Mike the Tiger

Mike the Tiger is the mascot of Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and serves as the graphic image of LSU sports. Mike is the name of both the live and costumed mascots. By tradition the tiger is a live Bengal tiger, although the current mascot and his two immediate predecessors are mixed-breeds. Mike V was a Bengal-Indochinese mix, Mike VI was a Bengal-Siberian hybrid, and Mike VII is also a Bengal–Siberian mix. LSU teams are called the Fighting Tigers and Lady Tigers, with "Lady Tigers" used only for women's teams in sports that are also sponsored for men, and the university's football team plays its home games in Tiger Stadium. LSU first adopted its "Tigers" nickname in the fall of 1896. The moniker references Confederate era military regiments; the military brigade led by Harry T. Hays which participated in the New Orleans Massacre of 1866; the Louisiana troops of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia became known as the Tigers during the Civil War after two New Orleans brigades, the Tiger Rifles and the Washington Artillery (whose logo featured a tiger's head since 1838).

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