The internet was collectively baffled by this curious crow, offering up various theories to try to explain the ‘crowilla.’ The ‘no legs’ theory was quickly blown out of the water, while people started having a little fun with the gorilla comparison, making memes and cool drawings out of the hybrid creature. 

This video of a crow striking a gorilla-like pose has puzzled the internet

 

— LIWJATAN (@keita_simpson) June 20, 2019

People decided to have a little fun with the ‘crowilla,’ coming up with their own take on the hybrid creature

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After this glorious spasm of creativity inspired by the bizarre image of the crowilla, Kaeli Swift, a crow researcher and author of the blog Corvid Research, arrived on the scene to give some clarity to the situation. Dr. Swift, who did her Ph.D. in animal behavior specializing in corvids, says that she believes that the crow might be sick.

“If you look at the bird’s chest you can see it’s more V-shaped than round, that indicates that it is emaciated,” she told Bored Panda. “Since malnourished or sick birds will droop their wings like that, that could explain the behavior entirely, especially because its mouth isn’t open or its head cocked to one side, which is part of the typical sunning posture as I indicated in my drawings. But they two aren’t mutually exclusive, so it could have been a malnourished bird that was trying to sun.”

Eventually, an expert stepped in with her take on the bizarre illusion

Image credits: corvidresearch

Image credits: corvidresearch

Image credits: corvidresearch

Image credits: corvidresearch

Image credits: corvidresearch

“The main things that we know are that it’s an adult, it’s emaciated, and it has legs,” Dr. Swift continued. “The unknowns are why it’s drooping its wings… it could have been sunning, it could be weakness. I guess we also can’t say for sure that the tail is present but obscured. It might just be missing. They lose their tails sometimes after run-ins with predators.”

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Image credits: corvidresearch

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Image credits: corvidresearch

People seemed to prefer the ‘crowilla’ explanation though and continued to have fun with the speculation

So most of the mystery has been solved thanks to the input of Dr. Swift.

Still, though, people seemed to prefer to believe in the existence of the crowilla and continued to have fun with the concept. As you can see, the mischievous, crafty crow still inspires all kind of myths and stories!

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Image credits: corvidresearch

Dr. Swift told us that she was first drawn to studying these remarkable creatures for their amazing intelligence. “I enjoy studying these birds because their intelligence so closely resembles that of our closest relatives, and yet their brains are built differently,” she explained. “It’s a really cool opportunity to learn about the convergent evolution of cognition.”

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“I also just find them delightful and fascinating. They do so many interesting things!”

Image credits: corvidresearch

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What do you think? What does the crow symbolize for you? Do you see them often in your area? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

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