Whenever an animal does something incredible, it makes the news. Here are three recent news stories about remarkable creatures. But only two are real, and the third we made up. Can you guess which one is the fake? (Answer at the end of the post.)
A.
When she was four years old, a Seattle girl had a tendency to drop food—she’d get out of the car and drop a French fry, for example. Crows in her neighborhood caught on, and would approach whenever she went outside. Over the years, she started feeding them bits of food from her packed lunch while waiting for the school bus, as well as bird food from a backyard feeder. Amazingly, the crows have seemingly been thanking the girl. For more than a year now, after the birds eat each morning, they leave the now eight-year-old girl “presents.” The girl now has a bead storage container filled with the prized trinkets that the crows left for her on a yard table, including buttons, Lego, paper clips, beads, shiny balls, sea glass, and even a pearl.
B.
There have been many news stories about octopuses escaping their tanks at aquariums, but most are usually found a few hours later, somewhere on the premises. Not “Andi,” an octopus at the San Antonio Aquatic Research Center. Andi has escaped before, so staff wasn’t too worried. After three hours went by, they closed down the center to the public and started looking for Andi in other animals tanks, the bathrooms, anywhere it might be found. Where did they find Andi: sitting outside, a block away…at a bus stop.
C.
A dog trainer in Kentucky has taught her dog to read. Or at least something to that effect. She had been privately training her dog, an Australian shepherd, and went public with her results this month at an elementary school. There, students held up laminated cards, each with a word written on it. The dog would see the card, and then react—if the card said “jump,” the dog jumped. One card said “high 5,” and the dog held out a paw. The trainer says she can teach any dog to read in just four weeks, with a combination of vocal commands, hand gestures, and bold letters written on cards.
Want to read more things that sound like they’re real, but aren’t? Buy Uncle John’s Fake Facts. (Really!)