The video of a crow that looks scarily like a gorilla has now been doing the rounds on the internet. The ‘gorilla crow’ which was brought to the world’s attention by @keita_simpson at Parco shopping centre in Nagoya, Japan, looks quite creepy. Keitaro said that he first found the crow to be looking like a zombie, but after observing it for some time, he could see that it was beautiful. Netizens have begun to make memes on the weird pose of the bird.

Don’t be alarmed by this creature, beacuse finally, we have some clarity as to it’s odd behaviour. Kaeli Swift from the University of Washington explained saying: “First, this is a large-billed crow, which is why the face is looking a little out of proportion. Second, this bird is not missing its legs and propping itself up with its wings, that would be physically impossible. Also, not that it’s relevant to the answer, but a crow without legs couldn’t fly, because it couldn’t generate any lift. So legless crow is a dead crow. 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.”

Well, compared to all the crazy things we humans are capable of, this turned out to be quite normal. The bird was just cooling off in the hot weather. If you were dreaming about some new species with special powers, sorry to disappoint you.

朝から衝撃をありがとう。
心臓に悪い、 pic.twitter.com/fDlOGiumD6

— LIWJATAN (@keita_simpson) June 20, 2019

FYI, there’s a few people out there pretending to be the OP, but as far as I can tell this is the original. https://t.co/PT3uov3KxT

— Kaeli Swift, PhD (@corvidresearch) June 24, 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 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

There’s a very strange (uncredited) video of crow making the rounds on reddit. Here’s the deal. First, this is a large-billed crow, which is why the face is looking a little out of proportion. pic.twitter.com/LUYuMimvAp

— Kaeli Swift, PhD (@corvidresearch) June 22, 2019