Photographs show a dead baboon not an alien

A post [warning: graphic images] on Facebook falsely claims that several photos show an alien has been found in South Africa. But the photos actually show the corpse of a newborn baboon, as well as a photograph of a sculpture. 

The post says: “‘Alіenѕ’ with umbilical cords still attached have been found in the area of Natre’s Valley, which is located in South Africa, and they are generating a ѕtіг.[sic]”

The post shows what appears to be a thumbnail of a Facebook album displaying three photos of a dead creature laid out on grass and a fourth photo of a similar shaped figure standing up. The corpse in the photos has a thin torso and limbs with a small head. The photo suggests there are another 45 photos in the album. 

However, this is not a recent event. The dead animal was found in 2013, and articles from the time reported that a local vet, Dr Magdalena Braum, performed an autopsy on the body and confirmed it was a newborn female baboon with an umbilical cord still attached to her body, rather than proof of extraterrestrial life. 

It was also reported that she said the corpse is “misshapen and mummified” because it had been carried by the mother after death, which has been observed in other baboon research troops. She said that this could account for the deceased infant’s unusually long and narrow measurements because it was carried by its tail section for as long as three to four weeks. 

The fourth photo shows a famous sculpture called ‘Walking Man I’ (L’Homme qui marche I) by Swiss artist Giacometti. The website for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, where the sculpture is displayed, describes the “skeletal appearance” and “elementary form” of the figure whose arms and legs are “exaggeratedly thin”.

Full Fact has written other fact checks relating to space, including false claims that Buzz Aldrin admitted the moon landings were faked and NASA hiring theologians to study future alien discovery.

Image courtesy of Kimble Young