A video of a Golden Eagle snatching a baby has gone viral, but many are questioning the authenticity of the popular clip. Digital experts weigh in with INSIDE EDITION.
The shocking video of a Golden Eagle swooping down and snatching a baby is sweeping the internet.
The giant bird with a wingspan of seven feet grabs the child in its powerful talons and carries it for a few feet before dropping the boy. The guy recording the incident can't believe what's happening.
He ran to the crying child who seems shaken but otherwise unhurt.
But could this be real?
Gale King said on CBS This Morning, "Some people are questioning it, but when you look at it, it looks like the eagle came down."
The video is becoming a hot topic on TV.
George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America asked, "Can it be real?"
Kathie Lee Gifford is a believer.
Hoda Kotb said on the Today show, “There are questions over whether or not this video is fake?"
Gifford said, "I don’t think so, the camera work is so bad.”
The video has been watched more than two million times almost overnight on YouTube and viewers are pretty evenly split on whether it’s a fake or the real thing.
"Completely fake. Eagles cannot lift that much weight,” wrote one skeptic.
Golden Eagles are majestic birds, capable of stalking and killing small animals like a jackrabbit.
But a toddler?
We asked digital expert Conor McCourt to weigh in. He says, in his opinon, it's a fake, that it's actually two videos morphed together.
‘It just doesn't feel right to me. The eagle is trained to come down and grab an object and fly off."
INSIDE EDITION's Paul Boyd said, "They've taken the child and inserted it into the video.”
McCourt nodded.
When looked at with a close eye, the child's shadow is much lighter than the other shadows in the video, indicating, perhaps, they were recorded at different times.
There's another clue it’s a hoax. When the eagle lets the baby go, the child continues to rise for a moment before falling to the ground.
McCourt jokingly said, "Children are amazing like that they can levitate!"
And if a Golden Eagle had grabbed the child with its sharp claws the toddler would have been badly injured or even killed, but this baby doesn't seem hurt at all.
Boyd asked, "How certain are you that this is real or fake?"
McCourt said, "It looks like a fake to me."
So who did it?
Three animation students at a college in Montréal. They may get an A for their efforts, but F still stands for fake.
