No, I'm serious, have you ever been charged by an enraged bull terrapin? Horrifying.
Also, as far as I can tell, Maryland doesn't have a state animal. We have a state bird, state reptile, state crustacean, state amphibian, state dog, state cat, state dinosaur, state insect, state fish, state fossil, state seal, and state horse.
One of those is not true. Guess which one?
And, specifically, the University of Maryland's mascot is the terrapin. His name is Testudo, and he's a big improvement on our mascot prior to the '30s. We were the University of Maryland Old Liners.