Fact check: Image of a purported wolf-shaped mountain in Norway is altered

Emiliano Tahui Gómez, USA TODAY
·2 min read

The claim: Image shows a Norweigan mountain that resembles a howling wolf

It has circulated widely on Facebook: the striking image of a snow-covered mountain peak that resembles a howling wolf under a full moon.

A May 10 Facebook post that shares the image attracted more than 10,000 reactions and 750 shares in a week. The post caption claims the image shows a mountain formation on the Norweigan island of Senja.

Yet, the image is not an accurate depiction of any peak on the island. It is the creation of a digital artist.

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USA TODAY reached out to the account that shared the claim for comment.

Image is the creation of a digital artist

A digital artist with the account name "michellevonkalben" first posted the image on Instagram in March 2021. That same month, she made an animated version of the image. In a caption of the first post, she explained her desire to produce art through her image editing.

“I changed the shape of the mountain a little so that it would look more like a wolf to create a more unique magical scene,” the artist wrote alongside her first post of the image.

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The artist confirmed to Factly in 2021 that the viral image was edited. USA TODAY found that the image altered by "michellevonkalben" is the digital creation of another artist, Julius Kähkönen. That artist identified the mountain in his image as Segla.

Segla is a peak on the Norweigan island of Senja. Images on Google Maps show the mountain with a jutting peak, but not one shaped like a howling wolf.

USA TODAY reached out to the Instagram user "michellevonkaleben" for comment.

Our rating: Altered

Based on our research, we rate ALTERED an image that shows a Norweigan mountain that resembles a howling wolf. The image was created by a digital artist who first posted it on Instagram in 2021. She has confirmed to an independent fact-checker that the image is altered and was made for artistic purposes.

Our fact-checking sources:

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Image of a wolf-shaped mountain in Norway is altered