Is this one a fake?

[Jeff Root]

I have no info about this image. I downloaded it because it
looked real in the thumbnail, but from what I can see in the
full-size image, I suspect that it is faked. What do you other
photoanalysts think?

Warning: Safe for all but the most cute-sensitive viewers.

http://www.nonags.com/nonags/funimg/0794.jpg

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

[JayUtah]

Probably fake. The shadows are a mess.

[01101001]

http://www.nonags.com/nonags/funimg/0794.jpg

My eyes! Oh, my eyes...

[Grand_Lunar]

Kitten...cuteness....resist!

[AtomicDog]

Aargh! The cuteness! It burns!

[ZappBrannigan]

Someone is going to chime in soon and point out that this has nothing to do with space, astronomy, or conspiracies.

To them, I would just like to say that this is obviously a reversed-engineered space kitten from Area 51.

So there.

[BertL]

It's not fake. The duck is just a bit translucent.

[Noclevername]

Luckily, they failed to photograph the scene of carnage that occured seconds later. Please, people, no matter how cute they are, feed carnivores before placing them next to small birds.

[hplasm]

Just don't let Furi from Apollohoax see it- he'll know it's a conspiracy!!

[Count Zero]

Luckily, they failed to photograph the scene of carnage that occured seconds later. Please, people, no matter how cute they are, feed carnivores before placing them next to small birds.

A fine example of cherry-picking the data!

[Jeff Root]

Luckily, they failed to photograph the scene of carnage that occured
seconds later. Please, people, no matter how cute they are,
feed carnivores before placing them next to small birds.

Oh. Apparently you didn't see this photo which is on the same
page, right next to the first photo, in fact:

http://www.nonags.com/nonags/funimg/Avoir-du-Gutz.jpg

I have no reason to think that this image is faked. My heart is in
my throat when I look at it!

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

[Swift]

Obviously a fake, there are no stars in the photo.

[Fazor]

It's not fake. The duck is just a bit translucent.

LOL

Obviously a fake, there are no stars in the photo.

...and LOL again.

[tofu]

More of same:

http://icanhascheezburger.com/

It's funny at first, but then you start to go into diabetic shock.

[Svector]

Obviously a fake, there are no stars in the photo.

There aren't? I could've sworn the third from the right was Rin Tin Tin.

[mugaliens]

Someone is going to chime in soon and point out that this has nothing to do with space, astronomy, or conspiracies.

To them, I would just like to say that this is obviously a reversed-engineered space kitten from Area 51.

So there.

It's fake, but I'll I give BertL cudos for coming up with a plausible (if improbable) reason as to the difference between the shadows.

[napolean]

no, it is no space kitten. the duck has made mind contrl device and is now planning to attck earth with any army of kittens. our weapons are infecctive aganist that lvl of cuteness. we can counteract with an army of mutated monkeys with twice the poo flinging power. or we are doomed.

[mugaliens]

Quackheads...

[publius]

This reminds of something I saw on one of those "amazing animal tricks" shows many moon ago. This was well before the computer graphics and Photoshop revolution where stuff like this can be faked easily now.

Some company wanted to do a cute commercial where a cat and bird (and maybe a third animal) all sat together side-by-side looking cute. They hired a animal trainer type who did animal commericals to do it. She succeeded, but it took a lot of effort and expense. She had to a find a cat with the right temperment, and train it not to try to attack the bird, and keep the bird still as well. A lot work, but it was done.

Another one I thought was amusing is the "bear attack" scenes. In various movies and commericials they'll have bears doing some vicious looking attack on people. Well, they went behind the scenes with some bear trainers.

The bear is just playing a game, and a game he's been playing since he was a little cub. He's not mad, nor trying to eviscerate anyone, he's just having fun. It was funny. They first showed the scene as it appeared the movie, looking like someone desperately fighting for his life while being attacked by a vicious bear.

Then they showed it as was really shot. The actor wasn't anywhere around, just the bear trainer dressed up to look like him. Then he started playing the game with the bear. It was a very happy, playful bear. Now, stand up on your hind legs and open your mouth, wave your front paws, and look mean. Good boy! Bear gets petted and rewarded.

Now, let's play "roll around on the ground", just like you might have done with your pet dog as a kid. Good boy! Bears love to play in the water, so they'll usually do it around a pond or stream, and they'll roll around in the water a bit.

Now, let's play with the big stick. The trainer waves a stick around, and the bear grabs at it and plays tug of war, again like with a dog. And he's petted and rewarded with food the whole time. A very happy bear having fun.

But on screen, you see a big mean bear attacking some hapless victim. The scene with the stick looks just like the victim grabs it and tries to fight off the bear.

The only thing they can't do is the sound. A happy bear doesn't make the blood curdling sound a mad bear makes, so they do have to overdub some stock audio of a roaring bear.

-Richard