Animal April Fools: Fool or Fact?

It’s April Fools Day! Every year around the world, various media outlets try to pull a fast one on the unsuspecting public on April Fools Day. Which of the following are April Fools jokes and which are true?

BBC Reports colony of flying penguins.

Flying Penguins - APRIL FOOLS! The first sign of a hoax in this documentary clip is the narrator: Terry Jones from Monty Python. Jones explains that the first flying penguin colony has been discovered, and they migrate in winter to tropical rainforests of South America. The beautifully shot nature clip is, in fact, a spoof ad for BBC programming online.

Elephant plays with a smartphone

Elephant Playing with Smartphone - TRUE! The Huffington Post reports that Peter the Elephant really did play with the smart phone. Elephants trunks are dexterious enough to pick up objects of various weights and sizes, and use it naturally for most routine daily activities such as eating, drinking, smelling, playing, touching, pulling up grass, dusting, and now, using a smartphone.

Ikea creates a new line of dog-furniture

Ikea Dog Chair - APRIL FOOLS! This video was an April Fools commercial in 2011 and has numerous papers reporting on this new, exciting “Hundstol.” 

Elephants are musically inclined

http://youtu.be/RS4IazgsAD4

Elephant playing harmonica - TRUE! CBS reports from the National Zoo in 2012. The keepers say Shanthi plays the harmonica throughout the day, even when humans are not around, and that she is even able to patterns she creates. Her songs all have a beginning, middle and end including a loud forte flourish! Elephants are highly intelligent animals and other recent studies show that by using their trunk, they can mimic sounds, including birds, traffic and even 5 Korean words.