Image showing two giraffes up a tree is doctored
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on February 22, 2022 at 12:49
- 3 min read
- By Amanuel NEGUEDE, AFP Ethiopia
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The image, archived here, has been shared more than 200 times since it was published on Facebook on February 12, 2022.
It shows one giraffe perched halfway up a tree grazing from the foliage while a second appears to be clutching a bough higher up.
Although the image was published without a caption, it was posted on a public Facebook group called “Wonder Of Nature”, which describes itself as being “dedicated to nature lovers” and boasts more than 160,000 members.
However, the image of the two giraffes is not genuine; it was digitally created using two separate pictures.
Doctored image
By running a reverse image search, AFP Fact Check was able to find both pictures used to create the image shared in the false Facebook post.
The first image was traced to this Flickr account where it was posted on January 10, 2007. According to the caption, it shows a “giraffe in Kenia (sic)”.
In the original picture, the giraffe is standing on the ground, and not in the tree. The giraffe has also been flipped in the doctored image.
AFP Fact Check contacted the owner of the Flickr account, Thomas Schimdt, and will update this fact check if he responds.
Meanwhile, the second giraffe purportedly holding onto the bough of the tree in the false image was originally a digital mock-up created for a campaign.
Wellington Zoo
In September 2013, the Wellington Zoo in New Zealand organised a campaign to celebrate “chimp week”. For this occasion, the marketing and advertising agency Electric Art created three images of animals climbing trees the same way chimps would.
Contacted by AFP Fact Check, senior producer Sara Kennedy confirmed the image was created by Electric Art and used for an advertising campaign.
Marketing and communications manager at the Wellington Zoo Trust, Zel Lazarevich also confirmed that the image of the giraffe holding onto a branch was created on Photoshop.
“We can confirm that giraffes do not climb trees, certainly not like what is depicted in this Photoshopped image,” Lazarevich said.
AFP Fact Check found another doctored photo, this time claiming to show an adult giraffe carrying a calf around its neck. This same image was also featured in the Wellington Zoo campaign.
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