Leave it to optical illusions to blow our minds. It never fails to amuse us when we see how much what our eyes see and what our brains understand can mismatch. In some excellent optical illusions, the differences exist even when we are fully aware of them. Throughout history, there have been many famous optical illusions. Some of them are created intentionally, such as the Ames Window. If you don’t know about it, it creates an impression of moving back and forth while rotating 360 degrees. It is used in creating the illusion of a moving Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”.

Other optical illusions, and the majority of them, are accidental. It is arguable that understanding the tricks in them is a bit more interesting. After all, for these ones, no one is explicitly attempting to jumble our brains. Our brains jumble themselves. The popular X account Masssimo posted a picture that falls in this category. At first glance, it looks like there are two dogs and a person present in the picture. Readers can even think of the person as the owner of the dogs, out on a walk on snowy terrain. However, the reality is completely different. Take a look at the picture.

Image Credits: Twitter

The Secret Of The Optical Illusion
Believe it or not, this optical illusion has three dogs, and not just two, What’s more, is that no humans are in the picture. So, do you see the third dog now? If you did not, do not be worried, because the majority of us did not see it either. We did not see it even after being told the secret! The human is the third dog, by the way. It is not a person dressed in all black, sporting a furry jacket and hat. It is a black poodle. So have you seen the third dog yet?

Here’s another hint: the poodle is actually looking at the camera. The “person’s” hat is the poofy tail of the poodle. Finally, what looks like the scarf or stole is actually the cute head of the good boy. Here take a look at the dog being highlighted:

Image Credits: Twitter

Once you notice it, it might get easy to see it the next time. However, even then, it has been pretty difficult for a lot of viewers. According to the explanation of one of the viewers, the black fur makes it almost impossible for our brains to distinguish the shadows and contours. As such, our brains go by only the outline. The outline looks identical to that of a person facing away from us.

Netizens, of course, found the situation amusing and hilarious. One comment read: “10 years later: I still see two dogs and a man”. Another one took the help of ChatGPT to give their answer: “I agree with ChatGPT J” In the attached screenshots, even ChatGPT is convinced that the black figure is a person and not a dog. At the end of the day, optical illusions are amusing markers of our humanity, more than anything.