Does this article prove a piglet with human features was born between 2015 and March 10, 2023? No, that's not true. The article that reported it relied on the old photos of sculptures created by an Italian artist and provided no other evidence.
The claim appeared in an article (archived here) published by Latedaily.com in the section "Weird & nature" on March 10, 2023, under the title:
Unprecedented Birth in Umpusa Village: Half-Human, Half-pig Hybrid Enters World
The article continued, using Cyrillic letters in English and making spelling and punctuation mistakes:
Shockiпg discoveries to υпbelievable aпimal hybrids.Here is a list of һoггіfіс thiпgs.Farmers have captυred or discovered iп their fields a two-headed calf.A farmer пamed dwight crυz, was ѕһoсked to his core wheп his cow gave birth to a calf with two faces.At a farm iп baker, coυпty florida iп 2015. , the maп пamed the calf aппabelle, who was borп with two heads foυr eyes: two ears, two moυths aпd two пoses.
Here is what it looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: Latedaily screenshot taken on Mon Mar 13 15:45:17 2023 UTC)
The article went on to describe other allegedly existing cases when a "mutant" was born.
These speculations are not new: Similar claims have been circulating on the Internet since 2018. In 2020, it reappeared on YouTube and later became popular on TikTok.
The 2023 article reused the same images as earlier entries on social media and clickbait websites:
(Source: Latedaily screenshot taken on Mon March 13 16:37:37 2023 UTC)
A further reverse image search shows that those pictured were first posted by an Italian artist specializing in what her website describes as "hyper-realistic sculpture." What appears to be a "hybrid baby pig" is one of the examples of human-made art that is still available for sale. Here is what the product description says:
(Source: Lairamaganuco screenshot taken on Mon Mar 13 16:27:23 2023 UTC; the page was automatically translated to English by Chrome)
The artist's Facebook and Instagram accounts promote her work, but the latter does not show the pre-2019 images of "hyper-realistic sculptures."
According to AFP, other examples of the artist's work were used to claim that they show what happens to people disobeying the Quran, a claim that was proven false.
Latedaily.com, the website that brought those claims back to life in 2023, publishes anonymous articles and does not disclose anything about its editorial team.
According to ICANN, it was registered on November 28, 2022, by an unnamed individual in Reykjavik, Iceland.
It is not the only anonymous website spreading false claims associated with the same mailing address. Previously, Lead Stories debunked another article stating that Elon Musk purportedly tweeted that Bill Gates "doesn't know how to code." ICANN also showed the same mailing address in Iceland.
