Mother Nature does nothing by accident, and we are in a continual, never-ending process of uncovering all of her secrets.
Since so many new scientific discoveries are made each day, it's pretty common practice for the people of the internet to build communities surrounding the identification of the weird, the wicked, and the wonderful when it comes to the natural world.
"Check out these flowers," he wrote, "They look like tiny hummingbirds!"
Reddit immediately swarmed the post with questions and assumptions, trying to identify just how a flower could be shaped so specifically like a animal.
A fair number of birds, insects, and reptiles have the capability to change their appearance based on their surroundings, so it isn't a far stretch to think that plants may be able to do the same.
"Is this Batesian mimicry or pareidolia?" one user asked, "Any biologist to chime in?"
A biologist commented that in his opinion, this phenomenon is Pareidolia, meaning that our brains are tricked into seeing the petals as being shaped like a hummingbird.
"Comparing this flower to the 'Hummingbird' Crotalaria one can see a few small changes in the petals (sweep forward in angle, lengthen, and come to point) can achieve the bird resemblance."
The biologist continued to explain that not only are there no birds small enough in Australia for the flowers to mimic, but Australia doesn't have any hummingbirds at all.
The plant is also referred to as "the regal bird flower" likely because of its appearance.
Whether you're of the opinion that we give art our own meaning or that 'life imitates art", we can all agree that these flowers are breathtaking.
It grows in sandy areas and along beaches in Northern Australia, which unfortunately means that unless you are currently on the continent, you won't be able to see the hummingbird flowers in person anytime soon.
For now, these beautiful photos will have to suffice.
h/t: Reddit
