Reddit is mumbling because the plant produces the same flower as a hummingbird!

Recently, Reddit OctopusPrime users have posted a very interesting photo on r / NatureIsF * ckingLit (roughly translated: Nature is scary), making tens of thousands of members feel confused.

"See if these flowers are like hummingbirds!" OctopusPrime said.

Indeed, in his hands are 2 strange flowers that originally thought 2 real hummingbirds! Just two days ago, the above photo attracted nearly 48,000 upvotes and 400 comments expressed surprise.

In the comment section, most Reddit users have a common question: Is this flower a hummingbird thanks to a "Bates-like" defense mechanism or "Pareidolia," where does it look and creature and face?

Mimicking Bates style: is a type of imitation in biology named after English naturalist Henry Walter Bates. In it, prey (usually harmless) will imitate, disguise to be similar to their natural enemies to avoid being hunted and killed. A typical example is a beetle fly, which makes birds afraid to attack. Or like butterflies, disguising themselves as "hard to swallow" species to birds from cravings.

Some flies are fake bees for survival.

Pareidolia: Sometimes, anyone can suddenly see one or more faces on objects or locations that are difficult to appear like clouds, lakes or even the moon.

This phenomenon is called Pareidolia or facial illusion , when a region in the brain is awakened to analyze and identify the face from images obtained from the eye. This kind of illusion happens to anyone, even the "face-to-face" scientists for them.

According to the answer of user Reddit SolitaryBee, getting 1400 upvotes: The flower looks like a hummingbird is probably Pareidolia.

First, this flower has the scientific name Crotalaria grahamiana , which grows mainly in the remote and arid region of Australia. It is very likely that indigenous Australians have bred or traded this plant because it produces hummingbird-like flowers. However, there is no clear evidence of horticulture or decorative flowers in native Australian culture. In addition to scarcity of water and food, flower breeding becomes quite a waste.

And why say, this is Pareidolia, not dead muscle imitating Bates , because:

1. The visual and mechanism of human information acquisition differs from other animals. OK we see it is like a bird but it doesn't mean that bees and birds naturally see the same thing.
2. At certain angles it's like hummingbirds, the rest are not - seeing this picture is clear:
3. Honestly, bees are attracted to flowers, not birds. Most birds are enemies of bees. The flower that evolves to look like a bird is absurd, this is just a coincidence of creation.
4. Most importantly, there are no hummingbirds in Australia.