The internet can’t agree whether this is a raven or a rabbit

What do you see?

In 2015, there was The Dress.

BuzzFeed shared a picture of a dress that created a bit of an optical illusion. Basically, some people thought it was black and blue, while others saw white and gold.

A screenshot of the original article from BuzzFeed that got people talking about The Dress. (BuzzFeed)

A fierce debate took place as the photo went viral, and not everyone could agree on what colour this dress actually is.

But it isn’t the only puzzler to ever have been on the internet — not by a longshot.

You might remember the great Yanny/Laurel debate of 2018. It was an audio clip that surfaced on Twitter that asked: Do you hear the name Yanny or Laurel?

Again, there was never a clear answer.

Some heard “Yanny” while others heard “Laurel.”

And like The Dress before it, people joined teams using hashtags like #teamyanny or #teamlaurel.

In 2019, there’s a new puzzler: The rabbit/bird.

Is it a rabbit or a bird? That's what people want to figure out from this video. (Dan Quintana/Twitter)

A man named Dan Quintana posted a video on his Twitter account with the caption: “rabbits love getting stroked on their nose.”

And from that caption you’d probably think something like, “Oh, weird rabbit — looks like a bird.”

Or you might be like some people on Twitter, who are not buying it. They are on team bird.

However, there are many on team rabbit, too.

Others are on the fence. They’re skeptical, yet curious.

Then there are those whose brains have turned to mush thanks to this puzzle.

There’s definitely a debate going on.

For some, it’s definitely rabbit — and there’s no changing their minds.

Some people are just reminded of 2015 and 2018.

But what’s the answer?

The truth comes from the original poster himself who, it turns out, is a very smart scientist:

“As you can see the translucent nictitating membrane sweep across the eye horizontally (rabbits don’t have membranes like this) and the positioning of the ‘ears’ are a little strange,” he told CNet.

“I made the rabbit comment to prime readers into thinking it was actually a rabbit, to give it a fighting chance at least. When you only see the beak in your peripheral vision, it really seems like they’re ears. Without this misleading cue, I thought most people would have seen a bird.”

To put it simply: it’s a bird, and according to the scientist, you can tell because the bird has a feature on its eye which rabbits just don’t have.

Another mystery solved. Until the next one.

What's Fire This Week is your weekly look at what everyone's talking about.