Social media is obsessed with videos of our wildlife, with clips of them often making the rounds online, sometimes recognized for their extremely adorable behavior, unexpected survival strategies, and amazing intelligence.And this time, just as the monsoon has begun, several videos showing animals surviving underwater are going viral online.One of them is a video of an elephant saving a tiger from being swept away by a flood.
Photo: @GUMMALLALAKSHM3/X
Video of elephant saving tiger from being swept away by flood goes viral
As heavy monsoon rains batter parts of India, footage of a Sumatran elephant wading through raging floodwaters to rescue a tiger has gone viral on social media. The video’s caption describes it as a “rare and moving event” filmed during a flash flood in Sumatra, and it first went viral on Indonesian social media.
Fact check: Is the video real?
No matter how convincing it may seem, the footage is not real. The video is “generated with the help of artificial intelligence” and does not show any actual visuals. The video appears to have unnaturally smooth textures underwater and an overly glossy sheen across the frame, but the suspense becomes apparent as AI tools have not yet been able to hide such effects.Tempo.co reported that its detection software found a “93.7% probability that the visual was generated by AI” and that additional tools confirmed similar results. Their fact check also noted that the tiger’s stripes blur and shift unnaturally as it moves, a common flaw in AI-rendered animal fur.
It’s an old clip with a new look
This is not the first time this video has circulated. This information first appeared online in November 2025, when Cyclone Senyar caused deadly flooding across Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra. The AI-generated clip appeared to piggyback on that real tragedy, resurfacing eight months later during India’s monsoon season, recontextualized as if it were breaking news.
