A video of an animal having its head scratched is dividing the internet as people can’t decide if it’s a bird or a rabbit.
It’s always entertaining to see social media go into meltdown as a result of optical illusions, though I don’t think this post will cause quite as many arguments as the black and blue or white and gold dress.
The video, shared on Imgur and spread across Twitter, shows a black creature receiving a nice little head massage from an unidentified human.
The video was posted on Twitter with the caption ‘Rabbits love getting stroked on their nose’, immediately placing the expectation of a rabbit into the viewer’s mind.
With that expectation set, at first glance it’s easy to see a rabbit. Seeing someone stroke a rabbit wouldn’t be an unusual sight; they’re pretty common pets. However, as soon as you realise it also looks a bit like a bird, it makes it more difficult to decipher whether you’re looking at a rabbit having its nose scratched or a bird having the back of its head scratched.
What could be the beak of the bird could also be the ears of a rabbit and its dark colour combined with the obstructive stroking hand make it difficult to see whether there’s a little nose twitching away.
Though there is a bit of immediate confusion, it only takes a few moments of scrutiny to realise it’s much more likely to be a bird. Its beak is sharp and shiny and I can quite confidently say rabbit’s ears aren’t located one on top of the other.
