In May 2025, a video shot from a helicopter, allegedly showing a huge anaconda, went viral on the Internet. We decided to check the authenticity of this recording.
A short video with sensational footage showing a snake of amazing size in the river was shared by users “VKontakte", Instagram, Facebook, Telegram And X. Information about where exactly the video was filmed varies: in some publications indicatedthat a giant anaconda was seen by members of an expedition in Brazil, the authors of others claimthat it happened in Ecuador. A number of posts also mention the length of the snake - more than 8 m (although visually it looks much larger). Some bloggers based on this short video mounted longer videos with voice acting in Russian and subtitles.
“Verified” was unable to find the sensational news about the giant snake in any reputable media - both Brazilian and Ecuadorian, and international. There is no imprint on the video itself that would allow us to identify its author or otherwise verify whether the stories about the expedition are real.
If you look closely at the video, you will notice a number of alarming details. Firstly, the snake, despite its very considerable weight, is almost entirely above the water - it is as if it is not swimming, but crawling through shallow water. If you study real personnel Anacondas swimming in the water, filmed by National Geographic, you can see that usually only the head and sometimes the back of the snake are visible on the surface, and most of its body is under water. Secondly, the water around the reptile in the video being analyzed is too calm, although the movement of such a large creature should cause ripples. Finally, there is another camera in the frame, which, judging by its location, should be filming the river and the snake in it. However, something is displayed on her screen that is completely unrelated to what is happening in the video.
“Verified” analyzed the video using Hive Moderation — a service for identifying content generated by AI. According to the service, with a probability of more than 93%, this video was created by a neural network.
Based on reverse image search results, the video of the giant anaconda began going viral on May 8, 2025. Earliest found "Verified" fast, containing this video, was published that day on social network X at 07:19 Moscow time. User @Sheetal2242 captioned the video with a comment in Hindi: “Big anaconda snake spotted again in the Amazon forest.” At the time of writing the analysis, the publication received more than 800,000 views and thousands of reposts. The blogger's main content is interesting videos from all over the world, which he obviously finds on the Internet and posts on his page without questioning their authenticity. Therefore, most likely, @Sheetal2242 simply discovered the video with the snake on the Internet, but contributed greatly to its spread.
This is not the first time that videos, processed or completely generated by neural networks, allegedly depicting giant snakes, have been circulating on the Internet. Agency fact checkers Reuters, as well as projects Factly, OneIndia and others have previously been refuted by similar videos. Green anacondas - the largest snakes on earth: their size can reach 9 m and weight - 220 kg. However, in viral neural network videos, their dimensions go far beyond this - the snakes look as if their length is tens, or even hundreds of meters. Science popularizer Alexander Tolmachev explainedthat reptiles of this size simply would not survive: they would not be able to obtain enough food, and to maintain metabolism in such a massive body they would require higher temperatures than those currently experienced on Earth.
Thus, the parsed video of a giant anaconda in the Amazon was generated by neural networks. This is evidenced by individual details of the video itself and the results of its verification using specialized services. Additionally, there is only one short video of this amazing snake. Reputable media did not report that such a giant reptile had been discovered in the Amazon.
Cover photo: social networks
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