SANParks denounces fake Facebook post about elephant
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In this day and age of social media, seeing is truly believing. As such, a Facebook post about an elephant standing guard over a deceased safari park ranger has attracted thousands of shares and comments from unsuspecting South African online users.
However, South African National Parks (SANParks) has since confirmed that the contents of the post are not real.
ELEPHANT GUARDS THE GUARD
The hullabaloo began when the Facebook page Awesome Animals shared a post designed to tug at the heartstrings.
Per the post, Sipho Nkosi, a veteran ranger at Kruger National Park, fatally suffered a heart attack whilst out on patrol.
An elephant bull named Mnumzane, whom Nkosi rescued years ago, stood guard over the ranger’s body for three days, protecting it from would-be predators until the relevant authorities arrived.
The post was accompanied by so-called photos of Mnumzane and Nkosi’s corpse. One shows the grieving elephant discovering the guard’s fallen form in the dark hours of the morning, tenderly feeling Nkosi with his trunk. The other shows recovery vehicles approaching the pair on, presumably, the dawn of the third day.
SANPARKS ADDRESSES AI ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
After the post garnered viral popularity across social media, SANParks has since stepped in to call foul on it.
SANParks has noted a social media story making the rounds alluding to a veteran ranger who died of a suspected heart attack and his mortal remains were allegedly looked after by an elephant named “Munumzana” [sic].
This is fictitious and did not occur in the Kruger National Park. The writer omitted to mention that the story is fiction and not true. SANParks can confirm that the story is not true.
The story, the elephant and the ranger have since been confirmed to be fictitious. Image: Pexels
According to Getaway, Awesome Animals has apparently since clarified that the contents of the viral post were generated using artificial intelligence (AI) and that these were “created for entertainment only.”
BE ON YOUR GUARD AGAINST AI CONTENT
Content creators have cleverly leveraged AI technology to design and share realistic photos, videos and other pieces of multimedia in order to attract clicks and likes.
Take the Zelu sisters, for example. On the face of it, Mia and Ana Zelu are Instagram influencers living their best life. But underneath their stunning facades, they’re actually AI-generated.
Tricky to spot, indeed. With that said, Awesome Animals’ AI-generated post appears authentic due to its angsty plot and realistic image quality. This makes it easy for social media users to forego verification tactics and believe that the content they’re consuming is authentic.
Be sure to verify sources before you share content online. Don’t be afraid to question what you see, watch or read. That means using fact-checking sites, cross-referencing information or checking in with official sources, such as SANParks, in this case.
