Is the photograph of an elephant carrying a lion cub in its trunk true?

A popular photo on social networks depicts how one animal helps another. We have verified the authenticity of this photo.

In one of the public pages on VKontakte there is a photo accompanies next caption: “One of the best photos of this century. Due to the intense heat in the savannah, the little lion cub could not reach the nearest watering hole, but the mother lioness could not help him and suffered with him. Noticing their suffering, a large and kind elephant came to the rescue. Picking up the lion cub with his trunk, he carried it to the water. The lioness mother followed her son and the noble giant. And we still call them wild animals... Who said that they are our younger brothers in mind? The photo was also published by users Twitter and other social networks.

Photography a few years ago became popular not only on the Russian-language Internet, but also abroad. The authenticity of the image was checked by authoritative fact-checking resources, including Snopes, AFP Fact Check, Full Fact, Politifact And "Vox Ukraine".

This photo first appeared in 2018, when he published on Twitter at Kruger National Park in South Africa.

The date of publication of the tweet—April 1—may raise suspicions. And indeed, the photo was processed in a photo editor and specially posted online on April Fool's Day. This confirmed park page administrator Nadav Ossendriver, later clarification appeared and on the reserve's website. By the way, the name and surname of the photographer who allegedly took the photo and is listed in the original tweet is also not accidental: Sloof Lirpa is April Fools (“April Fool’s Day”) in reverse.

Snopes And The Quint discovered photographs that became the basis for the viral image. By April 1, the image of the elephant was edited, done back in 2005 in the same Kruger National Park. Lioness captured in 2012 nearby, in the Londolozi nature reserve, and lion cub - in 2018 in one of the Australian zoos.

Satirical news

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Snopes. Is This a Photograph of an Elephant Carrying a Lion Cub?
2. AFP Fact Check. No, an elephant was not photographed carrying a lion cub in its trunk
3. "Vox Ukraine". Photo fake: an elephant carries a lion cub to the water during the heat in the savannah
4. The Quint. That's a Morphed Photo of an Elephant Walking With a Cub & Lioness