Alabama State Symbols

State Game Bird:  Wild Turkey

State Horse:  Racking Horse

State Freshwater Fish:  Largemouth Bass

Salt Water Fish:  Tarpon  

State Amphibian:  Red Hills salamander

State Insect:  Monarch Butterfly

State Reptile:  Alabama Red-bellied Turtle

State Flower:  Camellia

State Wildflower:  Oak-leaf Hydrangea

State Tree:  Southern Pine

State Soil:  Bama Soil Series

State Fossil:  Basilosaurus cetoides

State Shell:  Scaphella junonia johnstoneae

State Rock:  Marble

State Gemstone:  Star Blue Quartz

State Nut:  Pecan

State Folk Dance:  Square Dance

State Song: "Alabama" written by Julia S. Tutwiler

Motto:  We Dare Defend Our Rights

Origin of State Name:  The name was derived from two Choctaw words roughly meaning vegetation (alba) and gatherer (amo), used to describe the Alabama, or Alibamon, people.

Nickname for State:  The Yellowhammer State.  During the Civil War a company of Alabama soldiers decked their uniforms with yellow trimmings that resembled the wing patches of the yellowhammer, the state bird.

Nickname for residents:  Alabamans