An image shared on Facebook purportedly shows a dingo eating a shark on an Australian beach while two snakes mate nearby.

Verdict: False

The image combines two separate photos.

Fact Check:

The image seemingly shows a dingo standing next to a shark that’s missing its tail on a beach with intertwined snakes near a road in the foreground. Dingoes are wild dogs found in Australia, a country that, according to the New South Wales Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, is also home to about 140 species of land snakes and 32 recorded species of sea snakes.

Facebook users have recently been sharing the photo as if it genuinely shows the two snakes mating while a nearby dingo eats a shark. One such post reads, “This is an actual photo of a wild dingo eating a shark while two snakes make love on the beach. Only in Australia.” (RELATED: Did Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison Tweet, ‘I’m So Glad We Don’t Have Any Racism Here In Australia’?)

In reality, the image being shared contains two separate photos that have been digitally combined. The photo of the dingo and shark has been available online since at least October 2011, when it appeared on the website The Meta Picture. Someone posted the photo of the intertwined snakes on the website Imgur in February 2012 and titled it: “Took a rare photo of 2 Copperhead Snakes in Australia.”

This isn’t the first time social media users have shared the doctored photo, according to Buzzfeed News. It previously went viral in 2018, with British comedian Ricky Gervais tweeting the altered photo in April of that year.