A Mirror or Two Zebras?

Adnan Abosh, the person who sent the newest illusion, wants to know whether there are two zebras in the picture, or only one with mirror effect. Adnan probably knows the answer, same as I do, but would still like to see how you see it. This is his email: “Dear Sir, I love your website, I visit it daily. Keep up the good work. See the zebra picture below, you might like to publish it.” This particular submission is very similar to the one with Two Horses and One Head, and Puzzled Cows.

© 2007 Michael Feistel

216 Replies to “A Mirror or Two Zebras?”

  1. I think there are two zebras ,one is behind the other and its head can’t be seen.Also if we check their patterns we can see that they have different ones :D:D:D.

  2. Nice one! It’s definitely two zebra’s. Just look at the stripe patern. On the left you can see stripes which are different to those you can see on the right.

  3. First. There are two zebras, I can see the “nose” of the zebra on the right under the neck of the zebra on the left

  4. in my opinion, the shadows are completely wrong for a mirror effect, also in my opinion, the one looking at you is the one on the left, as you can see part of the right one’s head below the left’s neck (just a part of the mouth

    and I suppose I could also yell FIRST! :P

  5. there are two zebras but they both have their heads looking towords u and the are bihind each other

    am i first comment?

  6. 2 head!!! check under the left neck. We can see the “snout”(if it’s mean other tinghs that the end of the head scuse me i’m a little bit poor in english) of the right zebra!

  7. They are probably 2 zebras…since the black stripes are not the same. Plus the one on the left looks more dirty. Otherwise it’s photoshop lol.

  8. i don’t think it’s mirrored because there are subtle differences between the two sides.
    maybe thats the way the artist made it though…maybe he mirrored it then added some changes to make it look more natural.
    or, who knows, maybe its some weird zebra birth defect! :D
    cool illusions, keep up the great work!

  9. definitely two zebras…
    first of all, the background is different on both sides, and also you can see the second zebra’s ear ( just above the right ear of the first zebra.
    1st?

  10. It’s two zebras, but the head belongs in whole to the left one. You can see the nose of the right zebra right underneath left zebra’s face.

    PS: first!

  11. there are two zebras. The one to the left is facing us and the one to the right is looking away. If you look closely, you can see wrinkles on the neck of the one to the left, showing it is facing the camera.

  12. its two zebra’s. the neck on the left has wrinkles in it because its facing the camera. the ohter zebra is just hidden behind.

  13. There are two zebras. The face is of the one on the left and the head of the one on the right is behind the other. It’s two because the patterns are different

  14. It’s deffinatley not a mirror.
    You can tell by looking at the Zebra’s stripes.
    Correct me if I’m wrong but, I beleive it is ‘2’ zebras?

  15. I believe that there are two zebras. They are not the same height, nor do they have the same pattern of stripes. The background on either side are different too.

  16. Thats just two zebras, awesome picture.
    the one on the right has its head behind the one on the left,
    and the stripes aren’t the same on each side, so if it is a mirror id really like to know where i could buy one that shows me something different on one side (:

  17. You can see it’s not a mirror, because the one on the right has different patterns on the neck, but it’s damn cool.

  18. I think there are two zebras : infact the background is not symmetric as the strips on the neck of the zebra.
    Nice trick, anyway.

  19. its two. easy to spot the differences in the stripes of the neck and such. however, the pic is pretty cool, must say.

  20. it’s obviously 2, u can see the nose of the second one, and it’s not a mirror image becasue the two sides aren’t identical

  21. Obviously two zebras
    There is a visible third ear as well as distinctive stripes that are not mirrored.
    Still interesting

  22. I think this illusion is 2 zebras as the pattern on the necks are different on them i love the illusions on this site

  23. It can’t be a mirror because the riht half is different from the left, but it looks wierd.
    btw. Love your website.

  24. It can’t be a mirror because the stripes on the necks don’t match. But it doesn’t look like two zebras either, because….well, it just seems too weird to be in real life.
    But then again, that’s what all these illusions on this website are about.
    Keep up the good work =)

  25. their looking in both directions. the Zebra on the right is looking away from the camera and the one on the left is looking towards the camera.

  26. Looks to me like the zebra on the left has its head turned toward the camera. Zebra on the right has its head behind the other – you can just spot the muzzle below the left zebra’s neck.

