Is that really a whale beneath Notre Dame?

A sperm whale appears to have beached on an embankment in the shadow of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Or maybe not.

A Belgian artists' collective installed a very real-looking, life-size whale sculpture last Friday alongside the Seine River, eliciting surprise and concern from tourists and Parisians alike. Bart Van Peel, a member of the collective, said the installation is about raising environmental awareness and awakening "the child in everyone who still is puzzled about what is real and what is not."