April, April - an April Fool's joke from the Kruger National Park is still circulating on social media platforms without a source being cited.

A photo shows an elephant carrying a lion cub while a lioness runs alongside

The photo and the story about it have been circulating since April 1, 2018.
It is an April Fool's joke by the Kruger National Park.

One photo shows an elephant with a lion cub “riding” on its trunk while a lioness walks alongside the two. There is also a story that the photo is the best of the century. After the cub allegedly couldn't run any further in the heat, the elephant is said to have helped out.

It's about the following sharepic:

Screenshot by mimikama.org
Screenshot by mimikama.org

It was considered the best photo of this century. A lioness and her cub were crossing the savannah but the heat was excessive and the cub was in great difficulty walking. An elephant realized that the cub would die and carried him in his trunk to a pool of water walking beside his mother. And we call them wild animals.

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The fact check

The photo is not new, and the claim about it has been circulating for a while ( we reported ).

As colleague Ralf writes, the photo was originally published on Twitter by the “ Kruger Sightings ” account. Pictures of animals from the national park are posted on the verified account of the “Kruger National Park” in South Africa. But it's worth taking a closer look at the tweet:

Well, who noticed? Exactly - the date shows April 1st, 2018. But it's not just the date that gives away the joke... very clever foxes will certainly also notice the name of the sender. “Tinged by Sloof Lirpa” it says. When read backwards, it becomes “April Fools.” Tada!

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So with a little Photoshop magic, someone from Kruger National Park combined three different photos into one. Add a touching story and a potentially viral post is born!

Screenshot by mimikama.org
Screenshot by mimikama.org

Conclusion:

A really great story, but it never happened that way. It's fictitious - just an April Fool's joke. And yet, almost two years later, it is still being shared as a real story on social media platforms.

The lack of a source also makes it difficult to see through the truly successful joke.


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )