At the beginning of May 2022, we received a number of user inquiries because many could not believe that a weasel was “riding” a woodpecker.
Although you really have to say that the photo is a real eye-catcher, because who has ever experienced such a lazy weasel 🙂 The photo or article was published by “Our Planet” on Facebook:

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Screenshot: “Our Planet” – Facebook

Yes, the photo is REAL!

The image was shared on Twitter back in 2015:

The image by photographer Martin Le-May also caught the attention of National Geographic , who wanted to know exactly whether the image, which according to Le-May was taken in Hornchurch Country Park in East London, was real. Hany Farid , a professor of computer science at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, works in digital forensics and image analysis, so he's a good place to go to verify the photo. Le-May also posted the photo herself on Twitter , but it was only through other accounts that it really went viral.

Farid says that although a detailed analysis of the photo is difficult due to the rather low resolution, other factors indicate the authenticity of the image. For example, the “hug” of the weasel is rather difficult to design, as it would be very difficult to find an image of a weasel in exactly this position that could be copied onto a woodpecker. Digital post-processing of the weasel's paws would be quite easy to detect.

In addition, Le-May took several photos of the weasel's involuntary flight, which makes it even more difficult to forge it. There would also be no obvious lighting, color, focus or quality differences between the weasel and the woodpecker, so Farid concludes that there is no evidence that the photo is not real.

How did the ride come about?

David Mizejewski can explain this , as this scene doesn't seem so unusual if you know the behavior of both species.

The European green woodpeckers feed on ants, which means they often stay on the ground. However, there they are quite vulnerable to attacks by predators, including weasels. The small weasels, on the other hand, are carnivores that have no problem attacking larger animals such as rabbits, frogs - and even birds - if they cannot find mice. To ensure that this is successful, these weasels act exactly like the little fellow that can be seen in the photo: they jump at the victim from behind and sever the spinal cord in the neck with one bite.

Wildlife expert Lucy Cooke tells BBC News that weasels are very fearless animals. Female weasels are smaller than a Mars bar, but fierce as lions, which is why the weasel won't let go of the woodpecker.

So what happened:
The woodpecker apparently wanted to escape at the moment when the predator was about to bite, which led to the weasel's involuntary ride. Le-May's luck as a photographer was to capture exactly this moment, the flight of the woodpecker with the hungry weasel in tow, in a photo.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, there are also many posed animal photos , but the wild ride of the weasel on the woodpecker is real. According to Le-May, the weasel was not lucky despite his courage: the woodpecker was able to escape and has certainly been more careful when looking for food since then.


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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 )