Eoörnis pterovelox gobiensis is a fictional bird, a humorous hoax by Lester W. Sharp, professor of botany, Cornell University, United States.
It was initially a short talk presented together with a graduate student, Cuthbert Fraser, about the most unusual bird from the Gobi Desert, called woofen-poof by the local populace.[1] [2] Eventually it grew into a 34-page monograph signed by an "Augustus C. Fotheringham, Sc.D. (Cantab.), F.R.G.S.", printed by "The Buighleigh Press" in 1928,[3] full of illustrated detail of anatomy, physiology, ecology, evolution, and historical references, complete with Cro-Magnon cave paintings - all inspired by a car mascot of a pelican.[4] For example, Pterovelox "is perhaps most frequently observed in a peculiar resting position - legs straight out behind with the feet on the rock, tree branch or other object, the body being supported by continuous vibration of wings".[3]
The monograph has later been reprinted several times.[3]
The peculiarities of the bird's mating were even unwittingly quoted in a eugenics article on consanguineous marriages in 1934: "A new, and recently authenticated, case of naturally determined incest, appears to have been discovered by the British Museum Expedition to the Gobi Desert in 1929, when a bird, the Eoörnis pterovelox gobiensis, was found, which hatches twins at each birth, a male and a female, and these same individuals later mate and are monogamous."[5]
Harriet Creighton recalls her witnessing how the woofen-poof hoax backfired on the hoaxer himself. In her presence, Professor Sharp was reading with disbelief a review on "Eoörnis..." published in The Quarterly Review of Biology (Pearl 1930, reprinted in 1976[2]) and was truly under the impression that the reviewer was hoaxed until he reached the end, which made clear that the review was on par with the reviewed article.[6]
The Journal of Paleontology published another review, by Frank C. Whitmore. of the U.S. Geological Survey in 1967 (41: 1302-1303), which was singled out in a tribute to Dr. Whitmore as "an example of the good doctor's breadth of knowledge, attention to detail, and mellow humor".[7]
The back cover of the 2007/2011 Euston Grove Press print of the monograph says it was a mockery of heavily promoted Central Asiatic Expeditions of Roy Chapman Andrews and the American Museum of Natural History.[3]