{"id":266694,"date":"2026-01-27T15:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T15:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/266694\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T15:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T15:28:09","slug":"wildlife-magazine-comes-close-to-publishing-ai-image-of-bear-and-elk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/266694\/","title":{"rendered":"Wildlife Magazine Comes Close to Publishing AI Image of Bear and Elk"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AAn unscrupulous photographer in Montana submitted this AI image to an outdoors magazine. | Via Mountain Journal<\/a> <\/p>\n

In a world where AI can imitate high-quality photography, nature magazine editors must be more vigilant than ever before \u2014 as is the case for one publication that came close to putting an AI-generated picture on its front cover. <\/p>\n

Paul Queneau, editor-in-chief of Montana Outdoors<\/a>, the print magazine for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, was looking at a photo of a grizzly bear standing over an elk that had been sent to him from a photographer in Bozeman that he was considering running. But something wasn\u2019t right. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt had these weird, golden eyes,\u201d Queneau tells Mountain Journal.<\/a> \u201cI remember thinking, I can\u2019t make sense of the lighting in this image. And it was the front-runner for the cover.\u201d<\/p>\n

Queneau emailed the photographer and received a \u201csnarky\u201d reply, implying the editor simply didn\u2019t appreciate great light. As the editorial team looked closer at the image, it became clear that it wasn\u2019t real: the space between individual strands of elk hair revealed a different background, and the elk\u2019s eyes were reflecting light from the front, even though the \u2018Sun\u2019 is clearly meant to be behind the two animals. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have a pretty good eye for it, if something\u2019s not quite right in a photo,\u201d says Queneau. \u201cBut the truth of the matter is it\u2019s getting harder to tell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Queneau relies on an \u201chonor system\u201d, building relationships with photographers who he can trust. Nevertheless, when he was assembling the 45th annual January photo issue of Montana Outdoors \u2014 the most popular edition of the year \u2014 he put out a clear warning to contributors. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe put in bold text: we don\u2019t accept images manipulated with artificial intelligence,\u201d Queneau tells Mountain Journal. \u201cWe hope people will be honest. But my fear is we\u2019re getting to the point where we won\u2019t be able to see if it\u2019s a fake shot or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

An unscrupulous \u2018photographer\u2019 trying to fool a magazine editor is not good, but everyone is now swimming in a tide of AI imagery, or slop, as many call it. It\u2019s something that regular Mountain Journal contributor Ben Bluhm<\/a> has noticed on social media. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis post had this whole story about crazy behavior captured in Yellowstone: a mountain lion raising two wolves,\u201d says the Idaho-based photographer. \u201cIt was really sad that it went insanely viral. It had 45,000 likes, 1,600 comments, and 5,500 shares. So many people believed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Black-and-whiteMade to look like trail camera footage, a Facebook user made up a story about a cougar raising wolf cubs. | Facebook, via Mountain Journal <\/p>\n

Mountain Journal<\/a> covers the environmental in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and beyond. Featuring stories about wildlife connectivity and disease, water, wildfire, and growth \u2014 the intersection of humans and nature. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe work with passionate, dependable nature photographers who hold their craft to the highest standards,\u201d MoJo editor Joseph T. O\u2019Connor tells PetaPixel. \u201cOn occasion, I will get their professional opinions about whether a photograph is real or not. We also use certain programs like Image Whisperer that can help identify fabricated photography, and we don\u2019t use game farm imagery. AI photos depicting wildlife and nature is a growing problem. There\u2019s no shortage of misleading and fake images floating around, and that is becoming increasingly problematic.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those dependable photographers and Mountain Journal contributor is Charlie Lansche<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can sleep well at night knowing that the images I sold are real, actual photos,\u201d Lansche says. \u201cThe amount of bull****, fake photography being passed off as real, is frankly disgusting. I can\u2019t even tell the difference now.\u201d <\/p>\n

Lansche actually captured a real photo of a grizzly bear standing over a bull elk. Last year, he found the bull elk trapped in a mud bog on the eastern edge of Yellowstone National Park. After it died, he returned for five consecutive days to see what would happen to the carcass. He posted a photo of a grizzly bear with its paw on the dead elk\u2019s antler, titling it \u201cClaiming the Prize.\u201d Social media commenters quickly accused him of \u201ctotal AI.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI almost didn\u2019t share it,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s not the greatest photo. It\u2019s shot at long distance, and it isn\u2019t my typical image. But there\u2019s a story behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the days Lansche spent watching the scene, several different bears tried to pull it out of the muck. First was a young sow. Then an older sow kicked the younger one off, but it didn\u2019t have the strength to pull it out. On day five, a seldom-seen bear local wildlife photographers know as Big Red came in full-trot, nose in the air, running to the scent of that carcass stuck in the mud.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe got on that thing like a dog on a chew toy, and he heaved and huffed and puffed and dragged it out of the muck,\u201d Lansche says. \u201cThen he pulled it 30 or 40 yards away and started feeding on it. He scared off every other bear that came near.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Lansche, the experience recalls the old National Geographic photographer\u2019s maxim: \u201cF\/8 and be there.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes nature delivers something that\u2019s jaw-dropping,\u201d Lansche concludes. \u201cWe live for those moments. Whether you come back with the cover shot or something mind-boggling isn\u2019t the be-all\/end-all. Watching the sunrise, anticipating where the elk might emerge, showing up with friends \u2014 for us photographers driven by soul and feeling and emotion and wildlife in natural places, you won\u2019t cross that line.\u201d<\/p>\n