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Woolly mammoth video a hoax (Video)

By Eric Pfeiffer | The Sideshow – Tue, Feb 14, 2012

(AP/M. Spencer Green)Last week on the Sideshow, we told you about this video purporting to show a Woolly mammoth crossing a Siberian river. And just as we speculated, the video has been debunked as a hoax.

What we didn't realize at the time is that apparently the entire video is fabricated, according to Life's Little Mysteries. There were several flags raised when I first watched the video: The creature looked more like a bear, there were no accompanying tusks and the supposed trunk looked more like a disproportionately large fish hanging from the "mammoth's" mouth.

Well, all the rampant speculation has grinded to an abrupt halt now that the original video's author has stepped forward. Writer and videographer Ludovic Petho shot the footage (minus the mysterious creature) while traveling through near the Kitov River in Siberia's Sayan Mountains last summer.

Ironically, Petho was shooting the footage while working on a project about his grandfather's escape from a Siberian POW camp and his long walk across Siberia to Budapest, Hungary. I saw ironic, because a film tackling similar subject matter, The Way Back, has itself been at least partially debunked as a work of fiction.

"I'm the guy that filmed the river footage in the Sayan Mountains that now hosts a fake woolly mammoth," Petho writes on his YouTube page. "It was taken in the summer of 2011, the river is the Kitoy river and I don't recall seeing a mammoth; there were bears, dear and sable to name a few mammals but no woolly mammoths. I had no idea my footage was used to make this fake sighting and question if a law was broken here."

Petho's video has been posted for free use on YouTube since last summer. So, the mystery still remains as to exactly who shot the altered footage. And now, not only have millions clicked on a hoax video, Petho's original, unaltered clip has racked up more than 90k views today. It's a bit of notoriety he probably never expected while trekking through Siberia last summer.

You can watch Petho's original video here:

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100 comments

** • 3 mths ago
Well, I didn't see a wooly mammoth, but that pesky pterodactyl that kept flying into view was really impressive.
m • London, United Kingdom • 3 mths ago
If there's anybody out there who actually believed this tripe; I've got a bridge in Brooklyn I would be more than happy to sell them.
- Gary 3 mths ago
  This is a hoax. I already own all of the bridges in Brooklyn.
- m 3 mths ago
  Good one!
- Steve 3 mths ago
  PT Barnum is turning over in his grave. Because he really wished he were alive right now!!! This is the dawning of the Age of Idiocracy and boy will his business model rake in the dough!
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Reply
big latino • Fullerton, California • 3 mths ago
i thought i saw one once when i was cruising with Elvis in Bigfoots Ufo.. but it was hard to tell since i had Amelia Earhardts panties on my head.. so we beamed down. Turned out it was just a Chupacabra. go figure.!~
Bryson Cinders • 3 mths ago
It's spelled DEER ,dear.
- Tony 3 mths ago
  oh dear
- Damien 3 mths ago
  You realize that quote come from another author (The Youtube poster), and is not subject to a proofread (Journalism 101). If you are going to be grammar Nazi #$%$ at least get the facts straight.
- iCthruU 3 mths ago
  Its spelled Deere if it is on a farm Darling-lol
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AdamD • Coraopolis, Pennsylvania • 3 mths ago
Among the mammals he did see, there was a "dear"? Seriously, someone at Yahoo has to be noticing all of our comments about poor article writing by now...
Scott S. • 3 mths ago
It's a news story that a woolly mammoth video was actually a hoax?
- brian 3 mths ago
  yes. yes it is
- iCthruU 3 mths ago
  Yes Brian, stupid should hurt but as they say..no brain , no pain!
- Nick 3 mths ago
  My thoughts exactly.
  
  "A video showing a long-extinct creature isn't real? I just don't understand the world anymore..." -Their target audience
bill • Kansas City, Missouri • 3 mths ago
it's real. you have to look close and you'll see Elvis riding it.
last citizen standing • San Diego, California • 3 mths ago
Blame yahoo for putting garbage like that out for everyone to read!!!!!
- Tony 3 mths ago
  But not everyone is reading it !!
- iCthruU 3 mths ago
  I find that hard to believe..LOL
Noneya • 3 mths ago
I knew it was fake, Sasquatch told me.
Al Dente • 3 mths ago
anyone who that that looked like an elephant or wooly mammoth needs glasses. I could have told you it was a hoax the moment I saw the video.
Bizzy Cloud • Pompano Beach, Florida • 3 mths ago
It must have been the invisible wholly mammoth
Average Joe • 3 mths ago
The biggest hoax = Petho says he doesn"t know who did it. Nice way to bring attention to your facebook page. 90k hits......

And there are wooly mammoths..... I saw them animated on the discovery channel. Hey! Maybe they can use the Rapunzel number to do a better job animating them.
- Tony 3 mths ago
  I saw a mammoth, he sounded just like Ray Romano!
Matthew • 3 mths ago
Yet another Yahoo story with a spelling error. Isn't spelling and grammar the first two years of journalism school? Every single story on Yahoo has a spelling or grammatical error! Are there not proofreaders? Editors? I don't claim to have perfect grammar myself, but I'M NOT A JOURNALIST WRITING STORIES THAT MILLIONS OF PEOPLE READ!
Walter • 3 mths ago
Its hard to see for the big SKEETERS!
Tara • 3 mths ago
i think it was a bear carrying a fish....i dont however believe that it was same video that they are trying to claim was faked..watch both too many diffrences.1.bugs in 1 video.2heavier fog.3.camara with the wooly(bear with fish)has a lot more movement.5.diffrent angles of the background.
i do however think they used same location...but my question would be why fake a fake video...weird dont you think.
Just the Facts Ma'am • Boise, Idaho • 3 mths ago
Just another Sasqwatch story.
drill4you • Boca Raton, Florida • 3 mths ago
i didn;t believe it but i wanted it to be true..
KW • 3 mths ago
I like the original footage. Great video!
MDYB • 3 mths ago
Did I believe it? No. Did I want to believe it? Yes. Ever since I was a little kid reading comic books and the cheap paperback early SF books about dinosaurs hanging on in lost areas of the Grand Canyon or living on exotic unreachable plateaus in South America, . . . Just like I hated being thrilled to see the dinosaurs in the Jurasic Park movies.
Johnathan • Miami, Florida • 3 mths ago
Ha take that yahoo i was right hahahahahahahhahhaha

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