Is it a rabbit or a raven? Mind-boggling clip of animal being stroked sends the internet into melt-down
- Researcher Dan Quintana shared the mind-blowing clip on Twitter on August 18
- His caption said, ‘Rabbits love getting stroked on their nose’, but gave no details
- It has attracted 22.7k likes and some say they are the ‘weirdest rabbit ears’
- They compared it to the rabbit-duck illusion from a German magazine in 1892
A video of a mysterious animal being stroked on the head has baffled the internet, with division of whether it’s a rabbit or a raven.
Dan Quintana, a biological psychiatry researcher at the University of Oslo, filmed himself stroking the creature with the caption: ‘Rabbits love getting stroked on their nose.’
But Mr Quintana refused to address theories that his ‘rabbit’ was in fact a bird, prompting massive speculation.
Either the animal appears to be a raven looking upwards with an open beak, or a rabbit facing the Norway based academic as he strokes its nose.
‘Strongest illusion ever’: Dan Quintana has gone viral with a 30-second clip stroking an animal which has split opinion over whether it is a rabbit or a raven, on August 18
The return of the ‘Duck-Rabbit Ambiguous Figure’: A Twitter user shares the iconic illusion created in the late 19th Century and first published in the German humour magazine Fliegende Blätter, 1892
Some Twitter users have taken it upon themselves to clarify the mystery which has sent thousands of eyebrows twitching – attracting 22.7k likes and 657 comments.
Brainoscience shared a tongue-in-cheek graph to show the comparison between the two animals and how it is logically possible for it to be both.
Wapnil Bhatia said: ‘Not sure if rubbing left looking rabbit on the nose or an upward looking bird on the head (ears=beak).’
Shadow Space shared a Paul Roth cartoon which says: ‘There can be no peace until they renounce their Rabbit God and accept our Duck God.’
The rabbit-duck scale: Brainoscience tests whether it is possible for the animal to be both in a hand-drawn graph
Cristina Zogmaister replied to the Tweet: ‘Wow strongest illusion ever.’
And some have even said the video is a blast from the past, with Keisha Renee comparing it to the ‘Duck-Rabbit Ambiguous Figure’ published in the German humour magazine Fliegende Blätter, 1892.
While others take slight offence to the researcher, who has a PhD in psychology, and respond: ‘how dare you Dan! Almost got scammed!’
ShadowSpade also digs up an illustration by Paul Roth and shows the battle between the animals
