The lockdown is healing the earth may be? Indeed. But has natural wildlife reappeared in a lot of places they had abandoned? Hard to say yet. A video circulating on social media and on whatsapp groups of members of ONGC, India's top oil and natural gas company shows a family of humpback whales swimming by their rig just off the coast of Mumbai. The three humpbacks are stunning and make enough appearances to indulge their photographers.
Is That A Humpback Whale On The Mumbai Coast? Twitter Shares Videos Of An Amazing Sighting. But was this video genuine?
The reports said as did the tweets, that Mumbai whales spotting was unusual. When you listen to the video, one hears the excitement in the voice of the people shooting it. However the location of the shoot is not evident from it. This video belongs to the BBC Indonesia and was shot off the Indonesian coast in August 2019.
Fact checks show that the video is not from the ONGC offshore rig but an old one from Indonesia. According to Indian Forest Services officer Parveen Kaswan, this is an older video and not from off the coast of Mumbai. "So this is the video which everybody shared. Claiming it from Bombay High. It is from 2019, shot at Indonesia," he wrote, sharing the original clip which was first posted online by BBC News Indonesia.
Is this lockdown around the world and in India finally what our environment needed? May be for the AQI but there is plenty on social media which is unsubstantiated. Recently there was another report about dolphins coming back to the canals of Venice circulating on social media. Enjoy the great videos but make all efforts to find their source.
This story was updated with the fact check in place.
/shethepeople/media/agency_attachments/2024/11/11/2024-11-11t082606806z-shethepeople-black-logo-2000-x-2000-px-1.png){kind=logo}
Follow Us/shethepeople/media/post_banners/5Cb6z1FNCsIVM6dw0FIV.jpg)