Viral ‘Rescue’ Video Of Gorilla Handing Back Toddler To Mom Is AI-Created

A short video clip is being widely circulated on Facebook, TikTok, and X, claiming to show actual footage of a gorilla gently handing over a toddler that had fallen into the animal’s enclosure back to her.

One such post on TikTok that featured the video carried a Tamil caption, which translates to: “The gorilla returned the child that had fallen away from the mother. Even animals understand a mother’s love!” Similar posts sharing the same video can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Fact Check / Verification

To confirm the authenticity of this video, we performed a keyword search on Google, which did not yield any relevant reports.

We then ran a reverse image search of the keyframes, which led us to a clearer version of the video uploaded on YouTube on June 29, 2025, by @AI-Videos-Arg. The description of the video mentioned, “Sound or visuals were significantly edited or digitally generated.”

We noticed certain discrepancies in the 10-second video, usually associated with AI-generated imagery, such as the blurry nature, unnatural movements of the gorilla and the woman, and, at one moment, the woman’s fingers appearing to merge into the gorilla’s arms. This prompted us to analyze the video using an AI detection tool such as Hive Moderation, which confirmed that the image was AI-generated.

Conclusion

The viral video showing a gorilla gently handing a toddler to her mother from inside the animal’s enclosure is not authentic. It is AI-generated.

Our Sources
HIVE Moderation: AI Detector tool.
YouTube video posted by AI Videos on June 29, 2025.