    Very nicely done.

  27. The one on the left is looking at the camera, because if you look closely, you can see the zebra on the right’s head behind the one on the left.

    it took me a while to realise, though :P

  28. hehe it’s quite good…
    but you can notice it’s two zebras
    their lines are completely different

    I’m First comment
    hahah

  29. If you’re looking at the zebras you might get confused, so look at the background. This is obviously different on either side, so not a mirrored effect. The zebra on the right has its head hidden behind the head of the one of the left.

  30. This is really cool! I wasn’t sure at first whether it was two zebras or a mirror, but after looking at the photo for a while I noticed that it was two zebras.

    But I won’t say what gave it away for me..

    Cool illusion :)

  31. This is two zebras because if you look at the stripes you can see that they are different on each side and on one side you can see the creases of the skin where the zebra turned its head, Nice illusion though.

    (WOO first comment!)

  32. First comment! WOO! It’s def two zebras. One is looking at the cam, while the other is right behind him looking straight… tricky tricky zebra’s.

  33. definitly 2 zebras as there are 3 ears and just under the left neck u can see the nose of the zebra behind. Awsome tho.

  34. definitely not a mirror. you can see the hair where the neck ends, on the left zebra. on the right one, there is no hair!

  35. This is an even better one than the horse one. but you can see after awhile that the zebra to the left is the one in front because if you look at its neck there is a crease as its head is turned.
    woo first post.

  36. Yes Two – but nice – you are great and add to the quality of life – one day we will be proud to say we have known you in the early days – have an even better 2009

  37. Cool picture, but unfortnuately you can see the muzzle of the second zebra and the head is slightly tilted towards the right something which would look weird on if you could only see the second body.. But still a brilliant photo :D

  38. Definately two different zebras the necks dont have the same stirps and also you can see the other zebras nose underneath the left zebras neck.

  39. It’s easy to tell with such distinctively patterned animals. Just look to see of the stripe pattern is mirrored.

    The head pattern is likely to be somewhat bilaterally symmetric, so it’s likely to look mirrored if it is a reflection or if it’s one zebra’s head. So look to the stripes on the neck. Since the zebra neck on the left hand has broad, solid stripes, and the neck on the right has stripes which split and join, I’d say it’s two zebras.

  40. What about a zebra with two bodies..?

    I’m pretty sure this is two zebras (take a look at the tree that is ONLY to the right).

    Love it! It looks so funny!

  41. I personaly think theres two Zebras,theres only one head because the other Zebras head is behind the other Zebra

  42. defiantly two zebras, you can see the lines on his neck dont match up with each other on bot sides. the one on the right has a different pattern. the zebra on the right has its head down behind the left zebra

  43. Lol it’s two Zebras. You can see the end of the mouth under the neck of the full Zebra.

    lol sorry if that spoiled it for y’all

  44. at first glance it looks like a mirror but now i can see its the zebra on the left thats looking at us while the one on the right has his head hidden.

  45. 1st Comment? If so Yay!

    I Say there are Two Zebra’s Because If you look at the Right Zebra’s Neck the patern there is different than the Zebra on the Left and you can see the other Zebra’s nose under the Zebra on the lefts neck.. (Lol i hope u ppls can understand me :P )

    This Site Is Kwl :D

  46. you can see the nose of the second zebra. and if you take notice of the background it can’t be mirror..the neck on the left belongs to the head.

    it is still cool :O

  47. Cool!, It’s not a mirrored zebra, the shapes on both sides are not identically :-P, pretty fun.

    Regards from Mexico!

  48. Nice work, did you take that your self, and my opinion is its two zebras because
    a) The background &
    b) the bottom lip under and to the left of the zebra face.
    :) very good picture

  49. Clearly it’s two zebras, the head belonging to the one on the left. There are two big giveaways: 1) The zebra on the left has a wrinkled neck because it is twisted toward the camera, while the zebra on the right has a smooth neck because it is looking away from the camera. And 2) You can see the zebra on the right’s snout beneath the other one’s neck.

  50. First comment? :)
    It is a very good illusion but you can see a piece of the other zebra’s mouth near the neck of the zebra with the head showing, so there are two zebras.

