Linked Server Using a DNS Alias Returning Bad Data

Somehow on the same DEV server we have two Linked Servers to the same PROD server. While that, in and of itself, is not an issue; we have noted something we can't explain and we wonder of anyone else has experienced something similar. One of the Linked Servers is named using the actual machine name (ProductionSQLServerData) and the second is named using the DNS alias (ProdData) for that machine. In a command window from any machine both names ping to the same IP address. We have checked the source and the target machines and there are no entries in the host files that would misdirect the queries. We are stumped and wonder ir anyone else has experienced this type of behavior and was able to track down the reason for it. Thanks in advance for any response.