The people of the University of California-Irvine call themselves the Anteaters. In general, the more whimsical nicknames belong to schools in California; most befitting of the land of fruit and nuts. California-Irvine is a division I school and plays in the Big West Conference.

In the early 1960s, the land on which UCI now stands was 1,500 acres of treeless terrain occupied by an Irvine Company cattle ranch. Under the direction of Founding Chancellor Daniel G. Aldrich, the campus opened in 1965 with 1,589 students and 119 faculty. Today, UCI has about 18,000 students, 1,400 faculty, and 8,500 employees. And the treeless terrain has become an arboretum of trees and shrubs from around the world. Founded in 1971, the City of Irvine (population 121,000) was planned by the master architect William Pereira, as was the UCI campus itself.

http://www.editor.uci.edu/welcome_book/chapter1.html

Why an Anteater?

In selecting a mascot, University of California tradition called for a bear. But two water polo players, Pat Glasgow and Bob Ernst, had another idea for UC Irvine. Inspired by the Johnny Hart cartoon character "Peter" in B.C., they enlisted cheerleader Schuyler Bassett III, who led an imaginative campaign. Bumper stickers, posters and decals featuring the anteater flooded the campus. Based on its "originality, uniqueness and relevance to UC" (the anteater is, in fact, an antbear), the weird-looking beast won 56 percent of the vote in a 1965 election. Other nominees -- eagle, unicorn, golden bear and "none of these" -- were soundly defeated.

In the B.C. comics, the anteater's tongue, when striking its prey, made a resounding noise, "ZOT!" -- now the fearsome UCI Anteaters' unique war cry!

There is some wonderful anteater art at http://www.communications.uci.edu/anteater.html.

California-Irvine's colors appear to be blue and gold.