By Vurdlak on June 7, 2010, with 216 Comments
Rob Samborn sent me the attached photo on Wednesday. What it appears to be is a woman playing with a happy giant turtle. Maybe this isn’t one of the best optical illusions the world has seen, but Rob managed to trick me, and this isn’t something that happens so often to a “self-proclaimed” optical illusion professional like me.
Try and decode this illusion for yourselves, and if nothing else helps, then you may click the link below to expand the hidden solution. Did Rob manage to fool you as well, or was I the only sucker in town? I’m eager to hear your thoughts!
If you’re wondering why there was no update on Saturday, I can assure you it was an isolated incident, because it took almost whole day to reinstall my PC. I have formatted my disk and finally decided to give Win 7 a try. You know how it is when you’re updating your operating system, installing programs, drivers, etc – a never ending story.
Expandable Solution:
(57 votes)
OK. If you squint and look from the peripheral, the nostrils are turtle eyes. I knew it was a horse the whole time. Besides a turtle would not be up that high.
i knew it wasn’t a turtle the i realized, HAHAHHA actually decent lol
Its not really an optical illusion, its a photo bomb.
lol i couldnt see the turtle until you explained it.
a turtle? a giant turtle? a giant turtle in the desert?
hummm turtel??? All I see is a camel.
Turtle??? Lokos like the front of a camel/horse.
Can you photoshop it up to emphasize what this illusion should look like?
Come on… REALLY?!
Knew from the first look it was a horse.
The tags gave it away
It looks like a camels noise and mouth to me.
I kinda saw it straight away.
Spolier
The big nose that everyone thinks is horses nose is infact the turtle.
Where the nostrils are, thats the turltes eye.
no turtle there, i totally saw the muzzle of horse and others in the background. But then again that might be due to the fact that i’ve been around horse’s my entire life.
but sorry their was NO turtle in the picture for me….
i thought it was a camel mouth
That is a really poor optical illusion, but since the optical illusion that you posted yesterday was so good I can forgive you.
I’ve seen many giant tortoises, so I was looking for the wrong thing. I saw the horse and was looking for the turtle, the opposite of what Vurdlak did.
wow took me forever to see the “turtle”… I was like wtf is this pic of a woman and a horses nose..
I am so confused, how is this supposed to look like a turtle?!? All I see is a horse’s mouth. It is quite obvious.
Seriously? A turtle? Methinks you need to spend more time outside and less on the computer.
haha, it’s just a horse’s head. I found got that when I looked at the picture upside-down.
dude…. you can tell its a horse.
Turtle? What turtle?
i thought it was a horse
it didnt look anything like a turtle
Oh man, it took me hours to see the turtle.
Try to picture the nostril as an eye, the mouth stays the mouth, and all the right part of the horse head becomes the turtle neck.
The horses head is meant to be the turtle right?
I can’t see a turtle. All I see is a camel.
Ok, so it’s not a camel, but I think a camel is closer to the truth than a turtle.
hahahaha, i see it!!!!
Funny thing is… I didn’t read the title/caption first. When it mentioned a turtle, I though “the lady is petting a horse.” I had trouble shifting my perspective to think the horse snout was a turtle.
lol, inventive crop, but obvious from the ouset!
i didnt see a turtle, i saw the nose of a horse
then i opened the solution and thought oh, it is a horse..
Call me a jackass but that’s a burro, Bro
Nope didn’t fool me for a second, just guessed the animal wrong, mine had two humps
its a horse & how can u misteke such beaty for a TURLE!!! i only saw the horse but can see the “turtle” now
Took a while to see the turtle (turtle’s head would have helped) The horse’s nostrils are the turtles eyes
At first, i didn’t see any turtle, but then I understand and I laughed. It’s a funny one!
I immediatly saw the original animal, and it’s been quiet hard to see the turtle !!!!!
seems you were the onlu sucker i’m afraid. I saw what it really was immediately
To me it looked like a horse’s/donkey’s nose and mouth all along. I had to read the text in order to see a turtle… Turtles don’t have teeth and they have scales aand it was too high to be a turtle. And it looks more like a sock-puppet than a turtle.
