For all their charm and Gen‑Z spirit, the Olympic mascots echo a reminder beneath the celebration: the mountains hosting the Games and the wildlife that call them home are changing fast.
While the Olympics attract immense attention due to people’s love for sports, its Mascots open up a separate stream of thought. It is no different this year too.
The two animals chosen as the mascots of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games are stoats, a weasel-like animal that’s at risk because of climate change.
One of the pair is brown and the other is white, because in cold climates, the tiny animals’ fur changes from brown to white for winter, to blend in with the landscape.
However, stoats are increasingly turning white before there is any snow on the ground, leaving them vulnerable to predators. Their snow-white coats amid dirt and rocks is like a target on their backs for sharp-eyed raptors.
The mascot is turning heads not only because of its lovability, but also for its environmental connect.
The white stoat mascot is Tina — short for Cortina, after Cortina d’Ampezzo, one of the two cities hosting the
Winter Olympics. Her younger, darker-furred brother, Milo — after the city of Milan — was born without one paw and is the mascot for the Paralympics in March.
All about Stoats
The stoat is a small predator, with a long, low-slung body that makes it particularly well suited to hunting small rodents and rabbits. It can easily kill an adult rabbit, which is much larger than itself, with a bite to the base of the skull.
Stoats are active by day and night, and are easiest to spot in open habitats, such as sand dunes, grassland and heathland.
They mate in summer, but delay implantation of the fertilised egg until the spring of the following year. They have one litter of six to twelve kits a year.
Stoats are very playful creatures with an insatiable curiosity; they tirelessly explore holes, buildings and even people, if they sense that there is no danger.
Stoats (Mustela erminea) are not endangered; they are classified as “Least Concern” globally due to their widespread distribution across the Northern Hemisphere.
Concern that needs attention
Marco Granata, a doctoral student who researches stoats at the University of Turin in Italy, thinks the organizers are missing out on an opportunity to educate people a bit more and help this animal.
“It’s ironic because everyone now is talking about stoats, looking for stoats, but no one knows about real stoats, mostly because the Olympic committee didn’t inform the population about it,” he told the Associated Press.
Tina and Milo are central symbols of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, embodying the Italian spirit that inspires them.
Naturally curious they love sports and the outdoor life but they also want to have fun. They represent the contemporary, vibrant and dynamic Italian Spirit.
Raffaella Paniè leads the branding for the 2026
Milan Cortina Games and oversaw the mascot’s creation, crowd-sourced from young Italian students.
She told the AP she doesn’t think talking about the implications of climate change is within the scope of the organizing committee. There were so many options for messaging, and the committee needed a focus, she added.
Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi told AP that the topic of climate change associated with Stoats should be included in the the larger narrative.
Projections show that if stoats don’t adapt, the color-changing species will decline in numbers over the next couple of decades as the snow is reduced, said L. Scott Mills, an emeritus professor at the University of Montana.
For all their charm and
Gen‑Z spirit, the mascots echo a reminder beneath the celebration: the mountains hosting the Games and the wildlife that call them home are changing fast.
With inputs from agencies