  51. A nice picture taken at the right time and place, but hardly worth asking (mostly) intelligent people whether it’s a mirror image or 2 zebra’s. Half a second looking at the sides of the face tells you the answer.

  52. its 2 zebras because if you look closely at the pattern os their necks, the one on the right has a white bit which is not on the left one.

    FIRST COMMENT!

  53. Pretty good this one… looks v. much like a mirror at first glance but you look further in and it becomes like a spot the difference: different stripes, folded neck skin on the turning zebra, the ear of the not turning one, taller not turning, tilted head etc. etc.

  54. Very nice!! First!!

    Took me a while to see the mirror. But then I saw the two heads put together form a head in the middle, looking straight at you.

  55. Have just seen Madagascar 2 with the kids so I loved this beautiful picture of two almost identical zebra – yes you can see the very tip of the second zebras mouth blow the neck of the 1st

  56. it is TWO zebras actually– we see the head of the one on the left.
    the other zebra’s head is behind it. To the left of the zebra’s snout, you see a black object peeking up from behind its body. that is the other zebra’s snout! really cool illusion-i think the zebra pattern really adds something…

  57. it’s two zebras: you can see the second one’s mouth down below the neck of the first one.
    Good illusion though!

  58. I,m guessing it’s two zebras because of subtle differences in the stripes on the necks, but moreso because the background isn’t mirrored – unless it’s photoshopped.

  59. There’s two zebra’s here you can tell cause the body’s dont have the same stripe markings, its just one zebra’s head behind another while the other is looking at the camera. Very nice effect though, it was very puzzling at first

  60. 1 ZEBRA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    it’s so obvious

    jk, (there are two) it amazes me at how many people think it is necessary to say “2 zebras” after it has been said one-hundred and something times
    (and how many people say first comment)

    Love the website btw

  61. There are two zebras – it’s not a mirror because

    1. The left and right backgrounds are different

    2. Their stripes are different.

    For the right Zebra, you can just barely see the bottom of its muzzle on the left zebra. The head is the head of the left zebra.

    Nice illusion. ^^

  62. It’s a great illusion! That’s what it’s meant to be. Those of you “experts” that claim everything you don’t understand is “photo shopped” quite frankly don’t know what you are talking about. If this was, as you say, “shopped” the little inconsistencies would have been removed. The snout, as observed by a previous poster, would have been removed. The stripes would be the same and the manes would be identical. Photo Shop, and similar products, do have a “mirror” capability, but it won’t do what you see in this image, as well as the others linked to in the accompanying text. Instead of criticizing, enjoy. If you can’t do that, take your negative comments somewhere else. We come here to enjoy the efforts of Vurdlak, not to be “educated” by someone who doesn’t know what they are talking about.

  63. FIRST!! lol…
    :D
    This is a great illusion, at first glance I had no idea if it was 2 zebras or a mirror! But then I noticed the different stripe patterns and the angle of the neck on the left zebra. But it looks like the head has 3 ears…

  64. Look behind the right ear you will see another ear. Also compare the stripes on their necks totally different….My answer two different one…

  65. Well, you’d think it was mirror. It’s two, because although the face looks similair on both sides, it isn’t exact.

  66. its a picture of two zebras. the one on the left is in front of the one on the right. the head of the zebra on the right is covered by the left zebra. nice shot!

  67. If you look at the bottom of the neck on the zebra in front, you can easily spot another chin under it, ergo, two zebras. It was a nice one though.

  68. Of course it is not photoshopped, the stripes differ. I think the only edit that has been made is the monochrome conversion into sepia (brown/white). Have you perhaps got a larger version for purchase ?

  69. You can tell it’s two zebras because if you look closely, underneath the neck of the zebra on the left, you can see a part of the other zebra’s mouth.

  70. The person who took the picture was using Photo Booth on a Mac or iPad. There is an effect called mirror and it lets you have two heads in a shot. If you align your head with the camera at the right position, you can make one head.

  71. I thought about the difference in stripes as well, but the fact is there is a left and right side so it could be a picture of the same zebra from two different sides with one head edited in. Or its two and one has its head behind the other.

  72. there is 2 zebras if you look under the neck of the zebra on the left you can see the nose of the zebra on the right

  73. As well as the nose of the zebra on the right, you can see the bends in the neck of the zebra who’s head is turned (the zebra on the right)

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