
Duolingo's cute owl mascot is dead. It is an ex-owl
The US company behind the app, which became a household name during the Covid-19 pandemic, has issued an announcement revealing that its cute cartoon owl has died.
Following in the claw-steps of Twitter's blue bird, axed in 2023 after Elon Musk acquired the social media platform and changed its name to X, the owl appears to have fallen victim to a corporate rebrand.
In a post on X Tuesday, Duolingo wrote: 'It is with heavy hearts that we inform you that Duo, formally known as the Duolingo Owl, is dead.
'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.'
Founded in 2011, the Pittsburgh-based firm offers more than 100 courses covering more than 40 languages in bitesize sessions. It became hugely popular during the pandemic, when people around the world decided to try to learn a new language in the many hours of free time they suddenly acquired.
Duolingo's social media statement about Duo continued: 'We're aware he had many enemies, but we kindly ask that you refrain from sharing why you hate him in the comments. If you feel inclined to share, please also include your credit card number so we can automatically sign you up for Duolingo Max (the firm's premium subscription service) in his memory.'
If that was not unusual enough, it concluded by saying: 'We appreciate you respecting Dua Lipa's privacy at this time.'
This, it appears, is a reference to the owl's passion for the singer-songwriter. In a post on its site last July, Duolingo described the star as the owl's 'unrequited love interest' and proceeded to show users how to give instructions and orders in English, based on Dua Lipa's lyrics.
Tuesday's announcement went predictably viral, with the post viewed more than 47 million times by Wednesday morning.
One user replied: 'Bro spent his last days begging me to learn French… and I ignored him… I will never recover from this.'
Another said: 'Do they suspect foul play?'
In a subsequent post, Duolingo wrote: 'In lieu of flowers, please do a Duolingo lesson.'
The firm updated its profile pic on X with an image of the owl with crosses over its eyes and its tongue hanging out. Its initial post was topped with what appears to be a new logo in the shape of a cowboy hat.
The app's icon has also changed to the dead-looking owl, but within the app itself he appears to be alive and well.
Duolingo told CNN in an email that it planned to reveal more on social media Wednesday about the 'shocking (and possibly absurd) truth behind his untimely demise.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


New York Post
11 minutes ago
- New York Post
This acclaimed novelist is also a master puzzle writer
When it comes to writing books, author Christopher J. Yates has a unique approach. 'My secret sauce for writing novels is I set to myself a puzzle I have to solve,' said Yates, who has published three novels and written for the puzzle pages of various publications — including The Post — for decades. His new novel, 'The Rabbit Club,' is a thriller set in academia. It exists in two time periods:1994, when wide-eyed 18-year-old Ali McCain arrives to study literature at Oxford University — and track down his English rock-star father — and 2019, when an unnamed academic in New York looks back on the events of Ali's formative years. Advertisement 5 Christopher J. Yates writes both novels and puzzles — and he says the process has more in common than you might imagine. Courtesy of Christopher J. Yates 'His voice just came to me, and I wrote like pages and pages of this crazy narrator. I was like, 'Who is this guy? I have no idea.' But I realized I had to solve the puzzle of who he was,' said Yates, a 53-year-old native of Kent, England, who now lives in the Hudson Valley. 'When I worked it out, I was like, 'No way, you can't get away with that. You can't pull it off.' And then I was like, 'What if I did it?'' Yates' earlier DELETE two novels, 2015's 'Black Chalk' and 2018's 'Grist Mill Road,' had puzzles of their own. Advertisement 'Black Chalk,' which is also set at Oxford, sees six students embroiled in a deadly game. The reader knows early on that one of them will die, but not which one. 'Grist Mill Road' takes place in a small New York town in the early 1980s. It starts with a teenage boy tying a young girl to a tree and shooting her with a BB gun, ultimately blinding her. The puzzle, Yates said, was figuring out why he did that. 5 Yates' new novel, 'The Rabbit Club,' is a puzzle of sorts, set at Oxford University. 'It could have been he's a psychopath, but that wasn't interesting to me,' he said. Advertisement Yates wrote about 80% of the book before the boy's motive came to him. 'I was terrified, and I just walked into my kitchen to make some tea, and this overwhelming explosion of information occurred in my head. I had to stop moving. I just stared into the middle distance as all of the answers kind of came to my head,' he recalled. 'I think it's like, people who've done crosswords will often experience. You can stare at a crossword, you can't get the last three answers, so you walk away, you do something else, you have some lunch, you come back, you look at the newspaper — and all of your answers just bang, bang, bang are in your head. I think your subconscious works it out for you.' Yates started writing puzzles — in the traditional sense — at age 22. 5 Yates's first novel, 'Black Chalk,' was also set at Oxford. It sees six students embroiled in a deadly game. The reader knows one of them will die, but not which one. Advertisement After graduating from Oxford, where he studied law, in 1993, he couldn't land a big job and took a six-week gig writing a database of crossword clues. 'That led to becoming a puzzle magazine editor and then editor of more important puzzle magazines,' he said. In his early 20s, he even represented the United Kingdom at the World Puzzle Championship in Holland. 'That was the most surreal experience of my life,' he said. 'Brilliant puzzle people aren't necessary completely normal.' 5 'Grist Mill Road' is Yates' second novel. It starts with a teenage boy tying a young girl to a tree and shooting her with a BB gun, ultimately blinding her. The puzzle, Yates said, was figuring out why he did that. He placed near the top in one of the rare word puzzles at the event, but most of the games involved math due to language differences. Overall, he was nearly last. Yates currently creates the weekly Word Force game for The Post. Last year, he published, with co-writer Bruce Pitchers, his first puzzle book, '5 Minute Murder: 100 addictive crime mystery puzzles for logical sleuths.' His fondness and aptitude for puzzles date back to childhood and visits to his paternal grandparents in London. Advertisement 5 Last year, Yates co-authored his first puzzle book, '5 Minute Murder.' 'They were literally Victorians and therefore never spoke to me and my sister,' he said. 'They would just give us puzzle magazines and leave us in a room and occasionally take us for a walk to the park and serve us dinner.' Yates, who begins most days playing the New York Times' 'Spelling Bee' game, is unsure if he has a natural knack for puzzles or just developed a skill or them while Grandpa smoked his pipe in the next room. 'It's hard to know, isn't it? Chicken or egg situation,' he said. 'But I do think my strongest suit in life is words.'


