While Australia’s wildlife might seem normal to us, they really are quite unusual when compared to the rest of the world. Think about it. We’ve got egg-laying mammals, desert-dwelling frogs, and spiky, frilly lizards, to name a few! The oddest of them all is the platypus. With a duck-like bill, beaver-like tail, and otter-like feet, the platypus baffled Europeans. In 1799, when scientists examined a preserved platypus for the first time, they initially judged it as a hoax made up of several animal parts sewn together.

With all these strange animals, folks would probably believe any odd new “discovery”. Enter the Tasmanian mock walrus. This little-known creature is very rare, but if you plan to see one in the wild, your best bet is to head to Tasmania’s lake region, where they like to live in little burrows they dig with their teeth. The Tasmanian mock walrus is a whiskered, four-inch long creature that purrs like a cat, has the temperament of a hamster, and resembles a miniature walrus, though some people say that’s a roundabout way of saying it looks like a naked mole rat.

One of the most amazing things about these animals is that they make a perfect pet, not that you’re allowed to due to its rarity. They never need to be walked or bathed, can be trained to use a litter box, and eat cockroaches. A single mock walrus can rid a house of roaches!

It’s doubtful you believed any of that. You’re in Tasmania, after all. If there were miniature walrus creatures native to Tassie’s lakes region that purred and ate cockroaches, you’d probably know about it. It would be a mascot like the Tasmanian devil or the handfish! But for some residents of Orlando, Florida in 1984, it seemed very, very real.

Given April Fool’s Day is fast approaching we thought we’d take a look back on one of the more unusual pranks in history. Indeed, in the 1 April edition of local Florida paper Orlando Sentinel in 1984, a prank story was run about the Tasmania mock walrus. Get it… Mock? A bit on the nose in retrospect.

The article described all the creature’s traits mentioned above, then reported that some walruses were smuggled to Florida from Tasmania for breeding purposes. The United States has a thing about exotic pets, so it wouldn’t have been out of the ordinary to hear about a weird, overseas creature being bred. Especially in the streets of Florida.

Because of the animal’s knack for eating cockroaches, the article reported that local pest-control companies were pressuring the government to ban Tasmanian mock walruses in the country, for fear of losing business. Accompanying photos in the paper showed protestors picketing outside the offices of the Orlando government, with signs saying “Save the Tasmanian Mock Walrus” and “Freedom to Breed”.

As a result of this hoax, dozens of people called the paper trying to find out where they could obtain their own Tasmanian mock walrus as a pet. They purr, don’t need to be bathed or walked, and can clear a house of roaches? Amazing. They’re not exactly the cutest critter, but if naked mole rats have their fans, so would the walrus. Needless to say, these folks must have been pretty disappointed to find out the whole thing was a prank.

One question is, why Tasmania? The writers may have just thrown a dart on a world map and picked where it landed. Or was it a link to the Taz, the Looney Tunes fave? To the rest of the world (especially halfway around the world), Tasmania feels like an exotic land at the edge of the world. It conjures up thoughts of dark forests, untouched wilderness, and screeching devils. So why wouldn’t there be a little walrus thing here?