Is This the Real Face of an Ant?

Fact Check

No, this photograph isn’t from a horror movie, nor is it some artistic rendering of an alien, nor is it an orc. The viral photograph below is a real life close-up shot of an ant.

Tweeted by filmmaker Rebekah McKendry, it shows “the very real face of an ant” with red eyes, and antennae. 

This is indeed a real photograph of an ant by Lithuanian photographer Eugenijus Kavaliauskas, and it was a runner-up as an “Image of Distinction” in Nikon’s 2022 Photomicrography Competition. The ant in question belongs to the genus Camponotus or “carpenter ant.” You can see more of Kavaliauskas’ photographs here, where he has taken more close-ups of insects and other creatures.

The top place went to an image of an embryonic hand of a Madagascar giant day gecko, awarded to Grigorii Timin, under the supervision of Michel Milinkovitch at the University of Geneva.