Fact Check

Tree-Top Giraffe

Photograph shows a giraffe climbing a tall tree?

Published March 22, 2011

Claim:

Claim:   Photograph shows a giraffe climbing a tall tree.


FALSE


Example:   [Collected via e-mail, March 2011]


I've seen this image thoughout the web and no one can seem to tell if it is truly a great image or a great photoshop.


 

Origins:   If you think a giraffe is one of the last animals you'd expect to find climbing a tree like the one pictured here, you're not wrong. This image isn't a real photograph, but rather part of an April 2009 promotion for the Wellington Zoo's "Celebrate Chimp Week." The campaign featured images of unlikely animals (including a hippo and a zebra) pictured climbing trees and used photography from Electric Art, who noted of the process that:



This campaign was created by comping various photographic elements, both stock and our own photography.

Using images of monkeys in their natural environment as reference we were able to design a believable pose for the giraffe, hippo and zebra.

photographer: Electric Art
agency: Saatchi Saatchi NZ
art director: Steve Back


Last updated:   27 July 2014

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

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