This may be an internet hoax, but always watch for drop bears when camping in the bush.
The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
141–150 of 177 posts
Re: The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
#142I don't mean to spoil the fun, downvote me if this is not in the spirit, but it took me way too long to figure this out and others may be as slow as me and save some time by reading this comment: > The Pacific Northwest tree octopus is an Internet hoax created in 1998 by a humor writer under the pseudonym Lyle Zapato. Since its creation, the Pacific Northwest tree octopus website has been commonly referenced in Inter…
> I don't mean to spoil the fun, downvote me if this is not in the spirit, but it took me way too long to figure this out and others may be as slow as me and save some time by reading this comment: I believed it too. The thing is, this is something no one is really incentivized to lie about. If some website says "politician did X", then your lie detector turns on, because it's worth it for lots of websites to lie or…
> It would be very hard to go through life questioning the veracity of every inconsequential bit of information that no one has an incentive to lie about.
Some fish-looking sea creatures are actually mammals. Sea horses have pregnant males. Deep sea fish look like horror monsters. A fresh water octopus just isn't that unbelievable.
Re: The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
#143I don't mean to spoil the fun, downvote me if this is not in the spirit, but it took me way too long to figure this out and others may be as slow as me and save some time by reading this comment: > The Pacific Northwest tree octopus is an Internet hoax created in 1998 by a humor writer under the pseudonym Lyle Zapato. Since its creation, the Pacific Northwest tree octopus website has been commonly referenced in Inter…
Reading the headline I thought it was going to be an article about the octopus tree: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/octopus-tree-of-oregon
Re: The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
#144Let's not forget the ice worms: Ice Worms and Their Habitats on North Cascade Glaciers https://glaciers.nichols.edu/iceworm/ and the Australian Drop Bear https://australian.museum/learn/animals/mammals/drop-bear/
> and the Australian Drop Bear Urban legend I was told (In Auckland - not Australia) In the war the US army moved vast reserves into North Australia for quite obvious reasons. Tanks on exercises in the Australian desert got very hot, so naturally kept their hatches open whenever they could. Massed tanks on manoeuvres in the desert will from time to time run into trees. Koala spend 90% of their time asleep in trees. C…
See also kangaroos armed with stinger missiles: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/shoot-me-kangaroo-down-spo...
Re: The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
#145The context of this showing up on HN made me kinda assumed it was a chatgpt generated thing. A quick google shows it seems to be a well known classic hoax from the late 90s. But there really are crabs and lobsters that live in trees and things, as do lots of type of mollusc (eg slugs and snails). So it isn’t completely silly. So it’s not like a tree octopus is any more ridiculous than the coconut crab? It seems there…
> So it’s not like a tree octopus is any more ridiculous than the coconut crab? It is a lot more ridiculous though because land crabs are a well known thing (e.g. hermit crabs) whereas land octopuses don't exist. Octopuses are very much a water-only type of organism. It just requires a little prior knowledge about the broad strokes of animalian orders.
>Octopuses are very much a water-only type of organism.
They're not though. Octopi generally don't like being out of water, but they're capable of traveling on land short distances and in fact the Abdopus Aculeatus octopus regularly goes on land by choice in order to hunt crabs in different tidepools. Sir David Attenborough discusses the octopus here, which this octopus was one of the animals featured in The Hunt documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebeNeQFUMa0
Re: The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
#146I don't mean to spoil the fun, downvote me if this is not in the spirit, but it took me way too long to figure this out and others may be as slow as me and save some time by reading this comment: > The Pacific Northwest tree octopus is an Internet hoax created in 1998 by a humor writer under the pseudonym Lyle Zapato. Since its creation, the Pacific Northwest tree octopus website has been commonly referenced in Inter…
A little similar to Birds Aren't Real.
Re: The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
#147I don't mean to spoil the fun, downvote me if this is not in the spirit, but it took me way too long to figure this out and others may be as slow as me and save some time by reading this comment: > The Pacific Northwest tree octopus is an Internet hoax created in 1998 by a humor writer under the pseudonym Lyle Zapato. Since its creation, the Pacific Northwest tree octopus website has been commonly referenced in Inter…
> I don't mean to spoil the fun, downvote me if this is not in the spirit, but it took me way too long to figure this out and others may be as slow as me and save some time by reading this comment: I believed it too. The thing is, this is something no one is really incentivized to lie about. If some website says "politician did X", then your lie detector turns on, because it's worth it for lots of websites to lie or…
Of course they would be more likely to believe a book, they should be. That's the point: making a web page is super easy, anyone can do it. Making a convincing fake issue of a science magazine would be a lot harder, it's highly unlikely someone would do it just for a joke.
But really, if there were something as bizarre as a tree octopus, you would have heard of it.
Re: The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
#148I don't mean to spoil the fun, downvote me if this is not in the spirit, but it took me way too long to figure this out and others may be as slow as me and save some time by reading this comment: > The Pacific Northwest tree octopus is an Internet hoax created in 1998 by a humor writer under the pseudonym Lyle Zapato. Since its creation, the Pacific Northwest tree octopus website has been commonly referenced in Inter…
The article lists as bald eagles and Sasquatch as natural predators…
That's when I finally caught on!
Re: The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
#149I don't mean to spoil the fun, downvote me if this is not in the spirit, but it took me way too long to figure this out and others may be as slow as me and save some time by reading this comment: > The Pacific Northwest tree octopus is an Internet hoax created in 1998 by a humor writer under the pseudonym Lyle Zapato. Since its creation, the Pacific Northwest tree octopus website has been commonly referenced in Inter…
Another one like this, which you have to dive a bit deeper to find the give-aways:
https://objectiveministries.org/
(But once you've gone down the rabbit hole, there are some spectacular give-aways)
Re: The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
#150I miss when Snopes was about this sort of thing. It still is, but you have to find it amongst a lot of noise.