And on the 13th day, he rose from the dead…
Well, more like he announced it was all a ruse. Nearly two weeks after Duolingo announced that their mascot Duo—formally known as The Duolingo Owl—had “died,” the language learning app’s nocturnal bird made a surprise return.
In a Feb. 24 Instagram video set to the hype song “HE's Back X Gojo [VVV] (VVV)” by Sanikwave, Duolingo quickly recapped the owl’s death before the animated bird burst back to life, set to the words, “Heeee’s back!”
“Faking my death was the test,” Duo cheekily wrote in the caption, “and you all passed.”
In response to the mascot’s return, fans chimed in with thoughts on the company’s latest development in their viral marketing campaign.
“I’d say you didn’t have to go so hard,” snack brand Cheez-It wrote on the Instagram post, “but you kind of did have to go this hard after coming back from the dead.”
Another follower commented, “Faking your death to see if people cared. What an icon,” to which Duo responded, “Just a baddie doing baddie things.”
Though the investigation into the owl’s “death”—which prompted responses online from the likes of Dua Lipa and Joe Jonas—seems to have come to a close, the journey to his revival was a wild ride, beginning with the company announcing Duo’s demise.
"It is with heavy hearts that we inform you that Duo, formally known as The Duolingo Owl, is dead," Duolingo wrote in a Feb. 11 statement to Instagram. "Authorities are currently investigating his cause of death and we are cooperating fully. Tbh, he probably died waiting for you to do your lesson, but what do we know."
One day later, the company revealed Duo’s cause of death by sharing a video of the owl getting struck by a Tesla Cybertruck and ascending through space to the gates of heaven.
“Reward for whoever can identify the driver,” the brand captioned the Feb. 12 Instagram post. “Thank you for your patience with us during these trying times.”
Perhaps the best news now that those trying times are over is the fact that Dua Lipa—who wrote on X (formerly Twitter) Feb. 12, “Til’ death duo part,” alongside a broken heart emoji—can rest easy.
Keep reading to learn more about some of your favorite animated characters.
Hello Kitty Isn't a Cat
Many fans were left purrrrrfectly confused after this revelation.
“Hello Kitty is not a cat,” Jill Cook—an executive at Sanrio, the company behind the character—explained to Today in July 2024. “She’s actually a little girl born and raised in the suburbs of London. She has a mom and dad and a twin sister Mimmy who’s also her best friend. She enjoys baking cookies and making new friends.”
While the news may have surprised some, Cook wasn’t the first to share this insight. As a matter of fact, Christine R. Yano—a professor of anthropology who penned the book Pink Globalization: Hello Kitty's Trek Across the Pacific—had also previously confirmed that Hello Kitty isn’t a feline.
“Hello Kitty is not a cat,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 2014. “She’s a cartoon character. She is a little girl. She is a friend. But she is not a cat. She’s never depicted on all fours. She walks and sits like a two-legged creature. She does have a pet cat of her own, however, and it’s called Charmmy Kitty.”
Other fun facts about Hello Kitty? According to Sanrio, she is five apples tall, weighs three apples, was born on November 1 (making her a Scorpio) and dreams of being a pianist or poet.
Goofy Isn't a Dog
Gawrsh! Did you know this fact?
Bill Farmer, who's provided the voice of Goofy for decades, explained why the Disney character can talk while Mickey Mouse's pet Pluto can't.
Goofy is "not a dog, but he's a canine," the voice actor said on an August 2024 episode of Popcorn Podcast with Leigh Livingstone and Tim Iffland. "So it's kind of like a wolf is not a dog but it's a canine—same thing. Goofus canis, that's what he is. Or, he's a MOG—he's a man-dog."
However, Pluto, he added, is a "regular dog"—a blood hound as it turns out.
Squidward Isn't a Squid
You'll want to get to the (bikini) bottom of this discovery.
SpongeBob SquarePants' creator Stephen Hillenburg once revealed that Squidward Tentacles is actually an octopus—not a squid.
"This is Squidward the Octopus, SpongeBob's grumpy next-door neighboor," he shared in the 2005 Case Of The Sponge 'Bob' video resurfaced by BuzzFeed. "I like the octopus for this character because they have such a large, bulbous head, and Squidward thinks he's an intellectual so, of course, he's going to have a large, bulbous head."
But if you're wondering how Squidward can be an octopus when he has only six legs instead of eight, Hillenburg had an answer for that, too—noting "it was really just easier for animation to draw him" with fewer tentacles.
Blue From Blue's Clues Was Originally an Orange Cat
Break out your handy dandy notebook and jot this one down.
"One of the things that nobody knows is that Blue was originally a cat," the show's co-creator Angela Santomero said in the 2006 special Behind the Clues: 10 Years With Blue resurfaced by Mental Floss. "First his name was Mr. Orange and then we're like, 'Uh, maybe Mr. Blue.'"
But according to the special, Nickelodeon was already working on a series about a cat—leading animators to toss out the original idea and redesign Blue as a dog.
Doug Was Almost Named Brian
Now this really isn’t funnie, er, funny.
But as it turns out, Doug Funnie from the cartoon series Doug was almost named Brian. As for what led to the change?
"I just thought Brian was too fancy of a name," Doug creator Jim Jinkins told HuffPost TV in 2014, "So, I geared it down, and started calling him Doug. If you think about what that sounds like, it sounds incredibly average, and that’s what I was trying to do: express from that point of view.”
Boo From Monsters, Inc. Isn’t Her Full Name
This fact is so good it’s scary.
In Monsters, Inc.: An Augmented Reality Book, the name of Boo—the little girl who accidentally ends up in Monstropolis and befriends monsters Mike and Sulley—is revealed to be Mary Gibbs, according to BuzzFeed. And if the name sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the real-life moniker of the actress who provided the voice of Boo.
Need more proof? In the movie, there’s actually a scene where Boo is sorting through some of her drawings and fans can spot the name “Mary” scribbled at the top of one of the pieces of paper.
Minnie Mouse Has a Longer Moniker
Speaking of names, while Mickey Mouse’s girlfriend is often called Minnie Mouse, according to the BBC, it was revealed in 1942 that her full name is actually Minerva.