Origin
In April 2021, many social media users got their first glimpse of “Long Boi,” a duck that lives near the campus of the University of York in England. An image of this dapper duck was widely shared on social media along with the claim that Long Boi was the tallest mallard to ever live.
This is a genuine photo of a tall duck. However, this viral caption gets a few things wrong.
For starters, and most importantly, Long Boi is not a mallard duck. This duck is an Indian Runner, a larger breed of domestic duck that was developed from the mallard. Second, this viral message claims that this is the “tallest mallard duck to have ever lived (since records began),” but there doesn’t appear to be any database tracking tall mallard ducks.