Collection

Watch out for videos of ginormous anacondas in Amazon River

From giant anacondas to Snoop Dogg saving a dog sanctuary, the internet has suffered a deluge of fake animal content.

by Joey Esposito, July 27, 2025

Image courtesy of Instagram user @kateyproai/TikTok user @nature.love216/Facebook page Branson Area Breaking News/Snopes Illustration

Nature is a wondrous place, full of incredible ecosystems and bizarre forms of life.

Despite the inherent intrigue of the natural world, generative artificial-intelligence tools have allowed savvy users to create their own non-existent animals.

From stories about animals supposedly protecting their young to videos of rabbits (or raccoons) bouncing on trampolines, this type of AI-generated content adds to online misinformation. Unsuspecting users might accept even the most obvious fakery as a fact and reshare it.

Here's a collection of animal stories that Snopes has investigated only to find AI tools as a source of their creation:

By Joey Esposito

Joey Esposito has written for a variety of entertainment publications. He's into music, video games ... and birds.

Watch out for story about missing boy Jacob Riley walking with wolves

Nov. 19, 2025

There was no evidence of a missing Georgia toddler by that name. A video shared on social media ...

Did trail camera capture wolf protecting piglets from mountain lion?

Nov. 17, 2025

According to the story, a local farmer one night "heard panicked squeals and a roar echo through ...

Does this video show Russian man in boat rescuing bear cub clinging to drifting tree trunk?

Nov. 15, 2025

The clip allegedly showed a man wearing an orange vest guiding his boat to a bear cub in need of ...

Did a bear break into Bass Pro Shops store and raid the fish tank?

Nov. 7, 2025

Posts claimed the bear turned a live fish tank into an "all you can eat."

Screenshot of AI-generated eagle video featuring rows of gravestones with eagles perched upon most of them. Many of the gravestones have American flags in front of them.

Video shows thousands of bald eagles at Missouri veterans cemetery?

Nov. 1, 2025

The video was posted by Branson Area Breaking News, a satirical Facebook page.

Snoop Dogg saved New York dog shelter?

Oct. 30, 2025

The story was just one of hundreds of inspirational tales that depicted prominent figures perfor ...

Here's how we know Steven Tyler did not launch $1M cat sanctuary

Oct. 23, 2025

The Aerosmith singer never made such an announcement.

Screenshot of image from Facebook post. Two trail cam screenshots. Top is of a pair of chimpanzees walking by wearing masks. Bottom also has two chimpanzees, one at front wearing a mask and one at back without a mask

Don't go ape for images of masked chimps said to be raiding Congo markets

Oct. 23, 2025

The fake images were nothing but monkey business.

A bald eagle appears to sit next to a goose in a nest. They both appears to be sitting on eggs.

Image of goose and bald eagle in same nest is for the birds

Oct. 21, 2025

Bald eagles are known for many things, but sharing their nests with other species is not one of ...

Rumor that bald eagles blocked Missouri highway is flight of fancy

Oct. 14, 2025

A self-described "satirical" Facebook page posted the claim alongside an AI-generated image.

Screenshot of image from Facebook post of a couple of chimpanzees carrying penguins along a path in a green jungle while three other penguins walk alongside them. There's an inset image of chimpanzees carrying penguins on a sandy beach

Real story about chimpanzees domesticating penguins?

Oct. 9, 2025

The page that posted the tale to Facebook, StoryTime, is a repeat offender of posting fictitious ...

Do photos show 'scrappy stray' Chihuahua that joined wolf pack in Minnesota?

Oct. 5, 2025

We found the rumor was all bark, no bite.

An artificially generated image of a group of seals laying on top of a rectangular artificial block of ice.

Has Norway created artificial ice pods for Arctic seals to replace their vanishing habitat?

Sept. 29, 2025

This claim did not receive a seal of approval.

Mountain lion broke into Colorado pet store to play with catnip?

Sept. 19, 2025

According to the story, pet store employees starting their morning shift were shocked when they ...

A black and white image appearing to show a mountain lion followed by two wolf cubs at night. Another, smaller image in a red circle depicts a similar photo.

Did Yellowstone camera capture image of mountain lion raising wolf cubs?

Sept. 12, 2025

According to posts circulating online, this mountain lion decided it didn't want to be a lone wo ...

Frame of AI-generated video of gorilla clubbing crocodile to save baby gorilla. Gorilla is mid-swing with stick in hand, baby gorilla in crocodile's mouth. A transparent, blurry version is behind the screenshot

Real video of gorilla clubbing crocodile to free baby gorilla in its mouth?

Sept. 4, 2025

The popular video appeared to be generated by AI.

Orca killed trainer named Jessica Radcliffe during performance?

Aug. 12, 2025

Though seemingly based on real events from 2010, claims circulating on social media were generat ...

Video really shows rabbits jumping on trampoline?

Aug. 3, 2025

Millions of people saw the endearing, but fake, clip.

Video shows raccoons bouncing on trampolines?

Aug. 2, 2025

Footage appeared to show a group of the animals having a blast on a pair of backyard trampolines.

Watch out for videos of ginormous anacondas in Amazon River

July 27, 2025

Using Sora, a text-to-video model developed by OpenAI, a TikTok creator produced a series of vid ...

Source code