After years of discussions, CentOS is excited to present our new mascot: the quokka.

We've been discussing a mascot in the Board and Promo SIG for a few years. In fact, the quokka had been mentioned as long ago as the September 2022 Board meeting, and probably earlier. We would probably still be idly discussing it, if not for Jess Chitas. Jess is the designer of the Fedora mascot Colúr, and she stepped up to help CentOS.

Why the quokka? While we were discussing mascot ideas, one contributor mentioned that Johnny Hughes had once suggested the quokka. Johnny is a CentOS founder, active maintainer, and current CentOS Board member. Although Johnny doesn't remember and the details are lost to time, we still thought it would be a fun nod to somebody who's been a part of CentOS for over 20 years.