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Published online 27 February 2008 | Nature 451, 1034-1035 (2008) | doi:10.1038/4511034b
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Acclaimed photo was faked
Chinese prizewinner merged two images.
An award-winning photograph of a herd of endangered Tibetan antelopes apparently undisturbed by a passing train on the controversial Qinghai–Tibet railway has been exposed as a fake. The image was widely hailed in China as a symbol of harmonious co-existence between man and nature and strong testimony against any adverse effect of the new railway on the animals.
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I am interested to know about the animal behavior when any event occurs regularly at the same time every day like in Pavlov's experiment. In this case the train pases every day at same time or times without fail. Does the antelope get used to the timings and later get normalized ever? Do all over the world trains pass through forests at regular timings and all the animal populations react the same way? We see all these animals like lions in Africa on films who do not even look at all these safari jeeps going around. So is there a possibility that these antelopes are after some time just get used to and stop bothering about these trains? Or just come back when the trains are gone to the same place? Anybody observed other animals anywhere in such conditions where trains or planes are creating disturbances at the same times repeatedly for years continuously and part of their lives? I would Like to know from animal behavioral scientists without bias. Leela
Leela, you might start by looking at 'bird-scarer' devices and how they are used to attempt to prevent birds eating freshly sowed seeds. As far as I know, birds quickly learn to ignore the explosions.
I was particularly surprised when I drove past a crow today at the highway with only approx. 50cm to spare. The bird just hopped away. It seems that the bird has learned that the traffic does not mean it harm if it keeps away from the main tracks.
I'm just wondering why so many people interested in this railway. The Qinghai–Tibet railway is paralleled all the way with the Qinghai–Tibet highway. The Qinghai–Tibet highway has already been there for 55 years! And which one would have more influence on the migrating animals, the railway with train passing by every a few hours or the highway with cars and trucks passing by every a few minutes? Isn't it a very simple question?
To rely on a single picture in order to make the case for the "harmonious co-existence between man and nature" is nothing but stupidity. Scientific ways of measuring the effects of human enterprises on the environment are far more reliable; yet, they require political will and funding. My understanding is of photography as an art aimed to entertain, very much like Hollywood blockbusters and their botox-enhanced actors. When used in the right context, it might be an outstanding tool for science. But to take photographers for scientific authorities capable of determining the impact of railways and roads on the environment is a misconception, at least.