An image of what seems to be an elephant-shaped mountain is doing the rounds on Facebook in South Africa with the claim it is in Oregon, a state in the Pacific northwest region of the western United States.
“Elephant Mountain in Oregon..❤🌸,” the caption reads.
Africa Check has previously checked incorrect claims about images edited using Photoshop. Does this remarkable looking mountain actually exist? Is it in Oregon? We investigated.
Part of artist’s ‘frozen animals series’
We tracked the image down to a Facebook page titled “Surrealism and artistic photography”, run by an artist named Mirekis.
The image of the elephant-shaped mountain can be seen in the artist’s “frozen animals series”. The series contains other photoshopped images of animals and scenery put together.
The image was first posted on the Facebook page in 2018, where users point out that it is being used elsewhere.
One said: “People are stealing this image and passing it off as an actual destination in Oregon!”
Using a reverse image search, we found the original parts of the scenery that had been edited in, around the elephant.
The first is the original image of the top of the elephant, the mountain cliff, found on Shutterstock. The title reads: “Rock gloomy winter landscape background”.
We found the second original photo, edited in under the elephant, on Pixabay. The cabin has also been photoshopped in there.
For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false
A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”, “altered”, “partly false” or “missing context”. This could have serious consequences. What do you do?
Click on our guide for the steps you should follow.
Publishers guideAfrica Check teams up with Facebook
Africa Check is a partner in Meta's third-party fact-checking programme to help stop the spread of false information on social media.
The content we rate as “false” will be downgraded on Facebook and Instagram. This means fewer people will see it.
You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how.
Further Reading
CONSERVATION CHECK: Yes, more elephants being born tuskless because of poaching
African elephants' contact with poachers is causing dramatic changes to their physiology.
Yes, Kenya’s elephants have increased in last 30 years but only census will plug data gaps
A count that is underway is expected to definitively settle the question of just how many jumbos the East African country has.
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