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Did a rhino named "Arjuna" have an erection lasting 96 hours at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park because some teenagers fed him Viagra? No, that's not true: the story was made up by a website that likes to invent tales of bizarre crimes and weird sex acts (sometimes even combining both) but purely for entertainment purposes. None of it is real.

The rhino story originated from an article published by World News Daily Report on September 6, 2018 titled "San Diego Zoo: Rhino has 96-hour-long erection after teenagers feed it Viagra" (archived here) which opened:

San Diego, CA | A southern white rhino has been in full-blown erection for over 96 hours at the San Diego Zoo, Safari Park officials report

Arjuna, a thirteen-year-old male rhinoceros, caught zoo employees' attention after sustaining an erection for more than several days.

The animals bright, huge and red genitals have become a popular sight and a visitor favorite since the word spread on social media.

"The number of visitors to the zoo has exploded in the past few days. They just can't get enough of it!" a San Diego Zoo employee commented.

Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail and some of them might have mistaken it for a real news article:

San Diego Zoo: Rhino has 96-hour-long erection after teenagers feed it Viagra

San Diego, CA | A southern white rhino has been in full-blown erection for over 96 hours at the San Diego Zoo, Safari Park officials report. Arjuna, a thirteen-year-old male rhinoceros, caught zoo employees' attention after sustaining an erection for more than several days. The animals bright, h

But the rhino picture used with the story was taken in 2008 in Basel, Switzerland:

Zolli ZOO Basel indischer Panzernashornbulle

Unübersehbar der indische Panzernashornbulle 2008 08 04 TZ3 010

The website World News Daily Report is a well known satire website specialized in posting hoaxes and made up stories. The disclaimer on their website is pretty clear about that even though you have to scroll all the way down the page to find it:

World News Daily Report assumes all responsibility for the satirical nature of its articles and for the fictional nature of their content. All characters appearing in the articles in this website - even those based on real people - are entirely fictional and any resemblance between them and any person, living, dead or undead, is purely a miracle.

It is run by Janick Murray-Hall and Olivier Legault, who also run the satirical Journal de Mourréal, a satirical site spoofing the (real) Journal de Montéal. Very often their stories feature an image showing a random crazy mugshot found in a mugshot gallery on the internet or on a stock photo website superimposed over a background of flashing police lights or crime scene tape.

Articles from the site are frequently copied (sometimes even months or years later) by varous fake news websites that omit the satire disclaimer and present the information as real.

We wrote about worldnewsdailyreport.com before, here are our most recent articles that mention the site:

• Fake News: Georgia Woman (66) Did NOT Auction Her Virginity to Pay For Sex Change
• Fake News: Grandparents Did NOT Sue Hypnotherapist After He Failed to Turn Grandson Heterosexual
• Fake News: Chicago Man Did NOT Pose as Doctor, Did NOT Perform Colonoscopies, Genital Exams on Patients
• Fake News: NO Vaginayoga Instructor Arrested After Police Receive 200 Sexual Harassment Complaints
• Fake News: German Tourist NOT Emasculated After Putting Penis Inside Giant Flesh-Eating Snail