Fact-check: South African photos used in misleading posts about Kenya’s polka-dot foal

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Several social media posts have shared two photos with claims that they show a rare polka-dot zebra fowl, recently spotted in Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve, being taken for sale overseas. .

The baby zebra, named Tera, had become an online hit and claimed to have faced frustration from Kenyan social media users. But an online tip-off and the help of some experts have allowed us to confirm that these pictures show an entirely different zebra. Kenyan wildlife officials say the sale rumors are “totally false”.

Tera was spotted in the Maasai Mara in mid-September, to the delight of national and international media. AFP recorded one. Video of the calf, named after the owner of the bush camp where it was spotted.

Last week, rumors began to circulate that the polka-dot zebra had been captured, put in a truck and taken out of the Mara to be sold. A post A Kenyan shared a screenshot of the claim on a private Facebook group with more than 100,000 followers.

This tweet — using another name given to the animal by some social media users, “Debra” — claimed the polka-dot foil was being transported to an unknown destination. The post was retweeted over 250 times and received over 650 likes.

The same claims and pictures were posted. Here on Facebook And on All forumsa message board based in Tanzania. This tweet He claimed the calf had been sold to “a certain western country”.

The zebra in the pictures is not from Kenya but from South Africa.

We did a Google reverse image search to try to find the original source of the two images circulating in the rumor mill, but that didn’t turn up anything. No lead found.

However, scrolling through the comments under a Postswe saw a link to a Facebook post Craigviewa veterinary clinic in South Africa.

This post includes photos that have been circulating alongside rumors about Tera, plus an additional photo of a man standing next to the animal. The post identified the man as Clifford Bill, the owner of the clinic. He is recognizable in other social media posts and News articles About wildlife in South Africa

Dr. Bull told us he shared the photos after the Kenyan calf hit the headlines on September 30, to show that Terra is not the only animal of her kind. Rumors as well as photos started circulating a few days later, but they confirmed that the two were not engaged.

“This is not the same zebra,” he told AFP in an email. “If one compares the markings of two zebras, it shows that the two animals are different.”

Each zebra, he explained, “has different stripe patterns, like human fingerprints. This serves two purposes: When the babies are born, they can imprint on their mothers, which makes them can recognize their mothers in the herd and stay with them. This also serves as a mechanism that confuses predators.”

The zebra pictured next to it is a cub, a young male.

Both spotted zebras are vulnerable because their markings distinguish them, making them easy for predators to spot, Dr. Bull added. can see

This, he said, sadly makes it “a slim chance that they will reach adulthood and have children of their own.”

How to tell two zebras apart.

Justin Cordingley, a researcher Gravy’s Zebra TrustAn independent wildlife conservation trust in Kenya helped us distinguish between the two animals by examining their markings.

Comparing the two, you can see that the calf in the Mara has deeper spots on its back and more spots on its belly and hind leg than the Truck. Its neck is also spotted rather than striped. The man in the truck also has very striped legs.

Dr Bull encountered the baby South African zebra at a small private game farm in the Mokgopong area of ​​Limpopo province in July, and estimated it to be between 10 and 12 months old.

Yours is too small. “The umbilical cord was very fresh when I saw it at Matira Bush Camp in the Masai Mara,” said tour guide Jonathan Tera. “From my analysis, it could have been two. I saw it a few days ago,” he told AFP by telephone.

Where are you now?

Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) communications officer, Ngugi Gecaga, said there was no truth to rumors that Tira had been sold abroad.

“No animals are being sold, the claims are completely false,” Gikaga told AFP in a phone interview.

He added that KWS rejected calls to place the calf in special protection because its spots make it more dangerous than other zebras.

“KWS works on the premise that animals should be in the wild. The zebra is not a special species, it’s just a freak of nature — like the albino zebra we have recently. Gikaga said that isolating the animal would not be appropriate and would be inhumane from a conservation point of view.

“Zebras protect each other and will protect themselves. If a predator sees it and hunts it, it will just be an act of nature.”

Tera’s current whereabouts are unknown.

However, French wildlife photographer Tony Crosetta wrote in one Facebook post On September 29, he saw a buried zebra crossing the Sand River, which separates Kenya’s Maasai Mara National and Tanzania’s Serengeti Park.

“The odds of you ever coming back one day are sadly close to zero,” he wrote. “But I still believe in miracles.”