Hedgehog in the grass: real or AI?

As shared

A hedgehog standing side-on in green grass.

Photo: George Chernilevsky, via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain (released by the photographer) · Source

REAL

This is real.

How sure we areHigh

Based on 1 strong and 0 supporting piece of evidence.

What we found

The photograph shows a northern white-breasted hedgehog in the grass. George Chernilevsky took it in the wild in Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukraine, on 5 June 2020, and uploaded it to Wikimedia Commons. The original file still carries the camera's own data: a Canon EOS 750D with a 50mm lens, set to 1/500 of a second at f/8. The photographer released it into the public domain, so anyone may use it. Commons editors chose it as a featured picture, it passed their quality image check, and it was Commons' picture of the day on 5 May 2021. Finding an original upload with a named photographer, a date, a place and camera data is one of the quickest ways to confirm that a photograph is real.

Key facts

Original source: Photo: George Chernilevsky, via Wikimedia Commons
First published: Not recorded
Earlier appearances: Not recorded
The claim you saw: No caption recorded
Signs of AI: None that decide it

The evidence, strongest first

Strong Decides the answer

Original sourceThe photographer's original upload on Wikimedia Commons, with camera data (Canon EOS 750D, 5 June 2020)↗

Supporting Points the same way

None.

Weak Shown, not relied on

How it looksReal life is untidy. The grass is a tangle of live and dead blades, some of them crossing in front of the animal. The spines are uneven and a little dirty, and the light is flat, ordinary daylight. Nothing has been arranged to look pretty, and that is usually a good sign.

Detector scores are often wrong, so they never decide a verdict here.

What we couldn’t establish

Anything about the moment it shows beyond what the sources above record. If you know more, tell us.

Bottom line

Real: the original source shows it.

See the original ↗Think we’re wrong?

Was this explanation useful? ·

33% of players thought it was AI

Check something like this yourself

Start with where it came from: reverse-search the picture, then find who posted it first. Or paste it into our free checker.