A bizarre video of a crow posing like a gorilla has left netizens baffled. According to BBC, the viral video was filmed by by Keitaro Simpson in Nagoya, Japan. It shows the bird perched on its wings, its stance resembling an ape standing on its forearms.
The creature, dubbed "gorilla crow", has gone massively viral online. The unexpected 'gorilla crow' clip, shared on Twitter by Mr Simpson, has been viewed a whopping 10.5 million times.
Mr Simpson told Newsweek that on first seeing the crow, he was shocked as it looked like a "zombie". However, he watched the crow for about a minute, and soon changed his opinion from "zombie" to "pretty".
Take a look at "gorilla crow" below:
朝から衝撃をありがとう。
— LIWJATAN (@keita_simpson) June 20, 2019
心臓に悪い、 pic.twitter.com/fDlOGiumD6
Thousands of people have responded to the video, commenting on the crow's peculiar appearance.
Japan's giant crows have started lifting. Send help. https://t.co/Y971ivicE7
— Gearoid Reidy (@GearoidReidy) June 22, 2019
I legit thought it was a gorilla at first 😂😂😂
— Amir Sabrin (@_Amir02_) June 25, 2019
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turns out its a bird 😂😂
or is it?🤔 https://t.co/VZPS1CdTQP
is that a freaking bird?? HAHAHAH https://t.co/ZYyN522jOd
— decriphy. (@AronRait) June 26, 2019
The video soon reached Kaeli Swift, a corvid researcher from the University of Washington, who was able to shed some light on the crow's strange stance.
On Twitter, Ms Swift explained that the bird was sunning itself - a perfectly normal and well-documented behaviour.
What it's actually doing is sunning itself. When birds sun they drop their wings and cock their tails. At the right angle that could obscure the legs and tail making it look like they're missing.
— Kaeli Swift, PhD (@corvidresearch) June 22, 2019
Usually the mouth is open and the body is closer to the ground, making the behavior more obvious, but perhaps the videographer caught it in a moment of transition.
— Kaeli Swift, PhD (@corvidresearch) June 22, 2019
In any case sunning like this is a common behavior among birds. Sometimes it's about warming up but a lot of times you'll see them do it when it's hot out. In these cases it's about feather care. Sun exposure can reduce feather degrading bacteria and mites.
— Kaeli Swift, PhD (@corvidresearch) June 22, 2019
What do you think of this gorilla crow video? Let us know using the comments section below.
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