Recently, Chippewa Valley Technical College adopted its first mascot in roughly 40 years, choosing the River Otter as their symbol. That got us thinking about unique mascots in the area. Here are our picks for the most weird and wonderful:

1. BLOOMER FIGHTIN’ WOODTICKS.

You can keep your “fierce” tigers, lions, or bears: Those of us in the Northwoods know the most insidious critter around here is this miniature eight-legged monster. Fortunately, neither real woodticks nor the members of this Chippewa River Baseball League team carry Lyme disease.

2. JIM FALLS STURGEONS.

These jumbo-sized prehistoric fish – which can be found in the Chippewa River near Jim Falls – won’t win any aquatic beauty contests. But that probably makes them all the more intimidating when they take the field during the Chippewa River Baseball League season.

3. CVTC RIVER OTTERS.

Yes, they’re brand new, and yes, CVTC doesn’t have any teams (yet!) to sport cool River Otters uniforms. But right out of the gate, the Tech nailed it in the mascot department. “River Otters” is unique, memorable, and adorable. We can’t wait for the T-shirts and laptop stickers!

4. BEEF RIVER BULLFROGS.

There must be something in the water – literally: This is the third aquatic mascot on the list. When it came time to name their Chippewa River Baseball League squad, the folks in Strum chose the small but vocal Bullfrog. (They also get bonus points for using meaty-sounding Beef River in their name.) Let’s just hope the Bullfrogs don’t croak during the big game.

5. TRAX OF THE EAU CLAIRE EXPRESS.

OK, we’ll acknowledge that the Express don’t have a name as cool as some of the above teams. But the Northwoods League club belongs on this list anyway because of the awesome ambiguity of its mascot, Trax. This rotund, mutant Muppet looks like Grimmace’s train-engineer cousin, or perhaps Gritty after a haircut.