A photograph taken by Marcio Cabral helped him win the Wildlife Photographer of the Year from the Natural History Museum in 2017. This photograph has now been proven to be staged using a stuffed anteater from a museum in Brazil.

Cabral was then disqualified by the British Natural History Museum for using the stuffed anteater to stage the photo.

Stuffed Anteater

On April 27, the British Natural History Museum released a statement detailing how Cabral's photograph was disqualified from the competition from which he received the prize. It noted that third parties notified the museum that the animal photographed was actually a stuffed anteater. In the statement, the museum says that the photograph had been under investigation for over three weeks to determine if the photograph had been staged.

For the investigation, the British Natural History Museum enlisted two mammal experts, a taxidermy specialist, two external experts, a South American mammals expert, and an expert anteater researcher. Experts used high-resolution copies of the original photograph of a stuffed anteater found at one of the gates of Emas National Park, where the original photograph was taken.

All five of the researchers who worked independently determined that this is the same animal in both photos. They agreed that it shared the same posture, morphology, tufts of fur, and the same patterns on the neck and top of the head.

Cabral cooperated with the investigation by providing files of the images to the museum. Unlike other photographers who take hundreds of shots before deciding on the right one, Cabral only had one shot of the anteater in the photograph. Before-and-after photographs do not show the anteater in either of the shots.

Cabral denied that he used a stuffed anteater. He also told the British Natural History Museum that he could provide a witness that corroborates his claims. Cabral has not released a statement about his controversial photograph.

Winning Photograph

When the photograph was announced as the winner, a story for the photograph was also given. In the story, Cabral told the museum that he had camped out at Emas National Park waiting for the right conditions to be able to capture the photograph. He said that even though it was the rainy season, there were no clouds the night he captured the photograph.

Featured in the photograph are the termite mounds that shone with green light. This green light is caused by the bioluminescent click beetle larvae. They use it to attract their prey, the flying termites.