35+ Animal Optical Illusions That’ll Make Your Eyes and Brain Sore

At first glance, you might wonder how you’ve never heard of a dog that was bigger than a house. Surely, a real-life Clifford would be a bit more widely known?

The good news is that this pup isn’t actually too big to have a home. Instead, he simply stuck his head into a very realistic dollhouse, making it look as though he broke through the door to ask for the biggest bowl of dog food you’ve ever seen.

There are certain things that would make even the cutest animal frightening. For instance, you might take a second before stepping toward an animal that looks dangerous.

That includes a cute pet smiling to reveal a mouth full of scary teeth. Yet, the initial fear that this photo gives off isn’t warranted. Those aren’t actually the razor-sharp teeth of a scary beast. This little guy was just showing off the wicker furniture behind him.

Seeing a dog on the subway might not always make you do a double-take. But, there’s something about this dog that stands out just a little bit more. If you don’t quite see it from the first picture, this person was kind enough to illustrate the illusion for you.

While we understand that this dog is sitting in the backpack, we can’t unsee this interpretation of the scene either. How nice of that human to act as an armrest for their dog, too!

Everyone wants plenty of cute pictures of their pet to keep around. After all, who doesn’t miss their four-legged friend even on short trips away from home? On the other hand, the pictures you get of your pet aren’t always as cute.

This one doggo didn’t even attempt to make her owner look good either. Still, it’s rather impressive that their faces lined up so perfectly for a picture like this, even if the end result isn’t as photogenic as they had hoped.

There are a lot of animal illusions that make you wonder how an animal got themselves into a certain position or why they look so weird in a specific instance. Sometimes you even have to pause and ask yourself what animal you’re looking at.

At first glance, it’s easy to mistake this image for a crow rather than a cat — but with a little bit of inspection — you’ll be able to tell that’s an ear, not a beak. We’re pretty sure this cat won’t fly away.

So far, we’ve seen a lot of optical illusions made up of animals. What about an optical illusion that makes something inanimate resemble an animal you recognize? When this person sat down for a cup of coffee, they were probably startled by what they saw.

No one wants anything in their coffee that isn’t supposed to be there, much less an entire owl! Not to mention, this one doesn’t look super thrilled to see us. Luckily, if he’s too angry, you can just stir the coffee.

If you’ve ever owned a cat, you know that, sometimes, they choose the inedible as a snack. Almost every cat owner has wrestled away plastic or stolen food at some point.

This cat looks like he’s upped his game, though. Why stop at a bit of discarded plastic for a snack when you can munch on the entire fence in the backyard? Don’t worry — this cat is just resting its head atop the pole and isn’t eating anything at all.

Not every goat looks the same. You might see ones with different horns, colors, patterns, and sizes. However, there are a few things you expect. For instance, you probably don’t expect two heads on a goat — one on each end.

You’d think that such an animal would be a scientific marvel and plenty popular. Well, you haven’t missed out on any goat news. These two just happen to blend into one another, sitting side-by-side.

In general, horses can seem pretty frightening to some. Sure — they’re fairly docile and gentle but they’re still large animals. There are some things that you usually don’t have to worry about when you walk up to a horse.

Even if you love horses, you’d probably let loose a scream if a second, smaller horse descended out of their mouth. Luckily, we’re safe from the two horses in this picture.

There’s nothing that can quite make an optical illusion quite like light and shadow. With the right shadow in the right place, it seems like anything is possible.

That includes the possibility that a farm animal laying down for a quick nap in the fields might just levitate and float away. The good news is that this particular sleepy animal is fine and safe on the ground. It’s only his friend standing guard with a long shadow that makes him look so powerful.

When you first look at this picture, you might think that you’ve stumbled across a movie concept for your favorite fantasy novel. Maybe this is the climactic wedding scene finally happening through direct visuals.

