The penguin

Yeah, yeah, penguins may smell bad, but that’s not the reason Linus decided to use one for a mascot:

But not just any penguin – Torvalds specifically wanted to steer away from the ‘macho penguin’ image, and instead urged the developers to focus on creating an image of a cute, cuddly and contented penguin.

Torvalds discussed the finer points of penguins with the list members, suggesting that ‘contented’ means that the penguin ‘has either just gotten laid, or it’s stuffed on herring.’

‘Take it from me, I’m an expert on penguins, those are really the only two options,’ Torvalds wrote, noting that, although Linux developers might appreciate having a horny penguin as their mascot, it would be more politically correct to go with the ‘stuffed to its brim with herring’ option instead.

So when you think penguin, Torvalds told the developers, ‘you should be imagining a slightly overweight penguin, sitting down after having gorged itself, and having just burped. It’s sitting there with a beatific smile – the world is a good place to be when you have just eaten a few gallons of raw fish and you can feel another burp coming.’

Torvalds told the developers that they would know they had a successful design if small children, upon seeing the image, were compelled to ‘jump up and down and scream, ‘Mommy, mommy, can I have one, too?’