User:LONGBOIFAN

A RESIDENT duck at the University of York has found fame after his reputation as a "hefty lad" went viral across the world.

Known fondly as 'Long Boi' in the student community, the duck lives on the campus' wetlands and lake with many students keeping a handy bag of bird feed in their accommodation.

Until Thursday, Long Boi was only well-known among the students who live nearby with one even creating their own Long Boi fancy dress costume.

But after a rogue photo of him was posted on Reddit thread 'Photoshop Battles', the internet took hold.

Since that moment Long Boi spent time on the Twitter trending page while his sheer size - 70cm in length from beak to toes to be exact - saw him photoshopped next to the Eiffel Tower.

Zoe Duffin, a third year biology student at the University of York, runs a dedicated Instagram page about the duck. The account found itself with a following of 16.3k people in less than 24 hours.

She had been at the supermarket and returned home to see her animal pal had gone viral.

Speaking to the Press, Zoe said: "He's been on campus since 2018. He appeared behind my accomodation at the time. Myself and some friends went out to feed him and one of my friends coined the name 'Long Boi' as he's quite tall.

"One of my friends made an Instagram account about him. We thought it might be nice for other people to see him.