screenshot from BBC video embedded below

1 April 2026

On April Fool’s Day 2008 the BBC published a tongue-in-cheek video about the “discovery” of a flock of flying penguins who migrate to the rainforests of South America.

Notice how the background documentary-type music sucks you in to make it more believable. This has gotta be real, right? The music says it is. 😉

Simultaneously the BBC also published The Making of Penguins April Fool that shows how the spoof was made using top notch production techniques and the latest special effects of 2008. They recorded the narrator on green screen, created physical models of penguins in flight, and used animation to bring them to life on the screen.

To our 2026 eyes it all looks so old. It was only 18 years ago but for this type of video it is ancient history. Nowadays it would be generated by AI.

Bird Bonus Fact:

In the “Making of” video they say they modeled the fictitious flying penguins on a similar bird that actually does fly. The common murre (Uria aalge), called a common guillemot in Eurasia, lives on northern oceans in the sub-Arctic and low-Arctic zones. I have seen them nesting in Newfoundland. Their body shape and lifestyle make them the Penguin of the North.

Here’s a short flight video with a tufted puffin in the mix.

Common murres flying to and from a rocky cliff in Oregon.