The Strange Roots

Firefox 🦊

Firefox, the web browser developed by Mozilla, is supposedly a reference to the red panda, a mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China.

It was origally called Phoenix and then Firebird before conflicts caused the shift to Firefox, which also became the mascot for the browser. In response to a question whether the logo is a Firefox or a red panda, the Twitter account sent the following response:

kind of both? The fox hugging the globe in our logo is 100% fox. Firefox IS a nickname for red pandas, though, so they also have our hearts as a mascot.

— Firefox 🔥 (@firefox) October 17, 2018

Sources: Wikipedia | Twitter