This video has circulated in media reports about a Norwegian woman who taught herself to run like a horse

This article is more than one year old.
Published on September 12, 2019 at 11:30
3 min read
By AFP Indonesia

A video of a girl moving on all fours has been viewed millions of times in multiple posts on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube which claim it shows a Russian girl after she was cared for by a dog for 16 years. The claim is false; the video has previously circulated in media reports about a Norwegian woman who learnt to run like a horse.

The video has been viewed more than five million times after it was published on Facebook here on July 3, 2019.

It has been shared more than 32,000 times.

The one-minute, 57-seconds clip shows a woman moving on all fours.

Below is a screenshot of the misleading Facebook post:

Screenshot of the misleading post

The post’s Indonesian-language caption translates to English as: “This happens in Russia….she was taken care of by a dog for 16 years...because she was abandoned by her parents at the age of 3...The most recent update is she has recovered and can now communicate like a human!”

The video was also shared with the same claim here and here on Facebook, here on Twitter, and here and here on YouTube.

The claim is false; the video has previously circulated in media reports about a Norwegian woman who learnt to run like a horse.

A reverse image search using a keyframe from the video on Google and Yandex found the same video published here on YouTube on June 14, 2019.

The headline states: “Norwegian woman Ayla Kirstine has an unusual equine skill -- running and jumping like a horse.”

Below is a side-by-side comparison between the misleading Facebook video (L) and the genuine YouTube video (R):

Comparison between the misleading Facebook video (L) and the genuine YouTube video (R)

The same woman features in multiple media reports published in May 2019.

This report published by Insider on May 17, 2019, is headlined: “A Norwegian woman's videos have gone viral because of how good she is at running and jumping like a horse”.

The report states in part: “Ayla Kirstine has an unusual skill — running and jumping like a horse. She can canter with equine form, making it over some very high homemade jumps.

“‘When I was 4 years old I loved dogs and wanted to be a dog myself,’ Kirstine told INSIDER. ‘So when I knew I liked horses I only used what I had learned.’

“Kirstine, from Norway, has amazed the internet with her equine skills after going viral on German Twitter. Not only does she canter with the form of a horse, but she even manages to jump cleanly over a wooden bench as if her body were made for it.”

Below is a screenshot of the report:

Screenshot of INSIDER's report

The Huffington Post published this report about the same woman on May 16, 2019.

The report’s headline states: “Norwegian Woman Really Loves Horsing Around,” while the subheadline says: “Ayla Kirstine of Norway has gone viral thanks to a series of videos in which she runs like a horse.”

Below is a screenshot of the report:

Screenshot of the Huffington Post’s report

The Huffington Post published Kirstine’s Instagram handle, but it was no longer available when AFP tried to access it on September 10, 2019.

In the interview with Insider published on May 17, 2019, Kirstine said she had thought of deleting her Instagram account after she received “unkind comments”.

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