Some folk have more 'neck' than a giraffe

[Jimbuna]

Wildlife photo competition disqualifies 'stuffed anteater' image

A winning entry in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition has been disqualified for featuring a taxidermy specimen.

The image, known as The Night Raider, shows an anteater moving towards a termite mound in a Brazilian reserve.

The anteater's appearance was described in the citation caption as being serendipitous - a "surprise bonus" that walked into the shot. But the NHM says third parties recently raised concerns that the image was staged - that the hungry interloper is in fact a static model that can be seen at a visitors' centre at an entrance to the reserve.

When alerted to this possibility, the museum asked five scientists to review the winning photo and to compare it with the centre's display model.

These experts, who included the NHM's own taxidermy specialist and South American mammal and anteater researchers, worked independently of each other, but they all came to the same conclusion - that the two animals were one and the same.

The scientists found the markings, the postures, the morphologies, and even the positioning of the fur tufts, to be just too similar.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-43912583

At least it was a local entrant