Well, that’s not quite the case and this bride isn’t the centaur you might think at first glance. The culprit here is the full skirt on the wedding gown. It covers her legs and any signs of a saddle on the horse, making it look like maybe they’re just one and the same.

When you first look at this photo, you might wonder what led to this situation. Who ends the night by laying down with a raw chicken on the back of their thighs? This cuddle partner isn’t a chicken waiting for the oven to preheat, though.

On the contrary, that’s this person’s Sphinx cat or, more simply, their hairless cat. After they’re done with their nap, they’ll simply go on about their business, safe from family dinners.

We already saw one person who looked like they might have finally brought their fantasy form into reality. Is this second photo finally a centaur? Unfortunately, there still aren’t any centaurs roaming about.

This gal only looks like she might fit the bill in this photo because her dog snuck up behind her at the last second. It helps that her pants matched her dog’s fur perfectly to nail the illusion.

When you first look at this photo, you probably have a lot of questions. We can’t blame you — it looks like something might be missing. Don’t worry! This little guy is perfectly okay.

However, we’d be worried about how easy it is to miss the step that this cat is peeking over. If nothing else, we’d definitely be mindful of this kitty if we were using that stair.

There’s something about a brightly-colored caterpillar that’s concerning. It seems like you’re not supposed to touch them and it’s probably safer to follow that instinct.

Before you start getting too nervous about caterpillars, however, take a second look at this image. It’s actually nine bright birds crammed close together on a thin branch. The frightening “spines” are actually all their beaks sticking up in the air. We wonder what they’re doing there.

There are certain animals that we all recognize even though we’ve never seen them. For example, most people can recognize a T-rex even though they died out long before we were around.

If you actually saw those animals, it’d probably seem a little jarring. This gaggle might make you think that some of the more frightening dinosaur movies were coming true. Yet, those aren’t brachiosaurus’ necks but just tails sticking up from a group of coatis.

Some illusions are funny just because what they look like at first is so far from the truth. This image might make you think that you were looking at something a little more shocking.

Not to worry — these aren’t a couple of bare backsides facing the camera. It’s just a couple of horses who want to grab a snack in the middle of the day. It doesn’t help that most people probably aren’t used to seeing horses from the underside of their jaw.

It’s happened to plenty of people over the years. You pick out a puppy, take it home, and find — to your surprise — that it grows into an incredibly large dog. This family looks like they must be the most surprised dog owners in the world then!

So, have they just gotten used to their gigantic doggo? No, the photographer was just a lot closer to this dog than the people you can see in the background. The perspective makes them look smaller.

There are some things you never expect to see. Your pet grabbing their own head out of a box seems like the stuff of your wildest nightmares.

Yet, it seems to be what you’re looking at right here — emphasis on “seems,” meaning you don’t have to worry because this kitty’s head is on straight. In fact, both cats’ heads are perfectly fine other than the fact that they seemed to be locked in a brawl.

This is another image that looks horrifying when you initially give it a glance. Why is this person holding a camel’s head at the zoo?!

The good news is that they’re not. They’re definitely touching the camel’s head and giving him a hardy snack but that head is still attached to a body. It just so happens to be a body that we can’t see in a picture from this angle.

These days, it’s hard to tell when you’ll find yourself posing for a picture. So, you have to be ready to pose or smile if you’re the type of person who likes to commemorate a moment on film.

It’s not always your friends that want to snap a photo, though. Even the local wildlife can get in on the fun — that is, if they have a camera. Well, it looks like this little guy is equipped and ready to go thanks to this reflection in the window.

There’s no telling what you’ll see on public transport. After all, it’s open to nearly everyone, so there’s a wide variety of clientele. This includes some faces you might not expect. A great example of that is this rider who seems to be a dog in a pink shirt.

Yet, we have the perspective to thank once again for this trick of the eye. While you can’t see it now, the owner of that pink shirt actually has a human head — that’s just their dog.

It seems like dogs just can’t help an optical illusion like this. We wonder what it is, although we’re sure it involves being so close to their owners all the time.

