Bird-watchers are blowing the internet’s collective mind after sharing a video of a “mutant pigeon” with a puffed-out breast and legs so long that viewers suspected it was an AI deepfake.
A now-viral video of the stretchy squab has amassed over 18.6 million views on TikTok as viewers debate if the animal is real.
The seemingly species-defying clip — shared by UK-based @pigeonsTV — features the awkward-looking birdie strolling along a table with its mile-long legs and its bulbous breast at full mast.
Its towering, top-heavy physique evokes thoughts of a regular pigeon — following an Ozempic regimen gone bizarrely wrong.
The gangly bird’s comparably scrawny legs and talons, meanwhile, are covered in plumes like natural, feather-hemmed pants.
The English pouter pigeon in all its flamboyant glory.
However, as it turns out the bird is actually an English pouter pigeon, a species of homing pigeon that’s the “tallest breed of fancy pigeons with some of the biggest ones being 16 inches in height,” according to Backyard Poultry.
The flamboyant featherbag is known for being able to inflate its crop — the muscular pouch on the inside of its neck.
Bred through centuries of selective breeding, the fancypants pouter is often referred to as the “supermodel” of the pigeon world due to its resplendent appearance — think of it like bird equivalent of a French poodle.
Needless to say, the pigeon’s “Dr. Seuss”-esque silhouette raised many eyebrows on social media.
Pigeon toes have nothing on pouter pigeon talons.
“Stage 3 pigeon Pokémon, bro evolved,” quipped one gawker, while others compared it to something celebrities would wear at the “Met Gala.”
“That’s definitely two pigeons under a trench coat,” said another.
“Me drawing a pigeon from memory,” one TikTok wit joked.
Another wrote, “What in the A.I generated pigeon is that?”
Pouters are the tallest of the homing pigeon breed.
Chelsea Ambriz, a meteorologist on Florida TV station NBC6, was scared by a pigeon graphic during her broadcast.
Florida meteorologist gets scared by pesky pigeon in hilarious on-air blooper
Some even thought the bird was a regular pigeon that got plucked a la those countless videos of dogs with botched haircuts.
Although, in the realm of ornithological oddities, the pouter has nothing on the blue-plumed Victoria crowned pigeon — the world’s largest species named for its extravagant, showgirl-esque headdress.
Or how about the Nicobar pigeon, which boasts a multihued mane of dreadlocks worthy of a Hacky Sack salesman.
Meanwhile, this “mutant pigeon” isn’t the first fowl creature to snag headlines this year: A feisty pigeon hilariously interrupted a Florida meteorologist’s weather report in May, and a pair of Canadian pigeons were busted sporting “drug smuggling” backpacks in January and March, respectively.
