AI image of ‘impossible’ wildlife encounter hampers conservation work: research group

A lengthy Facebook post shared on May 2 claims that a researcher named Dr Amelia Toh-Ramirez from the Danau Girang Field Centre in East Malaysia's Sabah state, had discovered camera trap images showing an orangutan cuddling a clouded leopard. 

An image shared alongside the post shows an orangutan appearing to cuddle a clouded leopard while another stands nearby. In the background, three more orangutans can be seen clinging to a tree. 

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Screenshot of the false post captured on May 13, 2026, with an AI symbol and red X added by AFP

The Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) is a conservation and research facility working with the Sabah Wildlife Department to support ongoing conservation efforts in the state (archived link).

Orangutans, known for their distinctive red fur, and clouded leopards can be found in the tropical rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra in Indonesia (archived links here and here). Both are considered endangered. 

Similar claims sharing the same purported camera trap images circulated elsewhere on Facebook, but the image is AI-generated. 

AFP ran the image on the Hive Moderation AI detection tool which found that the image has a 99.6 percent chance that it is "likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content" (archived link).

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Screenshot from Hive Moderation captured on May 13, 2026, with an AI symbol added by AFP

A keyword search on Google found a Facebook post from DGFC dated April 29 describing the claims as "fake" (archived link).

"In the wild, orangutans and clouded leopards do not 'cuddle', clouded leopards are natural predators, and such an interaction would be dangerous, not photogenic," the conservation centre said.

It added: "There is no researcher by the name of Dr Amelia Toh-Ramirez at Danau Girang Field Centre."

'Totally impossible'

Benoit Goossens, director of DGFC, explained to AFP on May 13 that there were many clues showing that the circulating images were AI-generated (archived link). 

The first immediate indicator is that clouded leopards are carnivorous predators, and "you rarely see a predator living with a prey -- especially, a prey cuddling a predator", Goossens said. 

He also pointed out that the image's background shows three young orangutans together, which is "totally impossible" as they do not live in groups. 

Finally, the large orangutan is pictured sitting against a tree in a human-like posture, which is "unnatural". 

"Orangutans spend most of their time high in the forest canopy and would not sit upright beside a tree while cradling a young clouded leopard, making the depiction biologically impossible," Goossens told AFP.

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Mukah, a female Bornean orangutan, holds a branch in her mouth with her 10-day-old newborn in tow at the Bioparc Zoo in Fuengirola on April 30, 2026. (AFP / JORGE GUERRERO)

He also warned that the wider harm of AI‑generated wildlife images is in warping public perception of how wild animals should be treated. 

"Wildlife conservation (work) depends heavily on the public perception," he said. "It depends on a shared understanding of the reality and because all these artificial images appear... it makes our messages about conservation much harder to convince people."

For example, videos or images like the one of the orangutan cradling clouded leopards show the animals behaving like pets or companions, which can encourage a "sentimental interpretation of species that are neither domesticated nor safe". 

"The danger is not only that the people are misled but that the fragile trust on which the conservation depends is worn away," Goossens said. 

While there is no foolproof method to spot AI-generated media, identifying watermarks and visual inconsistencies can help, as errors still occur despite the meteoric progress in generative AI.

AFP has debunked other posts that falsely presented AI generated images and videos here.