“How could you do this?”—Netizens react as Duolingo’s mascot owl Duo comes back after faking its death

Language learning platform Duolingo announced in a post on February 11, 2025, that their iconic owl mascot, Duo, passed away and that authorities are investigating the cause of its demise. The mascot, known for its humorous presence on social media, was mourned by the platform's users. However, in a new post on X on Monday, February 24, 2025, Duo shared that it was all a prank.

Sharing an edit of the "death" announcement before the animated own burst back to life, set to the song He's Back X Gpjp [VVV] (VVV) by Sanikwave, the language learning app's nocturnal bird wrote:

"Faking my death was the test and you all passed."

In response to Duo's return and the mascot's prank, fans chimed in with their thoughts about its fakery, with someone on X not believing how it could fake its own death.

"How could you do this?," a user on X commented.

More followers commented on what the Duolingo owl has done, with someone cheekily pointing out that faking one's death is an indictable offense and others wondering what other sinister things the owl mascot could do.

"Faking your death is an Indictable Offense here in the UK. We expect you to attend for voluntary interview or we will arrest you. You have seven 970 days to comply," an X user wrote.

"If Duo would do all this just to get us to practice... what else would he do," another X user commented.

"You sneaky piece of sh*t, what am I gonna do with all this in-memoriam merch now?," a user on X added.

Among other commenters is an X user who grumbled about Duo betraying their trust because they were mourning the owl mascot after it supposedly died. Another one was thinking ahead about the annual April Fools Day prank.

"What was that death all about, you just betrayed my trust by "faking" your death. Atleast I was mourning," a user on X commented.

"I thought the death was going to lead up to Duo's annual "April Fools Day" prank. So, now I am anxious to see what this year's prank will be. (DUO on ICE was legendary," another X user wrote.

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Duolingo's marketing campaign sent fans abuzz starting with announcing Duo's death

Duolingo's green owl mascot, Duo, has gained a massive following on social media with a humorous, sometimes threatening, and pushy personality, urging users to keep learning on the app. However, on February 11, 2025, the language-learning platform announced the demise of its cartoon owl and even went as far as accusing its followers of causing the mascot's death:

"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."

Even Dua Lipa responded to Duo's death with a broken red heart emoji and mourned the mascot's demise, saying, "Til' death duo part." The following day, Duolingo asked fans that they should do a lesson on the platform instead of sending flowers to their late owl mascot,

On February 13, 2025, the language learning platform shared an update on X about the investigation of Duo's death—he was apparently hit by a cybertruck. Duolingo was asking its fans to post any leads on the driver. They shared another post the same day, saying they'd heard from the authorities. Duolingo also told its fans that the best way to channel their grief over Duo's death was to do their lesson.

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Duolingo was founded in 2011 and provides bite-sized learning sessions in over 40 languages and more.