A video of a giant anaconda swimming in the Amazon River has taken the internet by storm, being viewed millions of time in various posts in different languages.
However, media reports revealed that the video, which originally gained traction as a Facebook reel on May 9, was an AI-generated video. The video features an enormous serpent slithering on the surface of a river seen from the perspective of a person in a helicopter holding a camera.
Inconsistencies, such as a different image being depicted on the camera than the scene it is filming, as well as the snake having two heads, indicated that the video was a fabrication. A reverse image search also showed that the video was posted a day earlier, on May 8, with the hashtag “AI” in its caption.
Additionally, ecologist and professor at the University of the Amazon in Columbia, Fernando Ignacio Ortiz, stated that anacondas cannot swim on the water’s surface due to their weight. Reptile and amphibians’ expert, Diego Huseth Ruiz, also stated that a snake of the size shown in the video wouldn’t be able to move as fast as it is.
He believed the snake in the video would be at least 20 metres long. Green anacondas can grow up to nine meters long.