2016 Rio Olympics mascot is a bright yellow smiley-faced cat-like figure!

The mascot for the 2016 Rio Olympics has been revealed and it is a bright yellow smiley-faced cat-like figure that represents the animal life of Brazil.

The mascot for the Paralympics has also been unveiled, which is a mopped-headed doll with leafy hair, meant to represent the vast diversity of the flora in Brazil.

The mascots made their first official appearance on Monday. A public poll would be conducted to give names to the two from a shortlist of possibilities, Stuff.co.nz reported.

The cuddly, cartoon-like mascots are big business as organisers hope to raise 1 billion Reals from branded merchandise. Income from merchandising makes up a big chunk of the 3 billion Reals operating budget. Half of that budget is to come from the sale of local sponsorships.

The Olympic merchandising campaign would comprise about 12,000 products aimed mostly at children.

Head of licensing Slymara Mutini said that their expectation is that the mascots would represent 25 per cent of their merchandising business.

Mutini added that they are all very, very excited about the mascots, and truly believe that's an achievable goal. And he expects that they might even surpass it.