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  • 2020-01-28 (xsd:date)
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  • Most of these photos were taken years before the recent Australian bushfires (en)
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  • Six photos have been shared tens of thousands of times in multiple posts on Facebook alongside a claim they show botanical regrowth following the 2019-2020 Australian bushfires. The claim is misleading; only two of the images were taken after the recent bushfires – the other four have circulated in reports about unrelated events. This Facebook post was published on January 7, 2020. It has had more than 34,000 shares. The caption reads: Australia Bushfire is Blooming Again and Regrowth after a Australia Bushfire. Below is a screenshot of the misleading post: Other Facebook posts were published here , here , here , here , here , here , here and here with a similar claim. The claim is misleading; most of the photos have circulated in reports about unrelated events. -- Resprouting trees in 2009 -- The first image of resprouting trees has circulated in reports since May 2009, more than one decade before the recent bushfires. A Google reverse image search found the photo published here by Getty Images with a caption that reads: New tree growth sprouts on the 3 month anniversary of 'Black Saturday', Australia's highest ever loss of life from a bushfire, on May 7, 2009 in Marysville, Australia. Below is a screenshot of the post: --New growth emerging from tree-- This photo of reddish growth emerging from a tree trunk has circulated in reports about recent bushfires. A Google reverse image search found the photo was featured in this ABC News article dated November 27, 2019. The photo’s caption reads: New growth is already emerging in the Lake Innes Nature Reserve. Below is a screenshot of the photo as it appears in the article: --Palm sprouting in 2016-- A Google reverse image search found this image of palm sprouting here in a 2016 ABC News article, which covered natural regrowth following the Waroona bushfire in January 2016. The image’s caption reads: A zamia palm re-sprouts just a few weeks after the Waroona bushfire. Below is a screenshot of the image in the ABC News article: --Tiny green sprouts in 2015-- A Google reverse image search found this photo of small green sprouts emerging from the ground featured in this ABC News article published on April 20, 2015. The image’s caption reads: Sprouts of regrowth at Kestel Road Forest. Rainfall following the fires has helped to spur trees back into growth. Below is a screenshot of the image in the article: --Fire lily from an African plant photo database-- This image of a fire lily is actually from a database of African plant photos. A Google reverse image search found the photo published here in the database of the Senckenberg Society for Natural Research, which maintains a photo guide for African plants. The photo’s caption states that the picture was taken on December 4, 2005 in the Western Cape of South Africa. Below is a screenshot of the entry: --Resprouting on a tree trunk is from 2020 bushfires-- This photo of red shrubs appearing on a tree trunk has circulated in reports about recent bushfires. A Google reverse image search found this article published by BBC News on January 11, 2020. The photos were credited to Murray Lowe, who also published them in a Facebook post here with his watermark. Below is a screenshot of the Facebook post: (en)
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