Recently we have acquired photos of a Texan man holding a giant bullfrog which created a lot of fuss with people. Hundreds and hundreds wonder whether the photo is authentic or not.
Well, it is only a matter of perspective as it turns out.
This photo is the courtesy of the ‘South Texas Hunting Association‘ and it was posted to their Facebook page on Thursday. The aforementioned image was shared 260,000 times ever since thus making it the subject of worldwide headlines.
On the picture, you can see a man, Markcuz Rangel, who wrote: ‘Wanted to share a monster bullfrog we got yesterday afternoon at one of our fishing ponds in South Texas ranch located in Batesville TX 13lb monster frog!!!’
This beast looks like it could leap over houses and cars. ‘Monster’ is a diminutive term if you ask us.
People, on the other hand, have already given a nickname to this wonder of nature and that is ‘Frogzilla.’ Standing at 13 pounds the legs of this frog could feed a family.
However social media are full of skeptics, many claimed it to have been photoshopped or even staged just to make the frog look bigger.
‘That frog is hanging from a tree and he’s standing 5 ft. Behind it.’ one man wrote.
One lady who surely believes that everything is bigger in Texas said: ‘Never ever never going to Texas.’
Other than that we had a few of exchanges like this one.
A man from NY: ‘In NY we would love to see that frog in zoo so why some f***er killed it instead of catching it and show it to the rest of the world alive??”
South Texas Hunting Association replied: “Cuz here in Texas we eat what we kill.”
The Houston Chronicle was told that the photo is real by a spokesman for the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department.
However, there is one little trick.
The spokesman claimed that it was not as big as it seemed.
He stated that it appeared so big due to an optical illusion. ‘Optical illusion was created by extending (the) frog toward the camera – similar to what you see with fishermen holding up fish to make them appear larger.’
He added: ‘Still a big bullfrog, though.’
Rangel talked to KFOX where he said: ‘The photo is real, and I’ve got others from the same area, just not as big but still big bullfrogs.’
Rangel also said that he didn’t expect it to become viral like it has and also added that he regrets not taking more photos or filming a video to prove its authenticity.
Myth-busting website Snopes went on and issued a statement on the matter. ‘Although the South Texas Hunting Association claimed that this image showed a real 13 pound bullfrog, we’re skeptical about the creature’s size. For one, 13 pounds is simply too big for a frog. Adult American Bullfrogs, the largest frogs in the United States, only weigh about 1.5 pounds. The largest frog in the world, the Goliath Frog, is also too small to meet the requirements of this claim. The Goliath Frog, which has a relatively small habitat range in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea (and not South Texas), only weighs about 7 pounds.’
They also mentioned how Rangel tweaked the perspective when taking a photo so as to make the frog look bigger. Whether this is real or not, we sure as hell won’t go to Texas to hunt for frogs.