This is actually a pair sitting together here, not just a Saint Bernard that adopted a human body from the shoulders down. In all reality, this pup probably just wanted to look around and see what its owner saw.

We’ve all heard of Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guarded Hades. It looks like this modern pet owner might have found a descendant of this mythological pup.

Well, unfortunately, they actually haven’t. However, we can say that these two pups are just as adorable as they are alike. Not to mention, it seems like they’re pretty smitten with each other considering how they cuddle. The real image here is pretty wholesome!

This photo looks like something less than inviting when you first look at it. If you saw this alone on a farm, you’d probably high-tail it out of there.

After all, a cow that’s only a head is a pretty concerning sight. Yet, this cow has a body if you’re getting worried. Somehow, the person taking the photo has managed to find an angle at which the cow’s whole body was hidden behind its head.

If you don’t see the optical illusion here, start looking at the top of the photo and slowly pan down. Take in the dog from the top and slowly work your way down the image. For a moment, you probably thought that the dog’s mouth was closed.

If you don’t see their lower jaw, it looks as though this pup is just catching some sun in the yard — and then you notice that its mouth is completely open!

You might not know the ins and outs of cows but you probably know the basics. For instance, you know that they often sport black and white spots and that they have hooves.

You probably even know approximately how big a cow is. At the very least, you have enough of an idea to know that what you’re looking at here doesn’t quite seem right. Cows can’t really be that long, right? These two cows aren’t this long at the bare minimum.

This is more than just an optical illusion. In this photo, you have to look pretty hard to find what’s fooling you in the first place.

Still, we promise this isn’t just a woodpile. If you look closely, there’s actually an orange cat hidden in this pile of wood but it blends in perfectly. If you still can’t find it, try looking just above the Snapchat caption in the picture.

It’s interesting to look at animals because it’s a lot more likely you’ll find your cat’s doppelgänger than your own. This can lead to some interesting situations.

This cat found their own on none other than a bag of Meow Mix. Funnily enough, it almost looks as if they’re aware enough to make the joke themselves. In reality, they’re probably just trying to steal a bite of kibble while their parent captures a photo.

We all have our own sense of fashion. One person’s closet might include items that could look a little strange out of context. Maybe even more than a little strange.

So, what exactly has this cat gotten into? How did it make its back hips look like this? The help comes from the shape of what they’re “wearing” while they lounge on the bed. It was only the cups from a bra or dress that kept this look together.

This picture leads to a solid question. Do the cats in this image look real to you or would you guess they aren’t real? Of course, we don’t mean that there are fake cats inside this carrier.

Rather, it looks like these felines could be stitched onto the outside of the backpack. This effect is probably thanks to the grid pattern that covers their little faces.

When you first take a look at this image, you probably wonder how the white cat’s shadow is so well-defined. It seems like you could reach out and touch it!

You actually can if you want. As a matter of fact, that shadow might even love it if you scratched behind its ears or left out a can of cat food. That’s because the “shadow” in question is a second black cat sitting beside the white one.

Technology has gotten much smaller than it once was. We have nanotechnology and computers that are small enough to carry in your pocket for when you need them.

There’s some technology we just haven’t unlocked yet. Sadly, this includes what seems to be a helicopter for ants. This is just another case of perspective, making things seem like a totally different size.

If you see a soccer ball in your yard like this, you might want to wait a second before you try to kick it over to your friend.

As for this soccer ball, closer inspection made us realize that this is a living, breathing animal. Even worse, one that hisses! Maybe it’s best to give this soccer ball a snack and move on.

Usually, cats like to stick to where they live, maybe even staying primarily indoors. It might cause a cat owner some anxiety to see one here.

In an environment as loud and hectic as a rock concert, how do you even start to try and keep track of a cat? Well, the best way is to avoid the situation entirely and not bring your cat to the show at all. That’s why this person just put their hand up instead.