"An idiosyncratic order of mammals comprising 138 species descended from a shrew-like ancestor, Rhinogradentia are typified by their luxuriant, exuberant noses. Some locomote by hopping, using their nasal appendage like a muscular flipper; others are sessile, attracting insects with flower-like petals that blossom from their nostril cartilage. Most rhinogrades have one nose, but some have evolved multiple proboscises, which they use for walking and hunting, like furry terrestrial octopuses."
"Here's the thing: Rhinogrades don't exist. They were introduced to the world in 1957 by German zoologist Gerolf Steiner, writing under the pseudonym "Harald Stümpke." What started as a collegiate joke inspired by an absurdist poem matured into The Structure and Life of the Rhinogradentia, an elaborate 92-page hoax first published in German by Gustav Fischer Verlag, a renowned press."
An escaped Allied prisoner in 1941 reportedly reached a previously unknown South Pacific archipelago where he encountered mammals that walked on their noses. The imaginary order Rhinogradentia comprises 138 species descended from a shrew-like ancestor and is characterized by luxuriant, exuberant noses used for locomotion, feeding, and display. Some species hop using nasal appendages; others are sessile, attracting insects with flower-like nostril petals; some evolved multiple proboscises for walking and hunting; others dangle nasal mucus to snare aquatic prey. Rhinogrades were created in 1957 by German zoologist Gerolf Steiner (pseudonym Harald Stümpke) as a meticulous 92-page hoax that became a speculative-evolution classic.
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