Latest news with #kangaroo
News.com.au
5 hours ago
- General
- News.com.au
Kangaroo bounds onto track during Benchmark 58 race at Warren in New South Wales
A rogue kangaroo very nearly caused havoc in the first race at Warren in NSW today as it made a frenzied dash in front of the field shortly after the horses turned for home. What should have been a sedate start to the day in a 2400m Benchmark 58 almost ended in disaster when the mad marsupial bounded in front of the 11-horse field in the straight. Under jockey Shannen Llewellyn, the Connie Greig -trained Joshua railed strongly along the inside to hit the front in the straight before the race suffered a 'roo-d' interruption. Eagle-eyed observers first observed the kangaroo in the middle of the track as the horses approached the 1400m mark … and it wasn't long before Skippy joined the fray. With seemingly no thoughts of self-preservation, the kangaroo dashed in front of the field to safety as horses and jockeys somehow kept their cool. With crisis averted, the runners settled down to fight out the race, with the James Ponsonby -trained $30 roughie Will To Excel (Jake Pracey-Holmes) getting the better of Joshua to take the cash. WATCH: Kangaroo bounds onto track at Warren ðŸ'‡ It was a sedate start to the day at Warren on Monday in a Benchmark 58 for the country stayers … until a rogue kangaroo entered the fray. ðŸ'‡ — Racenet (@RacenetTweets) June 2, 2025 Watch the vision in the video above.
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Twist after ‘support kangaroo' goes viral
A wildly viral video of a kangaroo holding a boarding pass on a plane has left people scratching their heads. The clip, which has done the rounds on social media this week, shows a woman furiously arguing with a flight attendant while a kangaroo in a harness innocently watches on, clutching its own boarding pass. The woman furiously waves her hands in the air as the flight attendant points her finger towards the roo, while they speak an unidentified language. Millions of views, thousands of comments and a wave of 'only in Australia' memes later, the video was hailed as yet another example of airline drama in the golden age of in-flight absurdity. But – sorry to be the bearer of bad news – it's all fake. The original clip, captioned 'No kangaroo on the plane', gathered over 1 million likes on Instagram – and people were not happy. 'He has a ticket he paid for! Let him in!' said one. 'He behaves better than my kids,' laughed another. 'This is the saddest thing I've ever seen,' said a third. 'There needs to be rules against discriminating against a paying customer just because of their species,' said a fourth. Others were quick to catch on, slamming the AI-generated footage. 'How can no one tell this is AI?' questioned one viewer. 'You guys have your boomer glasses on,' mocked another. 'AI is getting scary,' said a third. 'How are people falling for the kangaroo video. I'm so serious. Yeah it looks eerily real but in what world does a kangaroo just pass through all the airport checks and is only stopped at the literal airplane door,' questioned another. Others were shocked they fell for it in the first place. 'Fell for my first AI video and I feel sick to my core…. like what was I thinking … that kangaroo was holding a boarding pass,' said one viewer. People have now confirmed the video is indeed fake, thanks to the help of internet sleuths and X's AI assistant 'Grok' who flagged the video as AI-generated on the platform. The video is just the latest example of AI-generated content fooling even the most sceptical of viewers, with recent fakes ranging from natural disaster clips to fake images of celebrities. Just earlier this year, millions were fooled over AI images of Katy Perry at the Met Gala for the second year in a row. No matter your feelings about artificial intelligence, there is no denying that it is becoming increasingly embedded within people's daily lives. A recent study by the University of Melbourne showed that just 30 per cent of Australians believe the benefits of AI outweigh the risks, ranking us the lowest among all. additionally, 55 per cent say they realise the benefits, compared to 73 per cent globally. Almost 80 per cent of Australians were concerned about the negative outcomes of AI use and 37 per cent said they have personally experienced to observed those negative outcomes.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Viral kangaroo clip sends viewers into a crisis... but can YOU spot the problem?
If you've ever made fun of your Boomer parents for falling for an AI-generated video, you might be eating your words now. That is because a video of a kangaroo holding a boarding pass, seemingly waiting to get on a plane, recently went viral. Viewers were clamoring about how adorable and funny the video was - but now, the clip has sparked even wider ripples after people realized it was never real in the first place. The kangaroo video was actually created by AI - and the internet is panicking in response to finding out that they were successfully tricked. The original video was posted on Instagram by the account @infiniteunreality which posts odd and entertaining AI-generated videos. Some of their other videos include a two-headed baby in a shopping cart, a dolphin sitting in an office chair watching TV, and the cast of Shrek in a hot tub as Donkey vomits green slime. But by the time the kangaroo video found its way onto other platforms, social media users were unaware that it was fake or where it originally came from. 'Omg he's holding the boarding pass with his little kangaroo hands. That's the cutest thing I've ever seen,' one X (formerly Twitter) user wrote. 'I need to know this Kangaroos name!!' another said. However, thanks to Grok - X's built-in AI search engine - people soon discovered the truth. But when users did find out that the kangaroo had no name because it was in fact AI-generated, it sent them into a spin. 'I fell for the kangaroo AI video,' one user wrote, followed by a GIF of Bridgit Mendler transforming from a young woman into a senior citizen. 'THE KANGAROO HOLDING THE BOARDING PASS IS AI????' another user panicked, followed by a meme of Breaking Bad's Walter White falling to the ground. Some users asserted that their inability to recognize that the video was AI was some sort of marker that they were getting older. 'The kangaroo plane video was f**king AI - I thought it was a skit but this is so much worse,' one user shared. 'I'm cooked as soon as I hit 30. They f**king got me' People likened themselves to Boomers for falling for the video 'I fell for the airport kangaroo AI video, I am just as bad as a Boomer, if not worse! I will be publicly executed on TikTok live at 3pm PT today, please tune in,' another dramatically shared. Others came down on themselves hard, asking themselves 'what was I thinking?' Some were concerned about how quickly AI has progressed - and the potential dangers that could come from it being so advanced. One user astutely pointed out: 'We've gotten to a point where people genuinely can't tell what is AI and what is not.' But the overall, general consensus was that people might owe the Boomers in their lives an apology. 'With this video, the whole internet has become Boomers on Facebook,' an X user said.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Bizarre video of kangaroo inside a Chinese zoo rings alarm bells
