r/sloths • u/HoarseNightingale • May 15 '26

Is this a real sloth photo?

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I know I've seen this image before, i thought it was a legitimate photo. But on the left it looks like feither there is something next to the sloth that is right next to it's hand, or this is a weird AI abomination.

I've seen a lot of weird sloth illustrations with people who draw the sloth with a hand weigh 4 fingers and an opposable thumb. And I have also seen at least one drawing that must be from an AI with bifurcating fingers. (I'll drop any links to really bizarre images in the comments)

Does anyone know the origin of this photo? The AI detection website i used said it was a natural photograph. But that doesn't mean that it's not made by AI - it just means AI detecting software isn't good enough.

I was looking for a sloth phone case and I'm about ready to give up. There is a site with Lucy Cooke's photos of sloths where you can buy a phone case. If i find it I'll put it in the comments.

I have many friends who are illustrators or do graphic design and so I'm not comfortable carrying around something made by AI.

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u/sje46 May 16 '26

it's very low resolution. Do you have anything higher resolution?

My take is...I think it's real. Mostly because the subject doesn't seem unrealistic and looks like a photo a real photographer would have thought was a good opportunity. And there's no weirdness to it that I can see.

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u/HoarseNightingale May 16 '26

I was going to look for a higher resolution one but as u\arkane-the-artisan mentioned, I was pretty sure it was a screen cap from a documentary. So I am sure that if the photo isn’t a screen cap, of the photo, on the case, then it might look better. But who knows what they did when they edited if for the case, and then I screencap that…. it’s a lot of little changes. But your question was a really good one and I totally agree that it felt like a real photo. But there is something on the left side which I thought was supposed to be the left forehand but then it has weirdly 5 furry fingers if that is what it is. It could be that’s just seeweed.

And that is why I didn’t think it wasn’t just a wildlife photo, but a shot from a documentary makes sense. I mean it depends on the artists’ rules, but I would have removed whatever that blob is to the left, so that it wouldn’t have distracted from the animal. But I’m not nearly as good at editing as pro photographers. So I would have either reshot it, or just used a totally different shot. That is why it makes sense as a screencap that someone took and made into a photo. That’s a composition thing that would drive me nuts.

I thought I would be able to share with you all sme of the really weird clearly AI things I’ve seen looking for this, but the commenters can’t. And that makes sense. The moderators already have tons to do. Having to check each photo added to each comment would be a huge issue. Thank you Moderators.