Truth Behind the Viral 'Giant Rat' Picture in UK

A picture of what appears to be a 'giant rat,' with half a size of a man, went viral on Facebook, last week. It was said to be caught in Topsham Road Tooting, in the United Kingdom; however, a new report suggests that the picture was only manipulated to look like a giant rat.

Is this real?

(Photo : Photo from Stephen Joseph Brown Facebook Account)
Truth Behind the Viral 'Giant Rat' Picture in UK

The above image looks like a man holding a massive rat through a metal rod like litter picker. It has a color of a regular rat, that could be seen in residences or streets, but its size is almost as big as the man holding it.

On Feb. 19, the image was posted on Facebook, garnering almost 1,000 shares and over 190 comments. 

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Most of the people were asking if the image was true, how a giant rat could possibly live inside a house, or if the giant rat is possible, in the first place. 

The explanation

(Photo : Photo by Simon Kuznetsov from Unsplash )
Truth Behind the Viral 'Giant Rat' Picture in UK

There's a simple explanation on why the rat on the image, looks like half a size of a man. According to Full Fact organization, the taken picture is not a surprisingly large rat; instead, it only shows an illusion that makes it bigger. 

Though the posted image didn't identify the size of the rat, the report suggests that it could be bigger than normal sized-rat. However, it doesn't have a size of half a man. 

"This is a common trick, known as "forced perspective", which has been used many times before. Forced perspective is a kind of optical illusion which can make an object seem smaller or larger, or nearer or further away, by changing the position of the camera," explained on Full Fact. 

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