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Here at RocketNews24, we never cease to be amazed by the animals of the world, whether they be pets, like floating dogs, or wild ones like the ezo momonga. One of the coolest parts of the animal kingdom is that it’s full of creatures that have funky feathers, colors or skills that are sometimes part of intricate camouflage or mimicry.

Usually, camouflage helps animals blend into their surroundings, or they will use mimicry to make themselves look like a different animal, plant or inanimate object — preferably ones that give them the appearance of being much more dangerous than they really are, so predators won’t mess with them. One funny Japanese bird seems to have misunderstood the concept of mimicry, though, and turned out looking a lot like a harmless, if not healthy, food. 

Meet the yoshigoior the Yellow Bittern, a kind of migratory heron native to Japan and much of the Asian continent. Try to look past his funny legs for now and try to focus on his funny little body instead.

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Now, compare his body to this ingredient commonly used in Japanese and Korean cuisine: Myoga, Japanese ginger.

▼ Can you see the resemblance?

Mioga

The uncanny similarities between the two very different things was brought to the attention of Internet thanks to Twitter user @homonoyamai2 back in March.

[tweet https://twitter.com/homonoyamai2/status/581376502429659136 align=center]

“The myoga spirit takes the form of a yoshigoi. Bird-watchers are amazed at their terrible mimicry. The more you look at it, the more uneasy you get”

Apparently other Twitter users, such as @okie_andy, also can’t help seeing myoga when they gaze upon this funny bird.

[tweet https://twitter.com/okie_andy/status/605014927816794112 align=center]

“At certain times of year I see yoshigoi around. I don’t see a bird at all, I only see myoga.

The comparison has managed to catch the attention of many Japanese netizens who may never look at yoshigoi the same way ever again:

“Now I can’t see anything but [myoga]!”
“I wonder if it would it taste like myoga if you ate it?”
“It looks more like myoga than I could have even imagined!”
“The myoga‘s moving.”

People say the yoshigoi are really bad at mimicry, but one commenter looked at it from a different angle, suggesting that if we humans come to only see myoga when we look at the bird, other animals are also sure to be confused over whether it is, in fact, a bird or not, and if they don’t know what it is, they won’t want to eat it! That’s a successful tactic, right?

While the myoga outfit is really stunning, Netizens have also been noticing something else pretty funny about this silly bird, its legs.

▼ Take another look.

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What the heck is this creature? One commenter suggested that it may be “half-myoga, half-frog.” Others suggest a distant relation to camels.

Half-frog or walking myoga, we may all differ in what we think it looks like, but we can probably all agree that it is one funky looking bird. What do you see?

▼ Ginger or not, he’s definitely funny looking.

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Cow

▼ And just for fun…

Source: Twitter (12) via Hamusoku
Top Image: Wikimedia Commons (Mariko GODA) and Twitter (@okie_andy) (edited by RocketNews24)
Images: Twitter (12), Wikimedia Commons (Mariko GODACp9asngf)