# Young boy surprisingly sociable despite his hairy little body **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 26, 2002, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-boy-surprisingly-sociable-despite-his-hairy-little-body/116115 "2002-06-26T22:33:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-boy-surprisingly-sociable-despite-his-hairy-little-body/116115/21 "2002-06-27T08:18:19Z")
The hair growth on the picture of the boy looks quite authentic. The picture may be a fake, I don’t know. But if the hair on the boy is Photoshopped, whoever did it did a DAMN good job. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-boy-surprisingly-sociable-despite-his-hairy-little-body/116115/22 "2002-06-27T09:53:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Charmian \* > \*\*Looking at the bottom picture, there is a pretty harsh shadow under the kid’s chin, but no shadow at all anywhere on the gurney on which he sits. There should at least be a shadow similar to the one you see on the “doctor’s” jacket. > > The kid’s thighs should be better lit too with all that top-light (compare to doctor’s arms). > > Bogus. \*\* Where exactly would the shadow on the gurney be? Below and behind? Which we can’t see, so it’s not going to appear in the picture. So I have no problem with those shadows. Highlights seem to be consistent from what you expect from a front-flashed photo. My initial guess what that the bottom photograph looked a bit off to me. The head was a wee big for the body, IMHO. There does seem to be texture on the bed, where the body is sitting and there are wrinkles where the hand is pressing. The individual hairs of his arm are fairly distinct (as far as you can tell at this size) against the background. Cut-outs involving hair and fur are very difficult to do well. The bottom photo is certainly not the reverse of the top. Look at the kid’s hair, look at the exact expression and you’ll note that they are different expressions, and that the part in his hair is the same in both photos. If I were a betting man, I’d have to go with my gut and say it’s a fake. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-boy-surprisingly-sociable-despite-his-hairy-little-body/116115/23 "2002-06-27T13:26:38Z")
When I saw these pictures I thought it was a joke site. What especially looks odd to me is the bottom picture, specifically the area of his right arm. It looks so harsh. The shadows throw me off, too. Has anyone used the new ‘bandaid tool’ on photoshop? I just installed the new version but havent had time to play. I hear its really awesome. ---
**Author:** ![tevya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@tevya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tevya)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-boy-surprisingly-sociable-despite-his-hairy-little-body/116115/24 "2002-06-27T14:19:24Z")
They look like fakes to me too. My first though on seeing this was to double check to make sure it wasn’t from the Weekly World News. Maybe he’ll join up with Bat Boy and become half of the new dynamic duo. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-boy-surprisingly-sociable-despite-his-hairy-little-body/116115/25 "2002-06-27T18:55:51Z")
I’m guessing that the kids **jackelope** saw were [these two](http://www.mexicancircus.com/wolfboys.htm), circus performers billed as the “Mexican wolf boys”. They perform with a circus, but not in a freak show; they do a trapeeze act. ---
**Author:** ![Daoloth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/82dd89/32.png) [@Daoloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daoloth)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-boy-surprisingly-sociable-despite-his-hairy-little-body/116115/26 "2002-06-27T23:35:35Z")
I e-mailed Ananova about the pictures. This is the exchange: -----Original Message----- From: John Arterbury [[mailto:Mazurian1@aol.com](mailto:Mazurian1@aol.com)] Sent: 27 June 2002 08:13 To: [corrections@ananova.com](mailto:corrections@ananova.com) Subject: Ananova: Hairy Kazakh Child The article in question ([Hosting Dedicated Web Free Server Services](http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_612848.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscov) ery) is most certainly a fraud. As it is noticeable, the lower picture is an obvious Photoshop job. The lighting is off, there is no weight on the bed, and they’re giving the child an ultrasound via finger. Please correct this glaring error. Reply: Hi John, Thanks for your queries on these images. I agree they do look amazing don’t they? However I’m satisfied they are genuine as we obtained them from one of our most trusted freelance journalists in India and the images we published are 2 of many. From a technical point of view, I’m not sure what you mean about ‘the lighting is off’. It looks to me like the photographer has bounced the flash off the ceiling, look at the shadows under his chin, and under the chair in the foreground. I can’t see any unnatural shadows or highlights any where in the image. To tackle the second point, you mention there is no weight on the bed. This would be shown by creases on the bed, but look at the exposure of the image, nearly all the whites are bleached out due to the flash, so I wouldn’t expect to see any. Also, if it’s a doctors surgery wouldn’t it be a hard examination table rather than a bed? so again, you wouldn’t expect to see any indentation. You’re final point, the doctor is holding the child’s hand, something i suspect the photographer asked her to do when composing the shot. Hope this is of some help, and you continue to enjoy the photographs and quirky stories we publish, Best Wishes, Jonathan Smith Picture Editor > **[Ananova Business Web Hosting Trusted Destination For Your Web Hosting Needs](https://ananova.com/)** > > Trusted Destination For Your Web Hosting Needs Make of it what you will. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-boy-surprisingly-sociable-despite-his-hairy-little-body/116115/27 "2002-06-28T00:14:50Z")
