The original image of a bear and wolf facing off against each other comes from an image originally taken and published by Canadian wildlife photographer Peter Dettling. Dettling even managed to capture the bear and wolf looking around as if to check if anyone had seen them lock eyes. Same source…
Origin
On February 12th, 2023, Redditor thereveldune4 posted an image to /r/blursedimages that showed a bear and a wolf staring at each other, using a Kubrick Stare POV of both. The top photo was captured by Peter A. Dettling. The post received more than 36,800 upvotes in five months (shown below).
Spread The post gained iterations after viral reposts surfaced on Instagram months later. For instance, on June 15th, 2023, Instagram user @huge.poop uploaded the photo, receiving more than 45,000 likes in one month. Then, the image grew popular as an object labeling template. For example, on July 13th, 2023, TikTok user @suj7683 uploaded a photo slideshow of the image comparing requirements of Formula 1 in 2007 and 2023. The post received more than 1 million views in one week (shown below, left). On July 15th, 2023, TikTok[4] user @formula_1_freak uploaded a similar slideshow, comparing Formula 1 and Isle of Man TT. The post received more than 1.8 million views in five days (shown below, right).