Videos circulating on social media claiming to show Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) personnel and an elephant rescuing a Sumatran tiger during recent floods have been identified as artificially generated.
Flood Impact on Sumatra
Recent flooding in Sumatra, caused by weather anomalies and tropical cyclone Senyar in late November 2025, has devastated Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra. The floods and landslides have impacted the habitats of key wildlife, including elephants, tigers, rhinos, and orangutans, though reports of direct encounters between animals and humans have been limited.
Fact Check: Rescue Videos
Tempo verified the videos through visual inspection, AI content detection, and comparison with credible sources. The analysis revealed both videos were artificially generated.
TNI and Sumatran Tiger
The first video depicts two TNI members carrying a tiger cub in a flood-affected area. Manual analysis revealed inconsistencies, including a blurry face on one TNI member with mouth movements not matching spoken words. The tiger in the image appears to have only three legs and no tail – common anomalies in AI-generated content.
AI detection tools flagged the video as likely AI-generated. Hive Moderation indicated a 99.9 percent probability of AI use, while Illuminarty’s AI detection showed a 22.09 percent probability.
Elephant Saves Tiger
The second video, showing an elephant rescuing a tiger, also contained irregularities. Stripes on the tiger’s fur blurred or disappeared during movement.
Hive Moderation detected a 93.7 percent probability of AI generation. Zhuque detection found a 32.32 percent probability of AI elements. Was It AI conclusively determined the video was AI-generated.
According to the Tropical Forest Conservation Action for Sumatra (TFCA-Sumatera) website, the floods have affected wildlife habitats, but the limited number of reported animal-human encounters may be due to animal fatalities, relocation to inaccessible areas, fragmented populations, or limited systematic wildlife surveys.
Tempo’s verification concluded that the narrative of Indonesian military personnel and elephants saving Sumatran tigers is false. The videos were produced using AI.
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