and seeds. That description connects the insect’s foraging behavior with pollination, without claiming that honeybees are responsible for every crop or every pollination event in the state.
When Arkansas adopted it
Arkansas’s 2009 educational state-symbols lesson gives 1973 as the adoption year for the honeybee. The historical note in the Arkansas Code identifies Acts 1973, No. 49. The date tells you when the symbol was adopted; it does not describe current bee numbers or hive health.
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Mockingbird: Arkansas’s state bird
The sound-copying clue
The mockingbird’s activity-sheet clue is vocal imitation. It can copy sounds associated with other birds, frogs and insects, which makes its call repertoire an easy feature to remember. The clue is an introductory identification aid rather than a complete account of mockingbird behavior.
Adoption in 1929
An Arkansas Educational Television Commission state-symbols lesson published in 2009 says the General Assembly adopted the mockingbird as the state bird in 1929. The activity sheet includes the bird among its six animal entries, while the lesson supplies the specific state-bird context.
Arkansaurus fridayi: Arkansas’s official state dinosaur
The Arkansas discovery connection
Arkansaurus fridayi is the scientific name of Arkansas’s official state dinosaur. The activity sheet connects the dinosaur to a specific discovery: Joe B. Friday found a right hind foot in Sevier County. That detail gives the symbol a direct Arkansas association rather than treating it as a dinosaur chosen only for its prehistoric appeal.
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Arkansas Code § 1-4-135 designates Arkansaurus fridayi as the official dinosaur. The code history states that the section was added by Act 2019, No. 377, effective July 24, 2019. Because this is a dinosaur designation, it belongs beside the state’s living-animal symbols but should not be described as a mammal, bird, insect or fish.
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When were Arkansas’s animal symbols adopted?
Only some adoption dates are established with equal confidence in the sources used here. The documented dates are:
| Symbol | Adoption or effective date | Basis and qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Mockingbird | 1929 | Reported as the General Assembly’s state-bird adoption in a 2009 Arkansas educational lesson. |
| Honeybee | 1973 | Given by the 2009 educational lesson; Arkansas Code history identifies Acts 1973, No. 49. |
| White-tailed deer | 1993 | Listed in the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration’s 2016 historical statistics schedule. |
| Arkansaurus fridayi | July 24, 2019 | Act 2019, No. 377 became effective on this date, according to the cited Arkansas Code text. |
| Diana fritillary | Not established in the reviewed sources | The code designation is established, but an adoption year was not confirmed here. |
| Alligator gar | Not established | The activity sheet inclusion is documented; a statutory designation and adoption date were not established. |
It is better to leave an adoption year unconfirmed than to fill a chronology from an unsourced secondary list. The dates above also should not be confused with wildlife counts, population trends or conservation assessments.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why “Arkansas’s state animal” is an ambiguous question
Arkansas does not use one single category for all six entries in the activity sheet. If someone asks for the state mammal, the answer is the white-tailed deer. If they ask for the state insect, it is the honeybee. The state butterfly is the Diana fritillary, the state bird is the mockingbird and the state dinosaur is Arkansaurus fridayi. The alligator gar belongs to the educational list, but the reviewed material does not support a matching statutory label.
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Using the symbols in a classroom or family activity
Start with the category, not the name
- Ask whether the clue describes a mammal, insect, butterfly, bird, fish or dinosaur.
- Match the category to the likely Arkansas symbol: deer for mammal, honeybee for insect, Diana fritillary for butterfly, mockingbird for bird and Arkansaurus fridayi for dinosaur.
- Use the alligator gar’s shallow-water, air-breathing and broad-snout clues to identify it as the activity-sheet fish entry, without adding an unsupported “official state fish” label.
Use the state’s own educational materials
The Arkansas Secretary of State’s publications page lists a State Symbols Activity Book and describes classroom resources about state symbols. Those materials are suitable for introductory activities that ask children to match an animal to a clue, sort the entries by designation or locate Sevier County on a map. The activity-sheet descriptions are intentionally brief, so a lesson that covers habitat, anatomy or conservation should add a dependable natural-history source rather than treating the sheet as a field guide.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Calling the white-tailed deer the only state animal. It is the official state mammal, while the activity sheet contains several other animal-symbol categories.
- Calling every entry a state mammal. The set includes an insect, butterfly, bird and dinosaur.
- Declaring the alligator gar the official state fish. Its appearance on the activity sheet is documented, but a state-fish statute was not established in the reviewed material.
- Turning the Diana fritillary designation into a protection rule. Arkansas Code § 1-4-126 says the symbolic designation does not grant protected status.
- Presenting all adoption years as equally verified. The sources establish dates for the mockingbird, honeybee, white-tailed deer and state dinosaur, but not for every entry.
- Using the activity sheet as a complete species account. Its clues help readers recognize the symbols but do not provide comprehensive biology, distribution or population data.
Quick answers
What is Arkansas’s state animal?
There is no single answer that covers all six entries as one legal category. Arkansas’s official state mammal is the white-tailed deer, and the broader Secretary of State activity sheet also lists the Diana fritillary, alligator gar, honeybee, mockingbird and Arkansaurus fridayi.
What is Arkansas’s state bird?
The mockingbird. An Arkansas educational state-symbols lesson says the General Assembly adopted it as the state bird in 1929.
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The honeybee, designated by Arkansas Code § 1-4-110. The same symbol is associated with collecting pollen and helping plants produce fruit and seeds.
Is the alligator gar Arkansas’s official state fish?
The alligator gar is included in the Secretary of State’s animal-symbol activity sheet. The reviewed evidence does not establish a statute designating it as the official state fish, so that stronger claim should not be made without checking current Arkansas law.
What is Arkansas’s state dinosaur?
Arkansaurus fridayi, designated by Arkansas Code § 1-4-135. Act 2019, No. 377 made the provision effective July 24, 2019.
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