Have you seen this adorable photo of a baby giraffe getting a kiss from its mother? The picture has gone viral in the past few days. Steve Van Zandt, the famous Sopranos actor and musician, tweeted it yesterday with the caption, “And just when you’re ready to give up hope...”
Well, the mother giraffe in the picture is dead. Feel free to give up hope now.
Yes, the internet is awash in baby giraffe pictures after April the giraffe gave birth at the Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, New York on Saturday. The birth was livestreamed to about 1.2 million people.
But this photo of two giraffes doesn’t show April and her newborn. The photo was taken all the way back in 1995 at the Perth Zoo in Australia. Misha, the mother giraffe in the photo, died last year. The photo was taken by Ron D’Raine for the West Australian newspaper and has since been reproduced countless times and is popular as a poster.
Curiously, the version of the photo that’s currently going viral is flipped horizontally. If I had to guess it’s an effort to dodge copyright claims by robot sniffers looking for photos online.
I mean, don’t give up hope if you’ve got something other than this giraffe photo to keep you going. But if this giraffe photo is all you’ve got, giving up hope is probably a reasonable option. I’m just saying.