An incorrect image is being spread as Babiya crocodile which died in a Temple lake, Kerala

Claim

Babiya, the god’s own crocodile of Sri Anantapura Lake temple has reached Vishnu Padam.

The divine crocodile lived in the temple’s lake for over 70years by eating the rice & jaggery prasadam of Sri Ananthapadmanabha Swamy & guarded the temple.

May she attain Sadgati, Om Shanti!

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Explanation

The death of Babiya, a crocodile living in the lake of Ananta Padmanabha Swamy temple in the Kasaragod district of Kerala, has been widely shared in social media. In the photos being posted about the death of a famous crocodile from Kerala, an incorrect picture is also being shared. Posts that used incorrect picture can be seen here, here, here and here.

What is the truth?

It is said by the temple that Babiya, a crocodile from Kerala, has been living in the temple lake for 75 years as a vegetarian crocodile eating the offerings given by the temple.

Shoba Karandlaje, Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare in the Union BJP Cabinet, posted on her Twitter page about the death of the Babiya Crocodile with a set of images which had an incorrect photo which is not Babiya.

When reverse-searching the image where a person is seen with his head near the crocodile’s mouth, it is found that the photo is featured in an article published in 2015 on the website fishki.net about Pocho’s friendship with Gilberto “Chito” Shiden.

Upon further searching, we found a video of a documentary made several years ago by the WILD channel about Gilberto “Chito” Shiden from the United States and the Costa Rican crocodile Pocho. The 44-minute video shows Chito placing his head near the crocodile’s mouth. This crocodile died in 2011.

Same image being spread for many years

For the past 6 years, this photo of crocodile Pocho with Chito has been misinterpreted in social media posts as Kerala’s Babiya crocodile.

This incorrect image has been used in an article published by the Times of India in 2017, in a news published by Maalaimalar in 2018 and an article by Behindwoods in 2020.

Currently, this incorrect photo has been used in the news published on many news websites including NDTV, Etv Bharat and Economic Times regarding the death of the Babiya crocodile.

Conclusion

It is found that one of the photos shared along with the news of the Babiya crocodile’s death in Ananthapuram temple lake in Kerala was not Babiya, but a Costa Rican crocodile, Pocho. The Union Minister has also posted a wrong picture on her Twitter page.

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