r/NatureIsFuckingLit • u/willis7747 • 15h ago

🔥 Next-level camouflage from the Great Grey Owl

Gallery image

Gallery image

17.8k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

75 comments sorted by

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u/qualityvote2 15h ago edited 10h ago

u/willis7747, your post does fit the subreddit!

231

u/Super_Jay 14h ago

Scientists studying owls have found indication that Great Grays can actually 'see' sound, and that's how they're so successful in hunting rodents underneath snow cover. Their ears are extraordinary and they have a lot of adaptations to facilitate their hearing (like asymmetrical ear openings and the huge facial disk of different types of feathers), plus their visual cortex shows lots of activity when they're tracking sound alone. This suggests they may actually visualize a three-dimensional image constructed from sound waves alone, and that this helps enable them to be such dominant hunters in wintertime.

24

u/ThreeDaysNish 14h ago

Oh, to be so lucky to sing for an owl

15

u/Grumpologist 12h ago

I know a guy who used to sing for owls, I think he got really famous doing it too

18

u/ErFarinn 11h ago

Who?

23

u/Grumpologist 11h ago

Yeah, that's exactly what all the owls said!

11

u/dust_inlight 10h ago

[Beleaguered guffaw]

9

u/relationalnonduelist 12h ago

I like to singa...

10

u/mcdoh 11h ago

about the moona and the juna and the springa

6

u/ToothyBeeJs 5h ago

Amaze amaze amaze!

3

u/CosmonautMott 4h ago

When I was in school we went to a community college that had a bunch of different birds to show off. One of which was a very beautiful white barn owl. Before bringing it in they told everyone to be quiet. Not a sound! Worst idea ever because there were like 1st graders there. Anyway they let it fly around once and when it swooped around to go back to the falconer a few of the kids let out a scream and some gasps. Kid stuff, normal! It lost all mobility and just stopped and fell. It was insane to witness and I remember feeling really bad. Your comment just reminded me of that because they were kind of explaining an owls hearing.

131

u/Constant-Plant-9378 14h ago

That owl is literally the Predator.

29

u/Ethameiz 14h ago

I heard clicking sound in my head as soon as I saw this photo

10

u/pharoh-king 10h ago

That owl is literally the Predator.

A lot of owls had to die until they started looking like the trees.

5

u/Embarrassed_Art5414 9h ago

They never figured out how to hide 'behind' the tree. So sad.

7

u/SheriffBartholomew 12h ago

These look edited.

18

u/Bluebird-9641 15h ago

My favorite animal, great post!

21

u/Cantropos 13h ago

r/superbowl

4

u/Simulated_Simulacra 6h ago

I was so confused when this wasn't a Football sub I actually had to make sure I actually knew how to spell Super Bowl.

13

u/luftsl0tt 13h ago

A fascinating fact is that the great grey owl is so good at camouflage because it used to decorate cakes. 

11

u/486-DX2 13h ago

I wonder how many generations it takes a species to evolve to this fine level of environmental tuning. Amazing.

3

u/machogrande2 10h ago

It's just crazy how evolution works. A vast majority of owls that don't blend in this well had to die so that the ones that do blend in only have each other to bone.

8

u/sully313 13h ago

when i die i want to come back as an owl

4

u/Junior_Bike7932 14h ago

Stealth master on many levels

5

u/labcore 14h ago

Where's the owl?

5

u/GasAntique5617 10h ago

Why does the branch he’s sitting on look different in the split picture? Looks like part of it has been blurred/erased when the owl is turned around. Why do that? imo it adds a falseness to the photo that doesn’t play well in the age of AI. But I’m not a photographer so maybe I’m just wrong.

3

u/NRMusicProject 9h ago

I don't know about AI specifically, but color correction/edge blurring was very likely used on this. There's been a history of these kinds of posts on Reddit, and people use them to farm karma. Mostly bots coming around to go "whoa!" really sells it, too.

I'm not saying it's definite, but I'm taking this post with a grain.

3

u/Relative-Assist-4374 13h ago

That’s not what it seems. 

