By Petr Navovy | Miscellaneous | March 14, 2019 |
By Petr Navovy | Miscellaneous | March 14, 2019 |
Look, nature does some freaky shit. I know this. You know this. The huntsman spider knows this (as well as where you live. It’s in fact behind you right now. No, not there. Look behind that clock. The big clock.)
The bateleur is a colourful, short-tailed eagle found mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. It is a medium-sized eagle, with an average wingspan of 186cm. It spends significant stretches of time airborne—up to eight or nine hours per day—often in low-altitude glides, rocking from side-to-side on its wings while flying, in behaviour that is indicative of its name—‘bateleur’ being French for ‘tumbler’ or ‘tightrope walker’.
It is also known to occasionally perform a ‘dancing’ sort of display. Which sometimes looks like this:
And then, apparently, which sometimes looks like this:
🔥 The dance of the Bateleur eagle 🔥 from r/NatureIsFuckingLit
Now, upon watching that I immediately had one thought. A thought that was echoed straight away by the top comment underneath that post, and by several in the thread that followed:
That is definitely, 100%, just a dude in a bateleur eagle suit. Furthermore, I would contend that it is in fact a white dude. Actually, I’m sure that I myself have personally done that movement at some point in a pub somewhere. Possibly multiple times. And in fact, while I don’t remember ever owning a bateleur eagle suit, if anyone has better memories of London in the mid 2010’s then please pipe up and just confirm it: That’s me, right?