How high is your IQ? Unless you’ve done an IQ test it’s hard to know, but if you manage to crack this optical illusion of an elephant it’s safe to say you’re pretty smart
No matter how smart you are, optical illusions have a sneaky way of tricking you into seeing something that isn’t there.
When our brain and yes try to speak to each other in a simple language, but the interpretation gets mixed-up, an optical illusion has occurred. Your brain doesn’t just receive information, it creates a perception of the world, and fills in the gaps. Which means you can create images in your mind that aren’t even there.
Take the image below, which is a popular optical illusion from the 1980s and asks people to figure out how many legs the elephant has. It’s a simple, black and white sketch of the animal – but counting its legs has provided pretty tricky.
A quick glance over the image might lead to you guess four, five or even six legs. But remember this is an optical illusion – so everything isn’t as it seems.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Crazy Optical Illusions asked: “How many legs does the elephant have? At first glance, the answer maybe be obvious – but look a little closer, and this fiendish illusion reveals itself.”
Hundreds of people started guessing how many legs in the comment section – but no one seemed to be able to guess the correct answer. So if you manage to work it out, it’s safe to say you have pretty high IQ. Many suggested four, but the original posted simply responded: “Not quite. