animals

Essex photographer Martin Le-May captured this epic moment on Monday, in which a weasel is soaring on the back of a woodpecker. It was Tweeted out by birder/wildlife photographer Jason Ward where it quickly went viral and had many people wondering if it was real or photoshopped. It’s apparently very real.

As we walked we heard a distressed squawking and I saw that flash of green. So hurriedly I pointed out to Ann the bird and it settled into the grass behind a couple of small silver birch trees. Both of us trained our binoculars and it occurred that the woodpecker was unnaturally hopping about like it was treading on a hot surface. Lots of wing flapping showing that gloriously yellow/white colour interspersed with the flash of red head feathers. Just after I switched from my binoculars to my camera the bird flew across us and slightly in our direction; suddenly it was obvious it had a small mammal on its back and this was a struggle for life.

He added that the woodpecker managed to get away, while the weasel wandered off into the grass.

Real or not, you can’t put a picture like that online and expect to walk away meme-free.

Here are some of the best responses from Twitter of the #WeaselPecker:

When did the Lolcats get so big?

The 54-year-old keeper, Mario, has worked at the zoo for almost 25 years and now has terminal cancer. He asked to be taken to the giraffe enclosure one last time to say goodbye to the animals.