Tux the Penguin is the official emblem of Linux, This eventuated after a logo contest in
1996, during which Linus Torvalds endorsed the idea of a penguin
logo in a couple of famously funny postings. Linus
explained that he was once bitten by a killer penguin in
Australia and has felt a special affinity for the species ever
since. (Linus has since admitted that he was also thinking of
Feathers McGraw, the evil-genius penguin jewel thief who appeared
in a Wallace & Grommit feature cartoon, "The Wrong
Trousers".)
Larry Ewing designed the
official Tux logo. It has proved a wise choice, amenable to
hundreds of recognizable variations used as emblems of
Linux-related projects, products, and user groups. In fact, Tux
has spawned an entire mythology, of which the Gospel According to
Tux and the mock-epic poem "Tuxowolf" are among the
best-known examples.
There is a `real' Tux - a black-footed penguin resident at the
Bristol Zoo. Several friends of Linux bought a zoo sponsorship
for Linus as a birthday present in 1996.