Real video of a baby giraffe riding on mother's back?

A video shared with X on October 9, 2024 appeared to show a giraffe calf riding on its mother's back.

The X user who shared the 10-second clip, which has more than 1.3 million views as of this writing, simply captioned it, “Amazing.”

(X user @S___h___a___h)

Another user shared the same video, this time getting more than 2.1 million views. The caption, translated from Japanese using Google, said the shot was “a rare sight,” suggesting they believed the footage was real.

A similar The X post was uploaded on October 9th by a third user and a fourth user posted on September 25th on YouTube.

However, the footage is fake. At the 8 second mark, the calf's head moves through its mother's neck, as shown in the screenshot below.

(X/@S___h___a___h)

There are further indications that the video is fake. For example, the front leg of the calf is positioned abnormally, as shown below.

(X/@S___h___a___h)

The Giraffe Conservation Foundation said in an email that it believes the clip was created using artificial intelligence software.

A similar video purporting to show a baby giraffe “riding on its mother's back” was shared on YouTube on October 4, 2024 by a channel called Tiny Paws & Hugs.

This account posts “adorable animal moments” that appear to be largely AI-generated, including the footage in question in this article.

Snopes looked at similar AI-generated videos of animals, including a Baby peacockA huge maine coon catand a exceptionally large white rabbit.