A video is being shared on Twitter claiming that penguins have taken over the streets of Auckland in New Zealand. But the fact is that even though the video is of penguins crossing the street, the footage is from Cape Town in South Africa and not from New Zealand.
The video was shared by Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Susanta Nanda with the caption, "Penguins check the streets of Auckland, searching for the humans."
Hoax debunked
This received enormous reaction where people started replying with comments including: "They have come to zoo for the humans," "birds are free to life a free life," etc. But in fact, the video was originally shared by The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) and claimed that the location was Simon's Town in Cape Town, South Africa.
"#Lockdown perks for #Africanpenguins in Simon's Town while #penguinrangers keep a watchful eye," SANCCOB shared the video.
SANCCOB is is an international body dedicated to seabird rehabilitation and protects South Africa's sea birds, especially threatened species including penguins. Later, when Susanta was flagged off about the location of the video, he commented, "I stand corrected." The video has been watched by 3.5 k viewers with the caption crediting it to 'Auckland streets.'
Lions in Russia
Earlier, a screengrab of lions roaming on the streets of Russia claiming that the President has unleashed 500 tigers on street to keep people inside homes during coronavirus was making rounds. But in fact, the screengrab was from Johannesberg, where a lion was brought out on street for filming, apparently without permission. The video was actually shot in 2016.
In another news, articles claimed that ghosts were keeping the people of Indonesia inside the houses during the lockdown. In fact, the authorities of Kepuh in Java Island had joined hands with youths to make some people dress up like Pocongs and roam around the city and jump in front of people who defy the lockdown rules.
Fake news are making rounds during the pandemic, especially those dealing with a vaccine for coronavirus and home remedies for COVID-19. Sometimes even a small mistake (like mentioning Auckland instead of Cape Town) also can lead to misrepresented content as the video gets shared widely and fastly on social media, even before it is debunked.
