In today’s modern-age technology, even the slightest of the information gets circulated all over the world at the rocket speed. If you take hoaxes, then they spread much faster than the true information due to their weird and bizarre content which makes them more interesting to the masses.
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Ridiculous Animal Hoaxes
So, here we present you a list of 10 Ridiculous Animal Hoaxes.
10. Rhino of Cornell University
In 1920s, Footprints resembling of a large beast were found on the campus of Cornell University. Although, such footprints are common in the forests or abandoned area but such findings in an institutional area made big news at that time. The track of these footprints suggested that the creature had fallen and drowned in the frozen lake. Several zoologists suggested these footprints to be of a rhino but in reality, this was the work of a serial prankster and Cornell student Hugh Troy who pinched a wastepaper basket with a rhino-foot base from a professor and attached the bin to a clothesline which laid the tracks on the snow.
9. Mysterious Sea Monster
The Sea Monster legend is dated back to 1400 years ago where several people were reported witnessing a giant monstrous creature in the Scottish region. Several publications ran the pictures of a creature heading out of the water body but an associate of a leading journal confessed before his death that black and white image of a monstrous figure was actually a piece of plastic toy attached to a submarine toy.
8. Chicago’s Killer Hawk
It was a matter of 1927, when the streets of Chicago was flooded with the news of a killer hawk picking off the city’s beloved pigeons. This story made grabbed so much attention that the residents do Chicago came out on the streets and rallied for hunting down the hawk. Moreover, a banker came up with awarding $50 for its capture and a special club was established to hunt down the hawk responsible for picking off the mascot of the city. Eventually, one of the Chicago Journal’s reporters admitted that he was responsible behind this hoax, having come up with idea one afternoon while looking out of the window and seeing a hawk.
7. Military Dolphins’ Escape
A hoax was originated by a shady Russian Museum Director about three military-trained dolphins of Ukrainian military scooted away to the Black Sea to join their mates before returning to the base. It was said that these dolphins were trained to kill the enemy divers with knives and pistols attached to their heads. But it was Ukraine’s Defense ministry who pointed out about this false claim.
6. Handshake of a Humpback Whale
Humpback whales are widely known for their cruelty and dangerous nature. But a popular hoax made the new headlines about a female humpback that offered a handshake to one environmental group’s people who freed her from the web of crab-fishing lines. The much-needed ignition was provided by a picture showing the whale extending a flipper as if to shake her savior’s hand. But the fact is it was not real and the picture and story had nothing to do with each other.
5. Rats in Disguise
Have ever heard of feeding steroids to the rats and then selling these beefed up creatures as dogs to the tourists? This strange and bizarre hoax came up in Latin America where one cheeky market vendor was said to con the tourists to parts with their cash for what they think was a toy poodle. But in reality, they bought a beefed-up rat only. But many groups have different stories related to this. There have been several stories in different forms related to this ‘Mexican Pet’. It can sometimes be explained as a manifestation of certain media outlets’ view on immigration or tourism.
4. Glass Jarred Kittens
You all must have come across several miniatures plants in the glass jars or bowls. But some students took this thing to next level wherein one of the most popular hoaxes, MIT students decided to set up a site called Bonsai Kitty, dedicated to preserving the long lost art of body modifications in house pets. This site also grabbed several eyeballs and faced public outrage from animal rights groups and organizations. This whole case led to FBI investigation looking into claims kitten are being stuffed into jars and sold.
3. Testicle-Eating Fish
In August 2013, the website LiveScience warned people of Denmark of the testicle eating fish which was escaped from an aquarium. This sister of piranha was nicknamed “the ball-cutter” after nipping the testicles off a few Papua New Guinea fishermen. The extra fuel was added to this story by a British Newspaper that went a step further stating that these fish eat testicles because they sit nicely in their mouth and adding the fact that several people have bled to death due to this fish. But later, National Geography cleared this hoax declaring the presence of a species of Papua New Guinea in Danish water but no such incident of eating testicles.
2. Invisible Fish
People adopt several marketing tactics to boost up their business or needs. But the height of this was achieved when a struggling cafe owner developed a cheap and easy scheme which involved the concept of invisible fish. She bought a goldfish bowl filled with water and stuck a sign saying “Invisible Fish from South America”. Soon, the cafe witnessed a huge footfall and sometimes even the police was called to quell the crowd. This stunt was used in several Broadway shows and events where a concealed fan was used to create the ripples across the water.
1. Dwarf Eating Hippo
It was the story of a circus where a dwarf doing his trampoline in front of live audience miscued a back-flip and landed in the mouth of a yawning hippo who swallowed the dwarf whole. People first thought it as a trick but later they found that it was not a trick. This story then started getting circulated all over the world in various news dailies and over the internet. Although it was an accident but people started reporting the hippo as a dwarf eater.