South Dakota State Symbols
South Dakota State Symbols, Emblems, and Mascots
South Dakota is the location of one of America's most famous landmarks, Mount Rushmore, which features mountain-sized portraits of 4 US presidents. The great outdoors dominate the lives of many living in South Dakota. Plains, grasslands, and forests provide students in South Dakota with an abundance of opportunities to hunt, fish, run, and bike.
A Great Plains state, South Dakota was named for the Dakota division of the Sioux Indians, and is known as the Coyote State. Admitted simultaneously with North Dakota after the Dakota Territory was divided along the 46th parallel, South Dakota is mainly a rural state. Today, just less than 10 percent of its population is American Indian. South Dakota is known for two monumental sculptures carved into the Black Hills--Mount Rushmore, which honors presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt, and the Crazy Horse Monument, still under construction, which honors the Oglala Sioux war chief. The state floral emblem is the Pasque, May Day flower (pulsatilla hirsutissima) flower; its blooming is one of the first signs of spring in South Dakota.
South Dakota State Symbols contains descriptions and pictures of the state symbols, emblems, and mascots of the state, which can be quickly accessed. This resource guide represents many of South Dakota state facts such as South Dakota state symbols, the state flower, the state gemstone, the state insect, the state tree, the state bird, the state animal, the state flag that flies over South Dakota, and the capital, as well as many more symbols, emblems, and mascots.
South Dakota State Symbols, Emblems, and Mascots |
|
|---|---|
Symbols |
Symbol Name - (Species) |
| Animal | Coyote (Canis latrans) |
| Bird | Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus culchicus) |
| Bread | Fry Bread |
| Common Language | English |
| Dessert | Kuchen |
| Drink | Milk (Lac vaccum) |
| Fish | Walleye (Stizostedion vitreum) |
| Fishing Museum | Museum of Wildlife, Science, and Industry, Webster |
| Flag | State Flag |
| Floral Emblem | Pasque, May Day Flower (pulsatilla hirsutissima) with the motto "I Lead." |
| Fossil | Triceratops (Triceratops) |
| Gemstone | Fairborn Agate |
| Grass | Western wheat grass (Agropyron smithii) |
| Greeting | "How, Kola" (Hello, Friend) |
| Hall of Fame | The South Dakota Hall of Fame, Chamberlain, SD |
| Insect | Honeybee (Apis Mellifera L.) |
| Jewelry | Black Hills Gold |
| Mineral Stone | Rose Quartz |
| Mining Museum | Black Hills Mining Museum in Lead 1-6-29. State mining museum. The Black Hills Mining Museum in Lead is hereby designated as the official mining museum of South Dakota. No state funds may be provided for the operation or maintenance of the museum. Source: SL 2014, ch 4, ? 1. |
| Motto | "Under God the people rule" |
| Musical Instrument | Fiddle |
| Nicknames | The Mount Rushmore State |
| Quarter | South Dakota State Quarter |
| Seal | Great Seal |
| Slogan | "Great Faces. Great Places." |
| Soil | Houdek soil (Cumulic Haplustolls) |
| Song | "Hail, South Dakota" |
| Sport | Rodeo |
| Tree | Black Hills Spruce (Picea glauca densata) |
