Fake News: Photo Is NOT One Of The Largest Blue Whales Ever Caught On Camera

Fact Check

  • by: Alan Duke

STORY UPDATED: check for updates below.

Fake News: Photo Is NOT One Of The Largest Blue Whales Ever Caught On Camera

Does this photo show one of the largest blue whales ever caught on camera? No, it's fake: It is a digitally-created image combining two photos to make it appear that a massive whale is swimming under a suspension bridge. There are no whales, big or small, swimming under the Samuel De Champlain Bridge in Quebec, Canada, the Samuel De Champlain Bridge in Quebec, Canada. The artist shared how he created the striking image on his website.

The false claim about the photo has circulated for a while on social media, including recently in a post (archived here) published on September 21, 2019 under the title "One of the largest blue whales ever caught on camera during a helicopter ride today". One post claimed it was the Samuel De Champlain Bridge in Montreal.

This is what soclal media users saw:

Contrary to the claim that this is a real photo of a huge whale with a calf swimming photographed during a helicopter tour, it is a "photo manipulation work" titled "Mother," created by digital artist Umut Reçber in Istanbul, Turkey, This is an image on his website showing the two photos he combined to created the image.

blue whale explanation.jpg

The original post claimed the bridge is the Samuel De Champlain Bridge, which crosses the St. Lawrence River in Montreal, Canada. There would be no way for such a large sea creature (if one existed) to reach that far up the river. It does not appear to be that bridge, but we have been unable to identify it since the image is a stock photo with no details. One reader suggested it was the Ravenel Bridge that spans the Cooper River between Charleston and Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.

Updates:

  • 2019-09-22T05:54:09Z 2019-09-22T05:54:09Z
    Update 11pPT Saturday, September 21, 2019 -- clarifying that while one post claims the bridge is in Montreal, it does not appear to be. Lead Stories has been unable to identify the bridge.

Want to inform others about the accuracy of this story?

See who is sharing it (it might even be your friends...) and leave the link in the comments.:


  Alan Duke

Editor-in-Chief Alan Duke co-founded Lead Stories after ending a 26-year career with CNN, where he mainly covered entertainment, current affairs and politics. Duke closely covered domestic terrorism cases for CNN, including the Oklahoma City federal building bombing, the UNABOMBER and search for Southeast bomber Eric Robert Rudolph. CNN moved Duke to Los Angeles in 2009 to cover the entertainment beat. Duke also co-hosted a daily podcast with former HLN host Nancy Grace, "Crime Stories with Nancy Grace" and hosted the podcast series "Stan Lee's World: His Real Life Battle with Heroes & Villains." You'll also see Duke in many news documentaries, including on the Reelz channel, CNN and HLN.

Read more about or contact Alan Duke

About Us

International Fact-Checking Organization Meta Third-Party Fact Checker

Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet.
Spotted something? Let us know!.

Lead Stories is a:


@leadstories

Subscribe to our newsletter

* indicates required

Please select all the ways you would like to hear from Lead Stories LLC:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. For information about our privacy practices, please visit our website.

We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here.

Most Read

Most Recent

Share your opinion