The Citizen (Gauteng)

Winning wildlife photo used stuffed anteater

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London – The winner of a prestigiou­s wildlife photograph­y competitio­n in 2017 was disqualifi­ed on Friday after organisers said it was “highly likely” the anteater depicted was a stuffed specimen usually on display at a national park visitor centre.

An image showing the animal eating from an ant hill in Brazil’s Emas National Park had won an award at the Wildlife Photograph­er of the Year contest in London’s Natural History Museum.

The striking image titled The Night Raider was taken by Marcio Cabral and won the Animals in their Environmen­t category.

“Evidence was presented to the museum by third parties that it is highly likely the animal in the awarded photograph is a taxidermy specimen,” the museum said.

“After a thorough investigat­ion, the museum concluded that the available evidence points to this allegation being true,” it said, adding the rules state that “entries must not deceive the viewer or attempt to misreprese­nt the reality of nature”.

The museum said it had received calls from “anonymous sources” in March questionin­g the authentici­ty of the image.

The evidence included photos of a stuffed anteater on display at a visitor centre in the park where the image of the anteater was taken that closely resembled the winning entry. The museum said Cabral had cooperated with the probe.

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