The problem isn’t “unnatural shadows”, it’s the _lack_ of shadows where there _should_ be shadows. If the flash were bounced off the ceiling, we would be seeing shadows under the boy’s left arm on the very white sheets. If it were coming from above and to the left of the camera lens (as it appears to have), we would still see the shadow of his left arm cast on the bed under and behind him. And not only do we have an ultrasound machine in the picture, it’s an ultrasound with, apparently, an image on the screen. After flipping the top picture horizontally and reducing its resolution to compare it with the second picture, I’m convinced that the face is a cut-and-paste. The condition of hypertrichosis does exist, and the first picture appears legitimate; I have no idea why they’d bother to fake a “hospital” picture. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-boy-surprisingly-sociable-despite-his-hairy-little-body/116115/28 "2002-06-28T08:15:31Z")
Nah, it’s certainly not the top picture flipped. I tried it in Photoshop and there’s several things that don’t jibe with that theory. OK, there’s the part in the hair, but any computer artist would be able to spot that right off and preserve the proper part. 1. The cheekbone highlight. If you flip the top photo and compare it with the bottom photo, the highlights on the cheekbones do not match. The highlight in the flipped photo is noticably further away from the nose than the highlight of the bottom photo. 2. The right eye in the bottom photo is slightly closed. In the flipped photo, both our eyes are wide open. Yes, even when I matched resolutions this was clear. 3. The shape of the cheekbones is off. When I keep the top photo unflipped, the shapes of his cheekbones and the relation of his lips to the edge of his face, his eyes, etc, are preserved. When the top photo is flipped, while certain features (like his nose and lips) look quite similar to the bottom photo, his cheeks simply look wrong. They look flipped. I would say with 99% certainty that the bottom photo is NOT a flipped version of the top photo. And there IS texture in the bed. Look at the space between his legs. There’s clearly an indentation there. Look at his right hand. I can see little creases, but, hey, it could be JPEG compression. It’s difficult to make out the details with such a JPEGged photo, but there. As for shadows, from my experience, I’m not certain we’d be sure to see them in the bedsheet, anyway. I mean, look at how much light is reflecting around to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-boy-surprisingly-sociable-despite-his-hairy-little-body/116115/29 "2002-06-28T08:26:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Max Torque \* > \*\*I’m guessing that the kids **jackelope** saw were [these two](http://www.mexicancircus.com/wolfboys.htm), circus performers billed as the “Mexican wolf boys”. They perform with a circus, but not in a freak show; they do a trapeze act. \*\* **Max Torque** , that looks exactly like them. I had thought they were Brazilian, but Mexican is (to a dumbass like me) close enough. (Also when I first saw them they were introduced in Japanese, which I don’t speak.) Best of luck to those boys, and I hope they meet women who have uncontrollable fetishes for hairy guys. ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2002, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-boy-surprisingly-sociable-despite-his-hairy-little-body/116115/30 "2002-06-29T01:47:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Max Torque \* > \*\*I’m guessing that the kids **jackelope** saw were [these two](http://www.mexicancircus.com/wolfboys.htm), circus performers billed as the “Mexican wolf boys”. They perform with a circus, but not in a freak show; they do a trapeeze act. \*\* I was going to reply to this last night, but then my computer mouse decided to act up… grr. :mad: Anyways, what I was going to say was that when I saw this thread title, I was reminded of a segment I once saw on _Guinness World Records Primetime_ about the Mexican wolf boys. In the segment, at least one of them had a girlfriend, and the members of their family all had this condition, though to varying degrees. F\_X ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2002, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-boy-surprisingly-sociable-despite-his-hairy-little-body/116115/31 "2002-06-29T05:27:23Z")
More about the [Mexican Wolf People](http://www.circusfolks.com/apub/main.html). The boy’s jaw looks like the early stages of a syndrome I’ve seen discussed on TV before (“Maury”, et al.)…can’t find it right now and don’t recall the name of it, but it causes the lower jaw/mouth/neck region to grow abnormally large for the rest of the head. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-boy-surprisingly-sociable-despite-his-hairy-little-body/116115.md?page=1)