Black Diamond Pool in Yellowstone National Park blew itself up in a spectacular hydrothermal explosion Tuesday, and videos of the violent eruption made headlines around the globe.
The story blew up again Wednesday thanks to a “mammoth discovery” that never was.
That’s when the satirical Casper Planet posted story about the preserved carcass of a baby mammoth discovered in the aftermath of the Black Diamond Pool explosion. Hundreds of people quickly shared and celebrated such an important freak scientific discovery. The story took on mammoth appeal of its own.
While most people got the joke right away — that the story is a total spoof and no baby mammoth was discovered — others didn’t.
“It was 100% satire, as usual,” said Justin Hathaway, the satirist who wrote and posted the story, which has become “a locomotive without brakes right now.”
Satirical Sensation
Hathaway published “Baby Mammoth Uncovered by Biscuit Basin Eruption in Yellowstone National Park” on Wednesday on the Casper Planet Facebook group, essentially Wyoming’s version of The Onion.
He also published another fake story about the eruption Wednesday with a doctored photo showing a dragon emerging from the eruption. But that didn’t generate nearly the buzz the mammoth has.
“The reactions are entertaining with a mix of anger once they realize it’s just a made-up story,” he said.
The story attracted a decent amount of attention for the Casper Planet page but didn’t grow to mammoth proportions until a Texas politician reposted it.
Sid Miller, the commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture, didn’t share the Casper Planet’s post, instead copying and pasting the text and photo without crediting the Planet.
Miller has more than 1 million followers on Facebook, and the satirical story immediately turned into a social media sensation with enormous reach.
Miller’s post got more than 6,000 reactions and 9,000 shares before it was deleted, but the damage was already done.
A message left with Miller's campaign office wasn't immedately returned by the time this story was published.
Fact And Fiction
The photo of the baby mammoth Hathaway attached to the story is completely authentic.
It’s called Nun cho ga, and is an exceptionally well-preserved 1-month-old wooly mammoth found in the permafrost of the Klondike goldfields in the Canadian Yukon in 2022.
But the signs of satire are everywhere in Hathaway’s story. Look no further than the names.
Lisa Jenkins is quoted as Yellowstone’s superintendent. Her promotion would surprise Cam Sholly, who’s been the park’s superintendent since 2018.
Another made-up quoted source is University of Wyoming paleontologist Dr. Emily Hart. Her name does not appear on the faculty list for any department at the university.
That’s because Lisa Jenkins and Emily Hart are made-up names ascribed to fictional people concocted for the story.
There are also some logical discrepancies.
For instance, how could anything, let alone a mammoth calf, remain frozen in ice for 40,000 years when it’s buried underneath a thermal pool with an average water temperature of 148.5 degrees?
Frozen carcasses of Ice Age animals like mammoths, rhinos, wolves and lions have been found in permafrost. However, 30,000-year-old animals can only be preserved in 30,000-year-old ice, and there aren’t any places where ice could last that long in Yellowstone National Park.
Mammoths roamed Yellowstone 30,000 years ago and could return in the future, but there are no traces of them in the park today. And that’s unlikely to change, no matter how many hydrothermal explosions occur.
Taking It Too Far?
Hathaway didn’t seem surprised that his satirical mammoth story blew up like it did. He’s used to his work being considered too seriously by some.
“Unfortunately, I am used to some of these reaching further than they should,” he said. “My favorite one is about scientists discovering a massive tree root system underneath Devils Tower. The original post has a reach of about 4 million.”
Yahoo News mentioned Casper Planet in a June 21 story about a “Yellowstone Lava Geyser” Hathaway made up. Despite being featured on Casper Planet’s page — which states many times is satire — hundreds of people in the comments believed it was real.
“Since 2016, I have been on many local news, USA Today and numerous fact-checking sites,” he said. “I even have my own section on Snopes.”
Hathaway believes his mammoth story duped so many people because Miller, a legitimate politician with 1 million followers, reposted it as his own. Miller’s post got much wider circulation than Casper Planet’s, which has 67,000 Facebook followers.
Casper Planet wasn’t created to deceive people, Hathaway said. He hopes the mammoth post serves as a wake-up call for people who should be more discerning about the media they consume and the “facts” they accept without verification.
“One of my goals over the years has been to use Casper Planet as a tool to remind people they should research sometimes,” he said. “It’s hard to track the mammoth story now that it has been copied and pasted all over Facebook. Hopefully, Miller is not too embarrassed and the lesson on research is learned.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
