PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Lewis & Clark College has narrowed it down its search for a new mascot that better represents a “shared sense of school spirit and pride.”

In a video uploaded on Wednesday, the private liberal arts school revealed the top eight contenders that could replace its current “pioneer” or "Pio" mascot: timberwolves, river hawks, river otters, pronghorns, mammoths, lynx, herons and cascades.

The institution first opened its doors as the Albany Collegiate Institute in 1867. It relocated from Albany to Portland in 1942, also rebranding under its current name that serves as a “symbol of the pioneering spirit that had made and maintained the college.”

But in recent years, the community has acknowledged the college’s association with its namesakes Meriwether Lewis and William

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