UC Irvine students, inspired by Johnny Hart’s comic strip “B.C.,” elected the Anteater mascot over the Eagles, Unicorns and Seahawks runner-ups on Nov. 30, 1965. Currently, there are six mascot statues strewn across the campus, with the most well-known being the 430-pound bronze anteater figure in front of the Bren Events Center.
Students and visitors visit these statues on a daily basis, but some are unaware of the taxidermy mount of Myrmey the Anteater.
Myrmey, short for the giant anteater’s scientific name myrmecophaga tridactyla, is the largest of the four anteater species: the giant anteater, the southern tamandua, the northern tamandua and the silky anteater. As a giant anteater, Myrmey measures about six to eight feet in length and has a two-foot long tongue. Like most giant anteaters, he has two light brown stripes cascading down his back.
According to his display plaque, taxidermy Myrmey arrived at UCI in the summer of 1988 and is now over 100 years old. Before settling in the first floor of the Student Center Myrmey resided at the Antique Guild in Santa Ana. His display information reads that he was “destined for great things” and “shook the dust of the forest from his humpback and ventured out to see the world.”
Myrmey was taken to Europe, Canada and then Hollywood, where he appeared on an episode of the 1972 American sitcom The Bob Newhart Show. In season 4, episode two titled “The Way We Ought To Be,” someone radios for “Francine’s stuffed anteater,” and a man carries Myrmey across the room.
Outside of the Center for Black Cultures, Resources and Research, Myrmey’s display case consists of small rock formations, ferns and little branches with leaves. His area also displays a newspaper piece, his biographical information, a framed image of Bob Newhart from the The Bob Newhart Show and a cover of the script for the episode Myrmey appeared on. Students can pass by Myrmey’s display on their way to study in the Thomas and Lillian Ma Garden Study Atrium.
“If you think about it, [Myrmey] is kind of hidden from … places that are really accessible on campus, like the Student Center Terrace or Ring Road,” UC Irvine campus representative and tour guide Teresita Esquivel-Aguirre told New University. “So, I feel like not a lot of students know about his existence.”
According to Esquivel-Aguirre, campus tour guides share what she calls “The Anteater Story,” which recounts the history of how the anteater became UCI’s beloved mascot. Before the mascot election, students Pat Glasgow, Schuyler Hadley Bassett III and Bob Ernst advertised for the anteater at one of UCI’s first athletic events.
“A lot of students really fell in love with the [anteater],” Esquivel-Aguirre said. “When they had the opportunity to choose the mascot on the ballots, they just wrote ‘anteater’ and I guess pretty much ignored the other choices.”
Part of the anteater’s appeal derives from its uniqueness, Esquivel-Aguirre said.
“I think that [the anteater] is really unique in the sense that I feel like there’s just no other school or a mascot like ours,” Esquivel-Aguirre said. “I’m trying to think of other schools in the nation, or even in California, to have [an] anteater as a mascot [and] I can’t think of one.”
The term “ZOT” originates from Hart’s anteaters in his comic strips and appears in students’ anteater “ZOT” chants and hand signals at athletic events, orientations, graduation ceremonies and more.
“There’s always that moment where we show our pride for being a UCI student by putting our ‘ZOT’s’ up,” Esquivel-Aguirre said. “We really channel that school spirit.”
Now, Peter the Anteater (1965) stars in UCI merchandise, Petr stickers, the six campus statues and New University’s comics and graphics.
Alyssa Villagonzalo is a Features Intern for the fall 2024 quarter. She can be reached at akvillag@uci.edu.
Edited by Kaelyn Kwon and Ben De Guzman.