Mascots for 2016 Rio Olympics and Paralympics revealed

The mascots of 2016 Brazil Rio De Janeiro Summer Olympics and Paralympics have been unveiled. The yellow Olympic mascot released Monday by the Olympics Organizing Committee got a motif from Brazil`s animals. The organizing committee said the Olympics mascot combined "the agility of cats, the sway of monkeys and the grace of birds." The Paralympics mascot, meanwhile, "is energized by photosynthesis and can pull any object from his head of leaves" and is always growing and overcoming obstacles.

The committee will decide their names through a public survey on its website by December 14. The public will be asked to help name them by voting for one of three sets of names with choices being "Oba and Eba," "Tiba Tuque and Esquindim" and "Vinicius and Tom."

"The mascots are one of the most representative symbols of the Games. Their purpose is to delight and engage the audience, particularly the children,” said Carlos Nuzman, head of the Rio organizing committee..

Organizers hope that Olympic merchandise will generate sales of 1 billion reals (400 U.S. million dollars), with about 25 percent of the sales coming from products carrying the mascot logo. The Rio Olympics is a first ever to be held in South America, and will last from August 5 to 21 in 2016.