Topics: Animals, Social Media, Weird, Viral, Twitter
Often, the beauty and complexity of nature can take your breath away.
Just before Christmas, explorers discovered that the world's largest, deep turquoise waterfall is actually underwater, and back in October, Aussie locals were stunned when their wetlands suddenly turned pink in extremely mysterious circumstances.
This week, however, nature has taken a handful of people's breath away for all the wrong reasons.
That's because a somewhat disturbing video showing what an owl's inner ear actually looks like, has gone viral online.
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The much-loved Twitter account @fasc1nate - which often shares jaw-dropping science, gadgets, history, art and nature content - shared the controversial video, which appears to have been supplied to them by another user.
In the clip, a well-trained animal handler can be seen holding a sweet, yellow-eyed little owl - otherwise known as as the owl of Athena/Minerva - in their hands.
Moving some of the bird's features that surround its circular face out of the way, the camera then zooms in on an alien-like hole, which wasn't previously visible.
Inside the ear appears several intricate-looking glands and peculiar muscles, which - quite frankly - look like the body part of a Stranger Things villain.
And by the looks of things, hundreds of squeamish viewers of the video have been left just as traumatised as me.
"Looks really creepy to me.. why’s it that way??" one social media user begged to know.
Another penned: "That's crazy", whilst a third went on to note, "No wonder they can hear from miles away".
Another compared the bird's inner ear to an eyeball, whilst a fifth admitted, "I always thought they were earless".
"How can I unsee it?" another implored.
Others, however, took the opportunity to marvel at Mother Nature's masterpiece.
"Ah, the intricacies of an owls anatomy never cease to amaze me," one fan commented.
Another described the video as an 'incredible demo', whilst a third wrote: "Wow, I never knew owls had these hidden ear secrets! Mind blown!"
If you're a fan of an eye-opening animal story, we've got plenty more where that came from.
Just last week, divers were left frightened for their lives after running into giant deep sea shark that's bigger than their submarine.
And for those who prefer life on land than at sea, scientists last month celebrated a huge milestone after the world's first ever cloned monkey surpassed two years.
Honestly, what a weird and wonderful world we live in...