A controversial zoo in China is once again under scrutiny after it was accused of sedating kangaroos so visitors could pet and feed them. Chilling footage shared earlier this month showed an adult red kangaroo at the Shanghai Wild Animal Park in Pudong, China, lying on its back in the dirt. The marsupial was barely able to open its eyes as a crowd of tourists knelt around it, grabbed at its paw and took pictures. Other videos from the park show multiple kangaroos in the enclosure all lying on the ground as tourists including young children interacted with them. Some viewers online suggested the kangaroos looked as though they had been sedated to keep them docile. According to the Queensland Department of the Environment 'kangaroos readily accept our presence if we show no aggression towards them but, if we get too close, they may see us as a threat' and attack. 'Kangaroos and wallabies that are used to being fed can approach people expecting food. When there is no food, they may become aggressive.' The animals in the video are red kangaroos, which are the largest of the species and can grow up to 1.8metres tall. The marsupials can balance on their tails and deliver a powerful kick which has caused fatalities. Shanghai Wild Animal has previously made headlines after one of its workers was fatally attacked by a bear in front of a packed tour bus in October 2020. The worker was mauled in an area where the bears roamed free and was only accessible to visitors by vehicle. An excavator was being used in the area when the attack occurred and the zoo subsequently said it would improve its safety procedures. The zoo has also been accused of forcing animals to participate in races. In 2017, former Australian racing greyhounds sold to the zoo were made to race against cheetahs. Four years earlier, a black bear attacked a monkey after the animals were forced to race bicycles around a small track in front of a crowd of people. In 2015, non-profit Wild Welfare accused the zoo of mistreating tigers after a video emerged of an underweight and lethargic-looking tiger cub being handled by a zookeeper and a young visitor. The video was shared to the Chinese app weibo. The non-profit claimed in the video 'the zookeeper repeatedly tried to stimulate the cub by flicking and tapping its face, but the cub remained floppy. The keeper is also seen handling the cub roughly, at one point lifting it by just one front limb.'
News.com.au
4 days ago
- Health
- News.com.au
Shock footage of a kangaroo in a Chinese zoo has sparked concern
A Chinese zoo has been accused of 'sedating' kangaroos after footage emerged of one seemingly passed out in the dirt. In footage shared to social media, the Aussie native can be seen lying on its back as visitors gather around, petting and even attempting to hold its hand. The red kangaroo keeps its eyes completely closed and only manages to pull its hand away once before another person goes to hold it. In a second clip, what appears to be the same kangaroo is seen lying on its back unresponsive with its eyes closed as people hover over it. One person offers the marsupial some food that it attempts to eat before dropping its head to the side. The clips, which were filmed on May 18, saw many branding the scenes 'amusing' and 'entertaining.' Viewers were quick to praise the 'calm and sleepy' animal for remaining calm and being so good around people. However, others expressed their concerns, suggesting the kangaroo may have been sedated in order to keep it docile around visitors. Prominent Victorian wildlife carer, Helen Round, has been working with kangaroos for over a decade. The 56-year-old from East Trentham is a fierce defender of the native animal and works tirelessly to raise, rehabilitate and release them. Speaking to Ms Round revealed that the animal 'very well could be' under sedation. 'It wouldn't be the first time that an animal in an Asian zoo was sedated,' she said. Although red kangaroos have a habit on lying on their backs to 'sun themselves', Ms Round believes this is likely not the case with this footage. She further revealed that it's hardly unheard of for kangaroos and other wild Australian animals to end up in foreign zoos or ownership. 'They are shipped all over the world, all you need is a license to sell,' she said. Just last month, a frazzled runaway kangaroo temporarily shut down an interstate highway in Alabama before it was shot and sedated. The owner, Patrick Starr, told the Associated Press that his family runs a petting zoo but Sheila (the kangaroo) is just a pet. 'People fancy the idea of having a pet kangaroo but they're not an animal that is meant for domesticity. Very few of them are suitable to be kept as pets,' said Ms Round. Concerns around the sedation of wild animals at zoos first came into the spotlight in 2016 when a clip of a heavily sedated lion being used as a photo prop in Thailand went viral. In the footage, a park worker repeatedly pushed a drugged lion cub's head up while visitors draped their arms over it and urged it to say 'cheese' for the camera. In 2018, a kangaroo was viciously stoned to death by visitors at a Chinese zoo because it didn't display its signature hop. The 12-year-old female kangaroo suffered a severely injured foot when it was struck by bricks and concrete chunks and died just days later from a reported ruptured kidney as a result. In 2020, a woman sparked outrage after taking photos of herself holding the testicles of a presumed sedated tiger at a Chiang Mai wildlife park. Animal sedation raises serious ethical concerns about the treatment and wellbeing of animals. They may experience health risks or distress from sedation such as unnatural behaviour that misrepresents their true nature. Under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, the maximum penalty for a wildlife trade offence is 10 years imprisonment or a fine of up to $210,000 for an individual. Despite these penalties, wildlife trafficking remains a significant issue, with reports of increased illegal activity in recent years. Wildlife trafficking reports in Queensland alone have doubled over the past two years, with the scale of the problem potentially reaching 'catastrophic' levels. It is estimated that wildlife trafficking is the fourth-largest organised crime globally, worth over $450 billion a year.
