Illinois' state insect, the monarch butterfly, is one of the most popular state insects. Well, no other state calls flourite its state mineral. Illinois was also the only state to adopt the bluegill. It may be the smallest of state fishes, but it's also familiar to very many children and adults alike. The Tully Monster is bizarre and unique in every way.
Many children probably consider it their favorite Illinois symbol.
But my favorite is Illinois' official prairie grass, big bluestem. Better yet is the nickname Prairie State . Across the nation and around the world, people revere state forests, provincial forests, national forests, petrified forests, and city parks. Grasslands carpet much of the heartland of the United States and Canada both. For a brief and heady time, the Plains Indians ruled the center of the continent from horseback.