Are Animals Fleeing Yellowstone in 'Large Numbers'? National Park Officials Respond to Viral Videos of Park Wildlife
The National Park Service tells PEOPLE animals are not leaving Yellowstone National Park in "large numbers," despite social media videos claiming otherwise
After an influencer shared a string of satirical videos about animals departing the beloved park in groups, a spokesperson for the National Parks Service responded
According to experts, Yellowstone National Park's animal residents often migrate in winter, not summerOfficials are shutting down online rumors about large numbers of animals fleeing from Yellowstone National Park after "satirical" misinformation about the park's wildlife began to go viral.
Footage shared to Instagram and TikTok, which influencers claimed depicted bison, elk, mountain lions, and bears departing the park in large groups, started to spread in July. But as a National Parks Service spokesperson tells PEOPLE, Yellowstone's wildlife isn't going anywhere.
"Wildlife is not leaving Yellowstone National Park in large numbers," a spokesperson said in a statement. "This rumor is false."
The NPS first shared its statement with ABC News, adding that the viral videos themselves are believed to be AI-generated and "satirical in nature."
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Self-proclaimed "animal expert" Scott Whitehead is the man behind one of the trending social media videos, in which he jokingly gives a run-down on "creature critters fleeing Yellowstone" — including "men, women and baby buffalo," "men elk and women elk" and "grizzle bears." His pseudo news report features clips of animals running around the park, as he narrates and details a "mass exodus" that has been "baffling the scientific community."
"I called my cousin who works at Pet Smart in the fish section and said, 'What do we know about buffalo bisons and what's going on here,'" Whitehead said in one video.
Other videos from Whitehead include him discussing a "leopard found on a dolphin's back," store-bought eggs "hatching all across the United States," and "parasitic turtles" in Boise, Idaho — all of which are also satirical.
Despite the humorous tone of the clips and Whitehead's account, some social media users appeared to take the posts seriously. Wildlife safari guide Grant Johnson commented under one of Whitehead's clips that he filmed the footage of bison included in the video, and it did not depict animals leaving the park.
"I think you're kidding around, but judging by a lot of the comments, and many similar videos going viral, it's worth saying unequivocally that the wildlife are NOT leaving the park," he wrote. "Nothing unusual is happening here in Yellowstone, it's as beautiful and wild as ever."
"Also worth noting, the bison in that video are deep within the Park. Totally normal."
Wildlife photographer Tom Murphy told ABC News that animals are "free to come and go, and there's a migratory path for elk and bison and deer" at Yellowstone, with wildlife biologist Bill Hamilton adding that most movement takes place in the winter. Hamilton also said that wildlife rarely migrates in the summer unless forced to do so by an extreme event, according to ABC News.
"There's no reason for them to be leaving right now," Murphy said.
Some social media users commented under Whitehead's footage with apparent concerns about animals migrating to avoid a pending supervolcano eruption at Yellowstone, but Murphy clarified that while the Yellowstone Caldera is "going to erupt in the next 2 million years," it is unlikely to erupt today.
As for the misinformation on social media, Hamilton told ABC News that "it does undermine the overall perception of understanding how things work, how nature works."
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