Paris Hilton on National Geographic cover!

It looks like a typical National Geographic cover with the signature yellow border. So what's Paris Hilton doing on there?

The folks at Harvard Lampoon persuaded employees of one of the most respected magazines to help them ensure their April Fool's parody - with stories on Mongolia's wildest waterparks and Native Girls Gone Wild - looked authentic.

The issue, coming out on Tuesday, is the latest in a string of Harvard Lampoon magazine parodies.

But the undergraduate group had never done National Geographic, which quickly responded when contacted by the students last summer.

"My guess was they were just extremely bored and they were tired of working with animals and scientists and wanted to hang out with college students," said Hayes Davenport, who edited the magazine with fellow Harvard senior Ross Arbes.

Davenport said other publications have helped with their parodies in the past, such as when USA Today printed the Lampoon's version on its press in 1989.

And he said National Geographic's staffers - who had no editorial control over the parody - were eager to make fun of their ultra-serious image.

The magazine helped print the parody and distribute it alongside its own April edition in some areas, Arbes said.

A designer also helped lay out the parody to make it look as much like the original as possible.

"They provided things that were really valuable to us," Arbes said.

Editors from National Geographic could not be reached on Monday, but the magazine released a facetious statement.

"Editors are unavailable for comment, having left the country ... as usual," it said.

- Yahoo News