Invertebrate curator Julia Kasper talks about one of her favourite books from the 50s by Harald Stümpke, a former German curator of the museum of the Darwin Institute of Hy-yi-yi, Mairuwili: The Snouters: Form and Life of the Rhinogrades (original: Bau und Leben der Rhinogradentia).
A fantastic discovery and a great loss
The Hy-yi-yi archipelago was first documented in 1941 by the Swedish explorer Einar Pettersson-Skämtkvist, who reached the islands after escaping from a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp during the Second World War. In the years following the war, zoologists supposedly began extensive research on the remarkable fauna of the islands, discovering a whole new order: the Rhinogradentia.
But an unforeseen catastrophe, nuclear weapons testing by the United States military in the late 1950s, caused the islands of Hy-yi-yi to sink into the Pacific Ocean, wiping out all Rhinogrades and their unique ecosystem. Including the researchers studying the new order of mammals, who were attending a scientific conference on the islands at the time. Luckily Stümpke had previously sent his manuscript materials to the German zoologist Gerolf Steiner to prepare the book’s illustrations, leaving Steiner in possession of the only surviving record of the animals.
Early reactions in the 50s
Steiner’s book was originally published by Gustav Fischer Verlag and later translated into English by Leigh Chadwick and issued by University of Chicago Press.
An abbreviated English version also appeared in the April 1967 issue of Natural History, published by the American Museum of Natural History, coinciding with April Fools’ Day. The article was presented in a completely serious tone, and many readers initially believed the animals were real.
Even The New York Times reported on the story based on the magazine article.
After publication the magazine reportedly received many letters and telegrams from readers asking about the animals. Some readers treated the rhinogrades as genuine zoological discoveries, while others immediately recognised the satire and played along.
A zoological hoax
The German zoologist Gerolf Steiner (1908–2009) trained as a zoologist, of zoology at the Heidelberg University and later head of the zoology department at the Technical University of Karlsruhe, defiantly had good humor, but he was also damn serious.
Under a pseudonym, Harald Stümpke he published the monograph “The Snouters: Form and Life of the Rhinogrades (original: Bau und Leben der Rhinogradentia)” in 1957, all written in the style, convincingly mimicking the structure, tone, and terminology of scientific taxonomy and evolutionary biology. It contained: Latin species names, anatomical illustrations, ecological descriptions, a full taxonomic classification.
A fantastic taxon on fantastic islands
The Rhinogradentia was a mammal order commonly called rhinogrades or snouters. They were characterised by the so called nasorium, a highly specialized nose that could have to most obscure shape. Over millions of years, a small shrew-like ancestor diversified there into a radiation of mammals occupying nearly all ecological niches of the islands with the nasorium evolved into a wide range of functional forms in different species. The order was said to comprise 14 families and about 189 species, ranging from tiny worm-like animals to large herbivores and formidable predators
| Soft-nosed Snouters | (Asclerorrhina) |
| Surface Snouters | (Epigeonasida) |
| Mud Snouters | (Hypogeonasida) |
| Burrowing Snouters | (Georrhinida) |
| Proboscipedes | (Sclerorrhina) |
| Snout Leapers | (Hopsorrhinida) |
| Multi-Snouters | (Polyrrhina) |
| Four-Snouters | (Tetrarrhinida) |
| Six-Snouters | (Hexarrhinida) |
| Long-nosed Snouters | (Dolichoproata) |
The nasorium indeed evolved to perform numerous biological functions. In some species the nasorium served as a locomotory organ: “snout-leapers” such as Hopsorrhinus aureus moved by bouncing on their nasal appendage. Other species used the structure for steering during flight, digging, catching prey, or attracting insects, even mate. The bizarre diversity of these animals was explained as the result of adaptive radiation in the long isolation of the Hy-yi-yi islands.
But Struemke didn’t stop here. Where do the rhinogrades occur? According to Stümpke’s account, rhinogrades were endemic to the Pacific archipelago Hy-yi-yi, a group of eighteen islands with a total area of roughly 1,690 km².
| Annoorussawubbissy | Lowlukha | Naty | Ownavussa |
| Awkoavussa | Lownunnoia | Nawissy | Owsuddowsa |
| Hiddudify highest peak, 2,230 m (7,320 ft), was on its main island, | Mara
Miroovilly |
Noorubbissy | Shanelukha |
| Koavussa | Mittuddinna | Osovitissy | Towteng-Awko Vinsy |
Later confusion and admiration
Because Steiner’s monograph so faithfully reproduced the conventions of scientific literature, the rhinogrades occasionally appeared in later publications without any note that it was fictional.
But mainly, because other scientists celebrated Stumpkes genius coup.
Steiner’s joke also developed a life of its own within the scientific community. The rhinogrades have appeared in museum exhibitions, scientific jokes, and even modern taxonomic references. In recognition of Steiner’s creation, several real animals have been named in homage to him and his fictional zoologist, including the Sulawesi shrew rat Hyorhinomys stuempkei.
The rhinogrades are even recorded in iNaturalist.
Today, Rhinogradentia remains a celebrated example of scientific satire- a work that simultaneously entertains and demonstrates the principles of evolution, adaptive radiation, and island biogeography.
Steiner’s rhinograde story became one of the most famous scientific hoaxes in biology and is still cited as an example of how scientific conventions can be reproduced in satire. The work is a must-read for every student of zoology.
What sparked the idea?
The idea of nose-walking animals was inspired by the nonsense poetry of Christian Morgenstern, the poem Das Nasobēm, which describes a creature that walks on its noses.
Striding on its noses
there comes the nasobame,
with its young in tow.
It isn’t yet in Brehm’s
It isn’t yet in Meyer’s
And neither in Brockhaus’
It trotted out of my lyre
when it came first to light.
Striding on its noses
thereon (as I’ve said above),
with its young in tow,
there goes the asobame.
Steiner took this nonsense to the next level and illustrated evolution and adaptive radiation.
Why did Steiner do it?
One of Steiner’s main motivations was education. By inventing an imaginary group of mammals with wild nose structures (the nasorium), he could demonstrate how evolution in isolation might produce extraordinary diversity. The fictional archipelago Hy-yi-yi serves as a model system for adaptive radiation, similar to real examples like Darwin’s finches.
Because the animals were fictional, Steiner was free to push evolutionary possibilities to extremes, showing how a single anatomical structure could diversify into many functions.
The book was also intended as a scientific parody. Steiner carefully imitated the conventions of zoological monographs – taxonomic classifications, Latin species names, anatomical diagrams, and references. This made the work an inside joke for zoologists, demonstrating how easily the form of scientific writing can create an illusion of authority.
Steiner died in 2009 at the age of 101. In recognition of his playful contribution to zoological culture, several real animals have been named in homage to his fictional creations, including the Sulawesi shrew rat Hyorhinomys stuempkei, named after his pseudonymous zoologist Harald Stümpke.
References and further reading
- The Snouters: Form and Life of the Rhinogrades
- Rhinogradentia on Wikipedia
- Rhinogradentia I on Furahan Biology and Allied Matters
- Snouters, by Harald Stumpke (actually, Gerolf Steiner)
- Stümpke, Harald (1981). The Snouters: Form and Life of the Rhinogrades. Translated by Leigh Chadwick. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-77895-2.
- Ohl, Michael (2018). The Art of Naming. Translated by Elisabeth Lauffer. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. ISBN 9780262037761.
- Morgenstern, Christian (1905). “Das Nasobēm”. Galgenlieder. Berlin: Bruno Cassirer Verlag.
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