Texas Longhorns mascot Bevo enjoying some downtime between games. (Jim Mikulak/CC BY-3.0)
Learn about some of the most legendary Texas animals, from college mascots like Bevo and Reveille to long-gone mammals memorialized in time.
Texas longhorns, nine-banded armadillos, and the Mexican free-tailed bat are the official state mammals of Texas, though dozens of animals exist natively throughout the Lone Star State. Of course, there’s a difference between your everyday longhorn and a Texas legend like Bevo.
How did these animals earn their exalted status? We’re diving into six legendary Texas animals and the tales behind them.
1. Bevo
Spouting a burnt orange hide, Bevo is the official mascot of the Texas Longhorns. He weighs more than a ton, and his horns are over six feet long. The longhorn has been an official Texas large mammal since 1995, so Bevo is an institution of the state, even if you’re rooting for the other team.
The original Bevo debuted all the way back in 1916. He was originally named Bo, and UT alumnus Stephen Pickney ran a crowdfunding effort to purchase the longhorn for $124. Bo stepped onto the field for Texas’s Thanksgiving Day game against Texas A&M. The Longhorns won that game 21-7, and the school thought there might be some good luck to this longhorn. Bevo has remained a crucial part of the school ever since—though the original University of Texas mascot was a pit bull terrier named Pig.
After the Thanksgiving game, Ben Dyer, who edited the Texas Exes “Alcalde” magazine, wrote, “His name is Bevo. Long may he reign!” Theories range on where the moniker came from. Some common schools of thought include mimicking a recently created soft drink named Bevo and the Aggies branding the steer with a 13-0 score that Texas students tweaked into the longhorn’s name. Perhaps the most likely: The plural of “beef” is “beeve,” and in the 1910s, there was a trend of adding “o” to the end of names. Thus, “beeve” became “Bevo.”
In 1920, the original Bevo met an unceremonious demise. It turns out that keeping a large steer can be cumbersome and expensive, and OG Bevo had a bit of a temper. So, a mixed crowd of Longhorn and Aggie students threw a BBQ—with Bevo as the guest (food) of honor. Thankfully, that’s the only iteration of Bevo who hasn’t lived out his days on a cozy ranch among friends.
We’re up to Bevo XV now, and each steer to wear the crown has done so with grace and dignity. If you happen to be at an event where Bevo is in attendance, be sure to say hello. It’ll brighten your day.
2. Shorty the Squirrel
Shorty made his home in Tyler, nesting outside the Smith County courthouse. Per Roadside America, he was “a panhandler and a beggar, but beloved by the town.” Geneva Pillow, a woman with a fantastic name, fed Shorty every day.
Since Tyler citizens were smitten by Shorty, they took proactive measures to keep him safe. The city instilled a lower speed limit near his home and built a unique pedestrian crossing. Those tactics sort of worked; Shorty lived to be 15 years old, longer than some squirrel breeds and about average for others.
In the summer of 2024, 61 years after Shorty passed, Tyler Mayor Don Warren and Smith County Judge Neal Franklin attempted to exhume him. It turns out they couldn’t find the squirrel underneath the grave marker, so he may have been moved elsewhere (or never buried there in the first place).
Either way, Shorty’s memory will continue to live on. The squirrel will receive a statue in Tyler’s new downtown plaza. We just hope it looks better than some of the recently unveiled NBA statues.
3. Albert the Alligator
Albert the Alligator is a recent addition to the Texas family. He had been living in captivity in a home in Hamburg, New York. Albert, believed to be about 30 to 35 years old, is 11 feet long and weighs 750 pounds. While the town of Hamburg offers more spacious living areas than your typical NYC studio, a residential home is not a particularly good location for a gator.
So, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation seized Albert from the home. The owner, Tony Cavallaro, had installed a pool and invited guests to come into the water to hang out with Albert. DEC agents brought Albert to Gator Country Adventure Park in Beaumont, a sanctuary for gators and other animals.
