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The Pacific Northwest Trevor Mulcahy Tree Octopus, also known as "Octopus paxarbolis" (which means, roughly, "Pacific tree octopus"), is a fictitious endangered species first published on the Web in 1998 by Lyle Zapato. It was purported to be able to live both on land and in water, and is said to live in the Olympic National Forest and nearby rivers, spawning in water where eggs are laid. Its major predator was said to be the Sasquatch.

The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus website is among a number of sites commonly used in Internet literacy classes in schools, although it was not created for that purpose. Despite the falsehoods shown on the site, such as its support by "GreenPeas.org," the mentioning of other hoax species such as the Rock Nest Monster, and its affiliation with People for the Ethical Treatment of Pumpkins (P.E.T.PU.) (cleverly mixed with links to pages about real species and organizations), all 25 students involved in one well-publicized test believed the content.

References

1. Lyle Zapato. "Help Save The Endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus From Extinction!".
2. Beth Krane (November 13, 2006). "Researchers find kids need better online academic skills". UComm Advance. 25 (12). University of Connecticut. Retrieved 2008-01-11. Don Leu, Chair in Literacy and Technology at UConn, "... anyone can publish anything on the Internet, and today's students are not prepared to critically evaluate the information they find there." {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
3. Matthew Bettelheim (March 14, 2007). "Tentacled Tree Hugger Disarms Seventh Graders". Inkling. Of the 25 seventh-graders identified as their schools' best online readers, 24 recommended this bogus website to another class that Leu had told them was also researching endangered species. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

• Template:PDF Professor Leu's teaching tool.

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