My friends, please allow me to be a monumental buzzkill for just a moment. I’m really bothered by seeing animal-lovers unknowingly sharing staged, abusive, wildlife photography. Abusive photographers exploit people’s passion for these animals, and cause irreparable harm in doing so. You have definitely seen these photos: cute frogs and lizards pictured in sweet scenes with butterflies and garden snails. Lots of times they’re doing something silly like holding a leaf as an umbrella or “dancing” upright. Unfortunately, many people do not have the zoology background to recognize this behavior as unnatural and staged. Let’s take a look at three really popular ones from one photographer that you’ve probably seen around on the internet.
1- Frog with Snails. This image doesn’t raise any huge red flags aside from the “Too Good to be True” feeling that you get here. Those snails are perfectly placed and the frog is perfectly in focus staring at the camera. In an interview with DailyMail, the photographer stated that the frog is his pet and the encounter happened organically when “the snails appeared to want to play with the frog”. What a crazy coincidence- he has an almost identical shot of a Red-Eyed Crocodile Skink in his portfolio (worth noting: these skinks are notoriously elusive and distressed by human handling)
So yeah, no signs of overt abuse with the Princess Leia Frog, but almost certainly not the random whimsical encounter described by the artist
2- Big Froggy Grin. This is a Javan gliding tree frog and I have a few concerns about the way the animal in this image appears. Firstly, the way this frog is holding its mouth open appears very unnatural. Although frogs will sometimes open their mouths wide when shedding their skin, it’s usually only for a few moments and they can be seen actively using their limbs to help with the shed. It’s possible that the frog had JUST swallowed a large prey item but in that scenario you would expect the eyes to be closed or retracted inward, as anurans use their eyes to help push prey down their throat. Frogs breathe by a mechanism called “buccal pumping”, requires their mouth to be closed. A frog cannot breathe with its mouth open, which is why these “smiling” pictures always make me a little nervous! There is speculation that some photos like this are made by propping the frog’s mouth open with string, or even putting the animal in the refrigerator to slow it down, then posing it like a doll.
On top of that unnatural gaping mouth, this frog appears to have slight anisocoria, meaning one of his pupils is more dilated than the other. This can be a sign of serious neurological disease, inflammation, or head trauma. We can’t know if this is the case here, or even if this frog is unwell but it does worry me a little.
3- Crocodile Taxi. This one has been ALL over the internet in meme form and I just cringe a little bit every time I see it. The photographer said the frogs inexplicably all climbed aboard the juvenile crocodile at once and he just “had to wait a long time to see the frogs climb on to the crocodile’s back. The key was to stay still and remain patient.” I am not buying this one either. These are Australian White’s tree frogs and nothing in their behavior patterns makes this make sense. The frogs are not in an amplexus position and the odds of all five of these frogs coincidentally climbing aboard is so unlikely. Not to mention this appears to be a juvenile Saltwater crocodile, whose habitat doesn’t really overlap with White’s tree frogs. The photographer risked these animals lives by placing them on top of a predator, all for a cute photo that he insists was not staged. It’s interesting though that what appears to be the very same crocodile seems to feature in many other images in his portfolio:
This is NOT normal frog behavior and to present it as such, while also endangering the frogs in question is pretty terrible.
Why does this matter? It isn’t just the fact that presenting these photos as organic encounters is dishonest (of course that’s bad enough) but the real issue is that this kind of photography harms animals. These images anthropomorphize wildlife in a way that promotes serious misunderstanding of animal behavior. It is incredibly unethical to manipulate animals like this just for the perfect shot. When we see photos like this, we MUST consider if any abuse or cruelty could have been involved in the creation of the scene. As any biologist can tell you- when humans anthropomorphize animals too much, it’s the animals that suffer for it. These pictures spread like wildfire across the internet because we love animals SO much, but it isn’t fair for us to only love a version of them that does not, in truth, exist. Here is a great article for a more in-depth investigation into the troubling phenomenon of staged wildlife photography: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/whimsical-wildlife-photography-isnt-seems
This photo looks cute, but it reveals the cloudy intersection of wildlife photography, animal welfare issues and photojournalism integrity.
I would love to hear from other biologists, vets, herpetologists, etc about this matter. I am a veterinary student with a particular interest in reptiles and amphibians but I still have so much to learn, please weigh in if you think my assessment of these photos is missing something! What do you guys think about this? How can we better educate our friends online to see these seemingly cute images with a critical eye?
Just by talking about it and exposing these images for what they are! When you see them shared on FB, here, or anywhere else, drop the link for more information about how these images are created. Appeal to pathos- lines like “it’s so sad, these images are created via animal abuse and I can’t find them cute because of that” work well enough to get people curious about why you’d say that. Don’t let these things pass by uncritically- be vocal as you can be about them when you see them! That’s the only way to get people to think about where these images come from.
i can’t believe we’re getting an old friends video game AND a documentary this year. i keep forgetting about and then remembering and every time it’s like the most exciting revelation ive ever had
Edit: the title for this comic is “Puzzle Rat”
this one’s a few days late due to having a lot of doctors appointments sorry
it’s just 9 pages, and about some rats… it’s more symbolic than anything really
(it’s completely unrelated to any of my songs that have to do with “puzzleboy”)
Patreon: www.patreon.com/PengoSolvent
So for people who don’t know, Seattle Aquarium has a breeding program to try and help save the endangered Pacific Giant Octopus.
They take wild octos every year and put them in a conjoined tank that is separated only by a plexi glass wall full of holes big enough for them to put arms through but small enough that their beaks can’t fit through. Each octopus is given food, healthcare, and enrichment, and the opportunity to get to know each other.
As Valentine’s Day approaches the marine biologists that specialize in octos make assessments of their interactions and judge if the two are compatible for mating or if they are still aggressive toward each other.
If the octopuses have been witnessed being friendly and seem interested, the gate is lifted and they have their day of romance.
But octopuses engage in cannibalism in the wild and any smaller octopus is wary of getting eastern by a larger one… So yeah, if they haven’t been friendly the possibility of cannibalism is very high. And as a program designed to help save the species they aren’t going to risk it. So the octopuses are released (not together) back into the wild and the Aquarium sets about finding a new pair to play match-maker with.
As someone who walked by this aquarium to work for almost a decade, I can attest to how huge a Thing this is around here. We’re always sad when the octopus sex show gets cancelled.
I love the reference, but calling a cassowary horrible is redundant. Like saying, “a feline cat” or, “a boneless slug.” It’s an inherent quality necessary to be a cassowary that cannot change.
Mr Minute is resting up for work tomorrow. He will be with his team at Bilo in Landrum SC 10 am to 4 pm. He will be there raising awareness and donations for his brothers and sisters at Forever Dream SDS. Stop by for your Mr Minute fix. #bilo #chihuahua #chihuahuasofinstagram #mrminute #foreverdreamseniordogsanctuary #foreverdreamseniordogs #seniordogsofinstagram #seniordogsrock
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