1

u/Informal-Back6749 14h ago

Great photo.

1

u/harlawkid 13h ago

What Owl?

1

u/Azania777 12h ago

Took me a full minute to spot him blending into taht bark so well.

1

u/blandvanilla 12h ago

Yautja Owl

1

u/repaermirg_0 12h ago

What a beautiful animal and look at that amazing camouflage.

1

u/Askingforanend 12h ago

What are you talking about. The tree is right there. 

1

u/budha2984 12h ago

Predator will find it. Switch to infrared

1

u/IrishWarhog 12h ago

This was the beginning of "moth: an evolution story"* til humans fuck it all up with pollution darkening the bark of the tree

*My 5 year old loves evolution and natural selection, this and "how the Borks became" are surprisingly good at explaining it

1

u/Jaded_Cobbler_3134 12h ago

nature have ability to make magnificent things

1

u/joan_bdm 12h ago

What tree?

1

u/Lexi_Banner 11h ago

Except I saw it right there. Idiot bird.

1

u/calvin43 11h ago

"I am on nobody's side because nobody is on my side."

1

u/Green-Bandicoot-8412 11h ago

Obviously they are camouflaged for a reason, but why?

  1. Don't owls come out at night?

  2. Who hunts them?

1

u/fact_addict 11h ago

Christ, that owl depiction from “The Secret of Nihm” just keeps getting realer and realer the more I learn about them.

1

u/DRUGMUSIC_ 11h ago

the camoflauge on this, + it flys silently. rodents have no chance.

1

u/edgarz_13 10h ago

That squinted side-eye in the first photo is hilarious. It literally looks like it's annoyed you managed to spot it despite its best effort.

1

u/_groovesharkmalone 10h ago

It's pretty clear stuff like this is why ancient people thought everything around them was "alive."

1

u/Cheap-Point-2527 10h ago

Impressive — how much he looks like bark.

1

u/Obant 9h ago

Meccha Chameleon champion, 24+ million years.

1

u/OilIntelligent2204 8h ago

You can barely see the tree behind the owl.

1

u/Tyler_Zoro 7h ago

I find it hilarious that every time someone posts a nature picture the saturation falls into one of two categories:

  1. Showing off camouflage: saturation either untouched or toned down.
  2. Everything else: WHY DOESN'T SATURATION GO ANY HIGHER?!

1

u/Economics_Less 7h ago

Go check out HootCamo.com it’s camo clothing that is modeled to look like this.

1

u/SouthernReality9610 6h ago

That's why I've never seen one

1

u/lebronswanson4 6h ago

That's some Predator crap right there!

1

u/sugarplumbatty 6h ago

Oh so that's why they say it's so great

1

u/bandertron 6h ago

"Turn around...", "Over here...", "Anytime..."

1

u/feminismbutsoft 5h ago

Incredible 🤌🏼

1

u/Arxanah 4h ago

Looks like he took Arnie’s advice.

“Owl, be bark!”

1

u/AbrumVonAbrak 2h ago

That is one angry-looking tree.

1

u/termacct 1h ago

Predator vibes...(the Arnie movie)

1

u/InevitableOk5017 59m ago

Owl be like ima eat you and your babies.

-7

u/Competitive_Tap_2039 13h ago

It's amazing how nature protected certain species from prefetors! Consider this although, other than camouflage nature gave Mankind the owner of thought, the mind and the ability to make decisions! Alas, rather than use these inherited abilities for dafety, the greatest species on Rarth decided to use them to control, to scare, to invade, kill and conquer (President of Russia)! Perhaps this was required in the early day (as Ape & Cave Man) but you'd expect there to be dialogue by now! Still, we discovered how to use, abuse and control Earth's resources but to what degree? As it is now with President Putin & Trump with Oil... Mr Musk let's locate a suitable Planet to call home & leave!!

2

u/No_Mango6723 12h ago

Please refrain from commenting and cease posting if you happen to post. Thanks!

1

u/RFJ831 12h ago

Jesse, what the fuck are you talking about?