this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2026
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I think this is fake and an AI generated image. The only place I can find this story is on slop YouTube channels (just showing this screenshot), it isn't anywhere else online. The image also isn't anywhere else that the Google image search can find, and this ai detector that seems accurate in my experience finds it suspicious
It’s very clearly an AI image to me. Just look at the road lines. A double solid yellow line on the right side of the road is not something that happens in the USA. The double yellow line would be in the center of the road. And if this was a divided highway with the coyote being in the center median, then the yellow line would be a single solid line.
And what kind of pedestrian crossing looks like that?
And why is there one in the middle of nowhere
For the coyote
I do believe I used to watch a documentary about a Coyote in the desert, and quite a bit of that involved it on a paved road as well. I do believe it understood more complicated things than just pressing crosswalk buttons, if I recall it flat out knew how to place orders from an Acme Catalog an assemble quite a few fairly complex machines.
As someone who lived in the Mojave desert for nearly a decade, that part isn't that weird. Double yellow and weird spacing in the crosswalk are pretty obvious but a crosswalk that appears to be in the middle of nowhere is quite standard where I was at.
That was explained well by the post. It allegedly led to a trailhead. I see these types of crosswalks near trails often.
Still AI, but the story checked out
The sign above the button looks like a 1 hour parking sign, and the big brown sign should be legible even with all the jpeg
Yellow lines always separate directions of travel. So yellow lines will only be down the middle of the road. White lines will be in between lanes travelling the same direction, and along the edges of the road.
there is an intersection near me (east coast USA) with one lane on one side of 2 yellow lines and 3 lanes on the other side. It's definitely possible. It does have turning arrows, but those would be a bit out of view from this angle I think (they're kinda far back). The picture is still very implausible though because of the very uneven lane widths and the weird crosswalk paint. The closest lane looks like it could only fit half a car.
No... it's totally legit.
Here is another image of the same coyote from a different angle that I totally didn't just render on my PC in 30 seconds.
pah, stand aside
Nerd!
That's actually a more convincing image. The one looks like it's hiding something because it's so low-res
Yeah, add a bit more jpeg to hide the too perfect focus and lighting and it'd be very convincing.
The lights are facing weird directions.
Beyond that, this, "wildlife cam," photo looks like it was taken from a phone held at face level.
The road has a solid middle stripe and a double-yellow line at the shoulder.
100% fake.
also notice how they try to sound like newspaper article without saying anything specific.
genuine news texts will say "person x from institution y says: >...<" not "biologists believe" and "lead researcher says".
All the text is AI blobs.
Lane markings all wrong.
Slop Xing
Cursed timeline 😔
Is the Internet over?
Yeah. It was amazing and wild while it lasted, though.
The language/sentence structure and account name are also very suspicious. I want it to be real so bad though
I like to think coyotes are perfectly capable of this behavior, but they make the conscious choice to be lawless jaywalkers to stick it to the man.
Shout out to my cousins!
Wait, look at the placement of the road markings, especially the yellow line. Wtf
Didn't even need to study the picture. The premise alone is ridiculous
Its ai look at how the coyote is standing and pressing the button. It doesn't look natural.
Was about to comment that if this story was true and not all made up, it'd be really funny.
However my bullshit meter was also blaring because of how many youtube shorts nowadays are about animals acting like humans and people just eat it up without questioning it.
I looked as well, Gemini said it was real, then I asked for sources and it said it was not true and just a meme.
Same query except asking for sources:
I asked the Magic 8 Ball and it said that signs point to yes.
Gemini is worse than useless when it comes to this sort of thing. It's simultaneously the most confidently-wrong of any AI model and also the most willing to fold to even the smallest amount of criticism.
It will tell you whatever you want to hear, every time, regardless of the actual reality.
well I was looking for a good source, and DDG hadn't found one so I went to google - not for it's AI
Why do people even bother with AI, when it's so often wrong?
Just say no.
You do see the flaw in your logic here, right?
These screenshots are art.
See your problem here was asking for sources. Why would you need sources sir? You should just enjoy you got an answer, Sheesh!!
I always get a kick out of people getting frustrated when they SHOW AN AI SOMETHING and then ask if it's "real."
Ai: "Of course its, 'real.' Bitch, you just showed it to me."
Stunning amount of hammer hate coming from people who aim for their thumbs.
but I didn't show it, I searched in the google search box, it was googles choice to make up lies about the string of text
Given the screencaps, I may have to eat my words on this one.
"Entirely true," is rather damning, I must admit.
Sorry, mate.
It's a wild coyote repeatedly and flawlessly using a pedestrian crossing, of course it's fake lmfao