StatesFacts
Menu

All 50 states

Colorado state symbols

Colorado has 26 official state symbols. The oldest is the seal, which goes back to the territorial seal of 1861; the newest is the emperor mushroom, adopted in 2025. Schoolchildren and Girl Scouts proposed more of them than in almost any other state.

26 official designations · every law checked October 23, 2026

Chosen by young Coloradans

Colorado’s symbol list reads like a record of school projects. A fourth-grade class spent two years campaigning for Stegosaurus, traveling the state to build support, before Governor Richard Lamm declared it the state fossil in 1982. In 2007 fourth graders at Skyline Vista Elementary noticed that Colorado had no state reptile, studied the candidates and picked the western painted turtle, which the legislature adopted the next year. A nine-year-old at Dennison Elementary in Lakewood came up with the idea of making skiing and snowboarding the official winter sport. Students from several Denver-area schools lobbied for the western tiger salamander, and schoolchildren proposed making adopted shelter pets the state pets.

Girl Scouts have been just as effective. Lakewood Troop 357 petitioned for Yule marble as the state rock in 2004, and four girls from Castle Rock Troop 2518 led the 2014 campaign for the claret cup cactus.

Mountains, prairie and stone

The oldest symbols describe the landscape. The columbine, a blue-and-white mountain wildflower, became the state flower in 1899, and in 1925 Colorado added legal protection for it, limiting how many can be picked. Schoolchildren voted for the blue spruce in 1892; the legislature followed in 1939. The lark bunting, a bird of the eastern plains, was adopted in 1931, and the bighorn sheep in 1961.

Colorado’s rocks and minerals come with records attached. Aquamarine, the state gem since 1971, is found on Mount Antero and White Mountain at around 14,000 feet, among the highest gem sites in the world. Rhodochrosite became the state mineral in 2002, over arguments for gold or silver; the Alma King, the largest known rhodochrosite crystal, came from the Sweet Home Mine near Alma and is on display in Denver. Yule marble, quarried in Gunnison County since 1906, was used for the Lincoln Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Sports, songs and a tartan

Colorado has two official sports: skiing and snowboarding in winter, and pack burro racing in summer. Pack burro racers run alongside a burro carrying a miner’s pack, a tradition that started with a race between Leadville and Fairplay in 1949. The state also has a tartan, in forest green and cerulean blue, that anyone may wear.

There are two state songs. “Where the Columbines Grow,” written by A. J. Fynn, was adopted in 1915. In 2007 the legislature added John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High” as a second state song. Denver, born Henry John Deutschendorf Jr., had taken his stage name from Colorado’s capital.

The newest symbol

In 2025 Colorado adopted an official state mushroom, the emperor mushroom, Agaricus julius, a large mushroom with a scaly brown cap that smells of almonds.

The main symbols

The flag, the lark bunting and the columbine each have their own page. The state seal may be reproduced only by state agencies and educational organizations with the Secretary of State’s permission, so it is described here but not shown.

1 1860s 1 1880s 1 1900s 2 1920s 2 1940s 1 1960s 1 2 1980s 4 5 2000s 4 1 2020s
Official symbols adopted per decade. The busiest decade was the 2000s, with five.

Flag, seal, song, motto and nickname

Animals

Plants and fungi

Earth and sky

Songs, words and language

Culture and history

Places and institutions

Questions about Colorado's symbols

What is the Colorado state animal?
The Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, adopted in 1961.
What is the Colorado state fossil?
Stegosaurus, designated by Governor Richard Lamm in 1982 after a two-year campaign by fourth graders.
Does Colorado have two state songs?
Yes. "Where the Columbines Grow," by A. J. Fynn, became the state song in 1915, and John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High" was added as a second state song in 2007.
What is Colorado's state pet?
Dogs and cats adopted from Colorado animal shelters and rescues. A pet only counts if it was adopted.
Photo credits (6)

Something out of date? Tell us and we will check it against the law.

Sources