Fun facts about Pachi the Porcupine
You may know a lot about athletics and you may know a lot about the Canadian athletes competing on the track and on the roads, but we’re guessing you probably don’t know that much about the Pan American Games mascot, Pachi the Porcupine.
1) Your average porcupine has upwards of 30,000 quills, but Pachi has only 41 (one for each of the Pan American countries represented at the Games).
2) Pachi has trouble seeing distances, as most porcupines don’t have great eyesight.
3) Each of Pachi’s quills are one of five different colours: green, fuchsia, blue, orange or purple. Each one represents a quality that Pachi possesses. Green represents youth, fuchsia represents passion, blue represents collaboration, orange represents determination and purple represents creativity.
I love you / Je t’aime / Ti amo Toronto! #TO2015 #PANAMANIA #PACHI A photo posted by TORONTO 2015 Games mascot (@pachi_the_porcupine) on
4) Pachi the Porcupine was designed by four grade eight students from Buttonville Public School in Markham, Ont. Pachi was selected from over 4,000 design submissions.
5) Pachi’s name is derived from a Japanese phrase, a loose translation of which means “clapping for joy.”
6) Pachi’s theme music is Classified’s “Inner Ninja.”
7) Pachi wears a Pan Am Games wristband on one wrist and a Pan American wristband on the other.
8) The cost, to create, build and promote Pachi the Porcupine, was nearly $400,000.
9) Pachi has his own instagram account. You can follow him at @pachi_the_porcupine
10) There are 17 identical Pachi outfits so that the mascot can be present at all events during the Games.
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