This photo of a deer is rapidly circulating online. It was allegedly spotted in Bakun, Benguet. Is it real? Is it AI-generated?
Bago ang lahat, hindi imposible na may mga wild deer sa mga kabundukan ng Bakun. All provinces in the Cordillera region have populations of wild deer. Mountainous areas in Benguet, Ifugao, Mountain Province, Abra, Kalinga, and Apayao are home to these elusive animals.
But here are the reasons why it's difficult to believe that this particular photo is real.
1. As stated above, wild deer are very elusive creatures. It's very difficult to get close-up photos of them in the wild. At the smallest sight or scent of a human being, they'll run away. The photo looks like it was taken a few meters away. This is the kind of close-up photo someone takes in a zoo, not in the wild.
2. The deer in the photo looks like a sambar deer (𝘙𝘶𝘴𝘢 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳). Walang 𝘙𝘶𝘴𝘢 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳 na deer dito sa Pilipinas dahil hindi ito native dito. Ang meron dito sa Pilipinas is the Philippine brown deer (𝘙𝘶𝘴𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢).
3. Why are there no other photos of the same deer? If the one who took the photo was able to take a close-up photo like this one, for sure, he/she was able to take other photos.
In short, I think this photo is AI-generated.
