Who can resist cute baby animal photos? Nobody. Sharing precious photos of puppies and kittens is basically the internet’s favorite pastime. It’s even better when it’s a baby photo of a more exotic animal—who doesn’t wanna know what a baby wallaby looks like?
So when a beautiful pic of a tiny platypus started making the rounds online, it’s no surprise that people quickly fell in love and it went viral.
But when it seems too cute to be true, it usually is, and online fans had to face the stone-cold truth about this viral pic.
On February 13, Twitter user @TueborFrog tweeted a photo of a “baby platypus”:
It’s an adorable photo—the little creature has a smile on its face and bright eyes, and its so tiny it can fit cozily into someone’s hand.
Other users tweeted the photo, some comparing the platypus to a real-life Baby Yoda. The pic went viral, with one user gaining over a million likes and 155 retweets.
But it turns out this “baby platypus” is about as real as Yoda. More skeptical users realized the pic wasn’t legit—that’s not what a baby platypus looks like.
It turns out, this platypus is actually made of stone, a piece of artwork scupted and painted by Vladimir Matić-Kuriljov.
Very cute sculpture by Vladimir Matić-Kuriljovhttps://t.co/xoCsiUAOKv
— Small Microraptor 🤡🦃 (@Microrapterr) February 14, 2020
If you’re disappointed to find this out, the silver lining is that real baby platypuses are still adorable in their own right.
Far from being made of stone, these babies are lovably squishy:
That’s a sculpture, this is a real baby platypus. They look like a marshmallow flew into a speeding truck and grew a bill. I love them. pic.twitter.com/r5ITGfT079
— hairball (@Unknownxenoform) February 16, 2020
— ganja gremlin 🌹 (@anautumnaut) February 16, 2020
In the end, there’s nothing wrong with finding joy in either real baby platypuses or an artist’s cute depiction of them, it’s just good to know the difference.
As many people have noted, this isn't a real baby platypus. But, it made me smile and I didn't expect to get this many people seeing it. At least many of them smiled too.
— FrogDoc (@TueborFrog) February 14, 2020
Let’s separate the fact and the fiction about these baby platypuses, share this story!
