Last Friday, April 1, Macau Daily Times did not forget to share an April Fools’ joke as is common on this day across the world of media.
Our story on page 2 Friday titled “Scientists figure out how Macau-bats got a taste for blood” was made-up, inspired by an actual news story.
Our bats are not “living Draculas” as far as we know – everything in the science domain must be proven right or wrong, after all. The Macau-based scientist Dr Joel Chau and the Science Kick journal were totally made-up.
>However, real scientists have discovered three species of bats among 1,400 kinds of bats that really feed only on the blood of mammals, as reported late March by real journal Science Advances.
According to a study by Germany’s Max Planck Institute, the bats were found in Central and South America – but not in “Singapore and Macau hills,” as stated in our April Fools’ joke last Friday.
Media outlets have traditionally used the date of April 01 to let their imaginations run wild, with previous notable pranks including the BBC reporting in 1980 that Big Ben was to undergo a digital update.
This year, late-night television hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon pulled off an elaborate talk show prank for April Fools’ Day, as reported by The Independent:
“Those tuning in to watch ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live on Friday (April 1) would have been confused after seeing Fallon seated in the TV host’s seat.
Meanwhile, viewers of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on NBC would have switched on to see Kimmel in Fallon’s place.”
The origins of April Fools’ Day are not clear, but it is known that the tradition of practical joking and mischief-making dates back to Ancient Roman times. The Press has been its custodian over the centuries. PC
