Old news reports describe a supposed sturgeon-alligator hybrid caught in the Tennessee River in 1839. However, these reports originated with a story published on April 1 in the Nashville, Tennessee, Banner (Apr. 1, 1839, p. ), in which, indeed, the scientific name of the animal is given as Aprilla Jockelum (Latin for "little joke of April"). This did not stop the story from spreading to many other newspapers around the country.
By the same author: Handbook of Avian Hybrids of the World, Oxford University Press (2006).
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