Last year, as the last of the snow was melting from around our house at the end of March, a blob of lingering snow caught my eye. “It looks like a duck,” I may have thought. On second glance, it looked like a rabbit. And then I realized that I had spotted the rare wild rabbit-duck. The rabbit-duck is most frequently seen in captivity, on display in discussions of optical illusions, visual processing, and perceptual organization. (The rabbit-duck even has a picture book about it. Though that may actually be about the duck-rabbit.)
What say you? Do you see a rabbit? Do you see a duck? Or do you, perhaps, simply see a blob of dirty melting snow?
Hi Alejna —
I’m not sure what it says about me but I first saw a duck and only saw a rabbit after reading your comments about the photo! :)