Despite Cavallaro’s efforts to get Albert back, the gator is still enjoying Texas’s sunny life. He does have several ailments, including cloudy eyes and a curved spine, though living in the sun in a more natural habitat could help him return closer to good health.
4. Reveille
Dogs can become strays for any number of reasons. Maybe they accidentally escaped home and are trying to find their way back. Perhaps their owners have unfortunately died. Or, in the worst-case scenario, the owner simply abandoned their dog somewhere. We do not like these people one bit.
It’s unclear exactly how Reveille I ended up on the streets, but few dogs have inspired such legendary stories. When a group of cadets at Texas A&M accidentally hit her with their car in January 1931, they smuggled her onto campus to keep her as a pet and nurse her back to health. The following morning, a bugler played “Reveille,” prompting the pup to bark and earning her a name. She soon became the official mascot of the school. Legend has it that if Reveille attends a class and barks, the teacher has to dismiss the students—a feat put to the test just a couple of years ago by Reveille X.
Since 1966, each Reveille has been a pure-bred rough collie. The “First Lady of Aggieland” outranks every member of the Corps of Cadets, and she dons a maroon coat decorated with five shining stars at special events. Upon retirement, the Reveille ladies live a luxurious life full of scritches and snuggles. As they cross the rainbow bridge, the dog legends are buried beneath a miniature scoreboard in a cemetery at Kyle Field.
The First Lady of Aggieland, Reveille, poses with her fellow Aggies on the field. (Cushing Memorial Library and Archives, Texas A&M/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
5. Assault
Assault was foaled at King Ranch in South Texas. At 825,000 acres, it’s the largest ranch in the United States. Bold Venture, who won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in 1936, sired Assault. Little did the father know that his son would do even greater things.
The young Assault earned the nickname “Clubfooted Comet” because of an injury that left his foot permanently deformed. However, he didn’t let that early injury slow him down. He began racing in 1945 as a two-year-old, earning two victories in nine starts.
In 1946, Assault won the Kentucky Derby by eight lengths, then the largest margin of victory in the race’s history. He eked out a neck victory in the Preakness Stakes to equal his dad’s accomplishments from ten years earlier. Then, in the Belmont Stakes, Assault stumbled out of the gates before bouncing back and finishing first to secure the Triple Crown. To date, he’s still the only Texas-bred Triple Crown winner. From the Belmont Stakes onward, he’d get a chocolate cake after every victory, which is a practice we should adopt in our daily lives.
Assault continued racing until he was seven years old before retiring to King Ranch. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1964. In 1971, he was euthanized after breaking his left front leg during a fall. He was 28 years old and is buried at King Ranch.
An homage to Assault ridden by jockey Eddie Arcaro at Belmont Park. (Wally Gobetz/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
6. Bodacious the Bull
Bodacious was born in Oklahoma, but he became a legend in Texas. Known as “the world’s most dangerous bull,” Bodacious was the 1994 and 1995 Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association Bucking Bull of the Year and the 1995 Professional Bull Riders World Champion Bull.
He was also a terror to ride. His freak athleticism allowed him to jump higher than most other bulls, and some riders would be thrown from the bull before they could even nod to start the ride. In 135 attempts, Bodacious was only ridden eight times. That’s less than a 6% success rate if you’re scoring at home. Bodacious also had run-ins with several riders, most notably Tuff Hedeman, who broke every major bone in his face after being rammed and tossed from the bull.
That danger led to Bodacious’s retirement in 1995. By 2000, after years of breeding and touring the country as a celebrity, Bodacious developed a hoof infection. He died of kidney failure a short time later, at 12 years old. He received a ton of posthumous honors, including an induction into the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2008. Both the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas State Senate have recognized his accomplishments. Perhaps the most impressive accolade is a custom bucking chute designed by the Houston Rodeo and Livestock Show. That memorial can still be seen today at the Andrews Rodeo Company Ranch.
This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
