Over the last few weeks the Plasteurope.com editorial team has received several reports from various parts of the world of humans mistaking plastic for real animals and there is no shortage of these false sightings coming from our "neck of the woods" here in Germany. However, it appears that not only are people often mistaken in their belief that the object is real, but sometimes our four-footed – and webbed – friends as well.

A few years ago, a black female swan fell hard for an oversized paddle boat plastic swan in the university town of Munster in northwestern Germany. After a few seasons of persistent return visits, the creature disappeared without a trace. Jump forward to 2013 and jog down to the country's beautiful Lake Constance, hundreds of kms south, along the Swiss border and someone reports seeing one of these rare black birds swimming near the shoreline. A woman who regularly takes walks in the vicinity grew concerned that the stubborn – or perhaps forelorn? – animal seemed to be motionless, frozen in its swimming tracks. Fire department is called and comes to the rescue only to discover that the creature was not real but made of plastic.

Under extreme confidentiality, Plasteurope.com has learned that pedal impressions are being examined on the Lake Constance black swan...could it be that the Munster black swan's affections were reciprocated?