Fact check: Popular wolf photo in meme about protective women is actually of 3 male wolves
The claim: Female wolves protect males from attack.
Posts advocating for strong women are common on social media.
One, a post that claims female wolves protect males from assailants, has been shared over 31,000 times on Facebook since May.
It also contains a picture of a woman reaching behind a man to pull out a gun hidden in the small of his back to shoot at an armed assailant. “Make sure you have the right one in your corner,” it says, using female wolves as an example on how females can protect their male counterparts.
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A widely shared falsehood
The image is real and was taken by Minnesota photographer Jean Paul with a simple caption stating a wolf fight was taking place. Paul originally uploaded the picture on Flickr in 2009; it now has had over 29,000 views. The caption states it was taken in Ely, Minnesota.
In comments since, Paul notes that this image, her favorite, "has had a steady stream of visitors from an 'Unknown Source,'" which is why she's left her name on the image.
The claim using the image originated on Reddit and was posted in 2016, according to Snopes.com.
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But don't go there looking for it: That original post was removed by moderators of the subreddit, r/wolves, according to a note left there.
Cameron Feaster, a wolf specialist at the International Wolf Center, also in Ely, Minnesota, was interviewed by Snopes, and said all three wolves in the picture are actually male.
So the claim that “a female wolf” was protecting the male wolf’s throat is false.
He told Snopes that the photograph may have simply been taken at the moment one wolf backed away and bumped into another.
The picture has also been posted on picture website Imgur in 2016, and has been viewed over 9,000 times. In the comment section of the picture, some people commented that the story claiming the female wolf was protecting the male wolf was false.
Our ruling: False
We rate this claim FALSE, based on our research. According to an expert, the wolves photographed are all males. The picture does not depict a female protecting a male from attack.
Our fact-check sources:
Snopes.com, Is this Female Wolf Protecting a Male’s Throat During a Fight?
Flickr.com, Original Photo
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Photo in meme about strong females is of only male wolves
