The mascot was chosen through a contest entered by 836 participants. After an initial selection, six projects were chosen, then submitted to a vote by readers of various newspapers and magazines. It was the wolf by Slovenian painter Trobec who triumphed easily over the other finalists: a snowball, a mountain goat, a weasel, a lamb and a hedgehog.
The wolf is a prominent figure in Yugoslavian fables: he embodies courage and strength and symbolises winter.
Vučko was the hero of a cartoon created by Nedeljko Dragic, published in several daily and weekly Yugoslavian newspapers.