Hamilton Spectator
27 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Astronomer recruits Gwyneth Paltrow as ‘temporary spokesperson' amid fallout over viral Coldplay kiss cam clip
Astronomer has a surprising new face as the company navigates a social media firestorm. Actress and businesswoman Gwyneth Paltrow appeared in a cheeky Q&A video posted by the IT company on social media Friday night after two of its top staffers resigned in the wake of an extremely public 'cheating' scandal . Astronomer's CEO, Andy Byron, and the executive in charge of human resources, Kristin Cabot, both resigned after the pair was caught by surprise cuddling and smiling on the Jumbotron at a Coldplay concert in Massachusetts last week. Their smiles fell when they realized they were on camera, as Cabot covered her face and spun away from the camera, and Byron ducked out of the frame. 'Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy,' lead singer Chris Martin joked in the clip. Paltrow, who is also Martin's ex-wife, has been hired 'on a very temporary basis to speak on behalf of the 300-plus employees at Astronomer,' she said in the video. 'Astronomer has gotten a lot of questions over the last few days, and they wanted me to answer some of the most common ones,' Paltrow continued in the video. As text reading 'OMG! What the actual …' appears on screen, Paltrow reassures viewers that 'Astronomer is the best place to run Apache Airflow.' 'We've been thrilled so many people have a new-found interest in data workflow automation.' As a question about the social media team appears on screen, Paltrow jumps in again: 'Yes! There is still room available at our Beyond Analytics event in September.' 'We will now be returning to what we do best: delivering game-changing results for our customers,' she said, thanking viewers for their interest in the company. The New York-based company, which provides big companies with a platform that helps them organize their data, was previously relatively obscure. With files from the Associated Press


CNBC
an hour ago
- CNBC
Astronomer hires Gwyneth Paltrow with a wink after 'kiss cam' viral video
Data company Astronomer may be making lemonade by hiring Gwyneth Paltrow as a "temporary spokesperson" to answer questions in the wake of a viral "kiss cam" video. The company made headlines after internet sleuths identified its CEO and chief people officer as the man and woman seen embracing and then hiding their faces on a "kiss cam" at a July 16 Coldplay concert. Both have since resigned. Paltrow appeared in a television-style spot on Astronomer's social media on Friday making a pitch for the company's everyday strengths. "Astronomer has gotten a lot of questions over the last few days, and they wanted me to answer the most common ones," said Paltrow, who split with Coldplay singer Chris Martin in 2014. Paltrow cut off a question that started with "OMG!" to emphatically say, "Yes, Astronomer is the best place to run Apache Airflow." "We've been thrilled so many people have a newfound interest in data workflow automation," she added. She interrupted another question — "How is your social media team holding ..." — to make a pitch for an Astronomer conference in September. Paltrow concluded, "We will now be returning to what we do best — delivering game-changing results for our customers." CEO Andy Byron resigned on July 19, and Chief People Officer Kristin Cabot followed on Thursday, according to statements from the company. Their body language after the camera captured them in an embrace led Martin to remark on stage, "Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy." Astronomer said afterward it was investigating the incident. "Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability," it said on July 18. The company confirmed Thursday that Cabot was the woman in the video. Neither she nor Byron have responded to requests for comment. Astronomer, a New York-based company, helps companies develop, grow, and analyze products using artificial intelligence.