Rhinogradentia
Rhinogradentia (also known as snouters or Rhinogrades) is a fictitious mammal order documented by the equally fictitious German naturalist Harald Stümpke. The order's most remarkable characteristic was the Nasorium, an organ derived from the ancestral species's nose, which had variously evolved to fulfill every conceivable function.
Both the animals and the scientist were allegedly creations of Gerolf Steiner, a zoology professor at the University of Heidelberg.
Description
The order's remarkable variety was the natural outcome of evolution acting over millions of years in the isolated Hi-yi-yi islands in the Pacific Ocean. All the 14 families and 189 known Snouter species descended from a small shrew-like animal, which gradually evolved and diversified to fill most of the ecological niches in the archipelago — from tiny worm-like beings to large herbivores and predators.
Most Rhinogrades used their nose for locomotion, like the shrew-like Hopsorrhinus aureus, whose nasorium was used for jumping.
Discovery
The snouters were discovered on the main island of Hiddudify in 1941 by the Swedish explorer Einar Pettersson-Skämtkvist. Unfortunately, as a consequence of atomic bomb testing, the islands sank suddenly into the ocean in the late 1950s. Thus perished all traces of the snouters, their unique ecosystem, and all the world's specialists on that intriguing subject — who happened to be holding their congress there at the time.
Although the first scientific report on these creatures came out in 1961, an early reference to them is found in Christian Morgenstern's poem Das Nasobem (The Nasobame, 1905). The Great Morgenstern's Nasobame (Nasobema lyricum), a dog-size animal that walked on four snouts, was named in his honor.
References
Real books
- Harald Stümpke, Anatomie Et Biologie Des Rhinogrades — Un Nouvel Ordre De Mammifères. Masson, France (1962).
- Harald Stümpke, Bau und Leben der Rhinogradentia. With preface and illustrations by Gerolf Steiner. Gustav-Fischer-Verlag Stuttgart (1981). ISBN 3-437-30083-0.
- Harald Stümpke, The Snouters: Form and Life of the Rhinogrades. Translated by Leigh Chadwick. The University of Chicago Press (1967).
- Massimo Pandolfi (ed.): I Rinogradi di Harald Stümpke e la zoologia fantastica, Muzzio (1992).
- Christian Morgenstern: Galgenlieder (1905).
Fictitious books
- E. Petterson-Skämtkvist, Aventyrer pa Haiaiai-öerna. Nyströms Förlag och Bokhandel, Lilleby (1946).
- J. Bromeante De Burlas Y Tonterias. "A systematica dos Rhinogradentes". Bull. Darwin Inst. Hi. 2: 45 (1948).
Real articles
- Les rhinogrades, un canular qui sent la vraie question scientifique à plein nez, article in Le Monde (11/08/2000).