A York student has said she is “very proud” after campus duck Long Boi went viral due to his impressive stature.
The duck became famous after a Reddit post incorrectly described him as “the tallest mallard duck to have ever lived… over 1m tall”.
Zoe Duffin, who runs Long Boi’s Instagram account, said Long, who is a cross between a Mallard and an Indian Runner duck, is a “campus celebrity” and actually stands at around 70cm.
“I think everyone at York can say we are all very proud of Long Boi, our waterfowl are very loved and central to the university experience,” Zoe said.
The third year biology student, who runs the account along with second year biology student Liam Foskett, said they started the Instagram dedicated to the duck when he turned up on campus in 2018.
“We believed that he had been dumped as an unwanted pet,” Zoe said.
“We started feeding and taking photos of him, coining the name Long Boi due to his tall stature!
“We did feel a bit sorry for him, as he didn’t fit in with all the other ducks and was being shunned by them, he seemed quite lonely.
“Over time he’s grown quite a following with York students, he’s quite a campus celebrity, and has since flourished and integrated with the other waterfowl.”
The tall duck has now reached over 15,000 followers on Instagram, and was tweeted about by footballer Peter Crouch – who stands at 6ft 7in – who called Long Boi “my kind of duck”.
He featured on the US chat show of James Corden. And the family of best selling writer and animal lover Dick King-Smith got in the act too – their tweet about LB was retweeted nearly 40,000 times.
Zoe said she was “completely blown away” by Long Boi’s sudden rise to fame.
She said: “I can’t quite believe it! My one aspiration for Long Boi’s account was to reach 10k followers, he’s reached and passed that in just a matter of hours, which is incredible.
“I’m loving seeing all the memes, and hearing how much joy he’s spreading to others.”