[6] A series of humorous articles was created describing fictional creatures, each animal with a name vaguely referring to a Chinese profanity (utilizing homophones and characters having different tones).
[8] It was thought that the Baidu hoaxes were written in response to recent strict enforcement of keyword filters in China, introduced in 2009, which attempted to eliminate all forms of profanity.
[9][10] The Baidu Baike "articles" initially began with "Four Mythical Creatures" (The "Grass Mud Horse", "French-Croatian Squid", "Small Elegant Butterfly" and "Chrysanthemum Silkworms"), and were later extended to ten.
The memes were widely discussed on Chinese Internet forums, and most users concluded that the initial aim of the hoaxes was to satirise and ridicule the pointlessness of the new keyword filters.
The meme is interpreted by most Chinese online as a form of direct protest rather than motiveless intentional disruption to Baidu services.
[3] Cao Ni Ma (草泥马, Cǎo Ní Mǎ), literally 'Grass Mud Horse', was supposedly a species of alpaca.
An alternate name for the dish in question is 非主流 [zh]的法克鱿 (fēi zhǔ liú de fǎ kè yóu, 'Non-mainstream French-Croatian Squid').
[26] The article also states that the usage of Chrysanthemum Silkworms dates back to 3000 years ago in Ancient China, and that they were the first cultivation method of silk obtained by early scientists.
[27] The term Big Brother Chun (春哥) has been used to refer to the female singer Li Yuchun due to her apparent androgynous appearance.
[28] Wei Shen Jing (尾申鲸, Wěi Shēn Jīng), literally 'Stretch-Tailed Whale' (a near-homophone with 卫生巾, wèishēngjīn, referring to menstrual pads).
From the article on Yīn Dào Yán, in the Kangxi era, a large goose dived into a certain field, damaging it and causing the local farmers to come down with a strange sickness.
According to the original article, Da Fei Ji is a species of bird that likes exercise, and the males use neck spasms to spit out a white secretion to impress females during mating seasons.