Open Post: Hosted By A Rabbit Or A Raven
It’s about time the animal kingdom got its own version of Yanny or Laurel, beach or door, and that dress. I was waiting for the day when an animal would appear and cause the internet to fight aggressively over what exactly everyone is supposed to be looking at. The Wuzzles can officially take a break, for they’re no longer the only bi-species game in town.
HuffPo reports that the real-life version of the rabbit-duck optical illusion made its debut on Twitter two days ago, and it’s been blowing up ever since. A Twitter user named Dan Quintana posted a video of a human lovingly stroking a cuddly…rabbit? Raven? Dan claimed it was a rabbit, but the internet was quick to disagree.
Rabbits love getting stroked on their nose pic.twitter.com/aYOZGAY6kP
— Dan Quintana 🐰 (@dsquintana) August 18, 2019
One thing is for sure: people are very certain of what they’re looking at.
I did see a raven at first, but it’s definitely a rabbit
— GreenlandRealEstateBroker (@gussthelawyer) August 20, 2019
That is not a rabbit, it is indeed a Corvid. Notice the nictitating membrane when it blinks. Instead of moving up and down, it sweeps across the eye horizontally like a windscreen wiper and is translucent.
— Greta GG (@GretaGarbolini) August 19, 2019
Like that person mentioned, when the rabbit/raven blinks, you can see a clear-ish eyelid drop down. They call it a nictitating membrane, which they claim proves it’s a bird. Rabbits also have nictitating membranes on their eyes as well. As for whether rabbits are able to grow ears that look like hard beaks, HuffPo says that the answer lies with the original source of the video. The video was originally posted to Imgur a day before it hit Twitter, with the caption: “Quoth the raven ‘awww yisss.’”
So there you have it: it’s a bird. Personally, I’m holding off on my judgement until I hear it open its beak and quotes Edgar Allan Poe. But we’re all in trouble if it opens its mouth and squawks, “Eeeeeh…what’s up doc?”
Pic: Twitter