It took a while but the nostral is the turtles eye…..cool
its a hurtle!
or a torse…
I thought it was a camel – then I looked with different focus and saw the turtle. Clicked on the solution and was not surprised to see that it was a nostril.
It should look that the head of a turtle…Like, when the turtle is stretching its head ouot…The Nostril is the turtles eyes.
I can see the quality in this illusion, though the only thing that i saw, too was a Donkey’s head..
ok my first thought was a camel and then a horse… i thought the turtle was some place in the back or the ppl back there should look like one or sth. wierd and not an illusion for me at all
Hmm… No turtle, just saw it for what it was. I can only agree with you, sucker!
it was obvious from the first look, that it´s a horses head.. not a very good “illusion”
lol? >< I saw what I thought to be a donkey all this time.. Turned out to be a horse!
Seriously though.. After figuring out the illusion was supposed to be, I realised I could sort of somewhat see a wierd looking turtle haha ;s
i really thought it was some kind of horse not a turtle
Try as I might I just can’t see the turtle. But then again I’m from the midwest.
The desert-y environment and horses in the background made it obvious. It took me a while to see the turtle. Also, don’t turtles live in the water?
worst illusion so far…this doesn’t look like a turtle
It’s a horses nose and mouth to my eyes.
Haha, when i first saw the picture i thought “how is that person playing with a horse an optical illusion??”. But then, after you told me it was a turtle, i really thought it was a turtle (just hold closer to the camera so it looks huge) and couldn’t see the horse again.
I then was really surprised that it actually was a horse after i saw the solution ^^
I knew it was horse from the beginning, that’s very easy. I had to look for a minute to see a turtle. But when I saw it, I realized that some people may think it really is a turtle
I don’t think it ever looked like a turtle, maybe because I grew up on a farm.
Hey… Since i knew it was meant to be an optical illusion so was thinking of all the impossible items.. :) I took it to be a camel’s mouth!!! But now i know it’s a horse… :)
Been a great fan of yours!!!
I can’t see the turtle :/.
ahem …. hmmmm …. hmmmmmm ….. mmmmmhmmmmmm …… nope, cant see it ! You could be the only sucker in town :-D
Perhaps being raised in the sticks in Texas had an effect on me but , a horse is a horse of course .
I grew up around horses. I saw what it was right away, I had trouble seeing the “turtle” right away
It took me a while to figure out that you thought it was the head of a turtle. When I first saw it, I instantly thought it was the nose of a horse. (Besides, Why would there be a giant turtle in the middle of a desert?! )
I never saw a turtle… even without reading the title… All I’ve seen and continue to see is half camel head… that’s it.. a turtle??? Never! Where????
All I saw was a horse nose. Right from the beginning.
Still can’t see a turtle.
I saw the animals in the background first so I had to convince my brain to see the turtle :P
I could never see the turtle, only ever saw the horse.
ummm what? i do not get it, at all. it’s a horse blatantly…what turtle??
i wondered why is it called giant turtle, when i see camel…..:P
I had to make an effort to even see the turtle at all.
All i see is a horse were was the turtle?
Sorry, didn’t look like a turtle at all to me. I knew what it was right away.
The nostrils are the eyes of the “turtle” saw it after like 20 seconds
The nose hole of the horse is suppose to be the turtles eye
Buy a MAC. You shouldn’t have as many troubles.
You have to be the only sucker in town. anyone who has been close to a horse knows a horseface when they see one !!
I didnt see a turtise untill oscar said look at the nostrill as an eye
You usually do better than this… I suppose that you can see the turtle easy enough. Hard to look past the tattoo of horses running on her arm… and the horse face. It’s a silly stretch.
umm, sorry, no turtle. once i went cross eyed i saw the turtle.. but it looked lik a puppet… i new rite away wht it ws.
I guess growing up in horse country left me puzzled about where the turtle was. A good illusion for folks who actually know what a giant turtle looks like :)
Well, it sure tricked me!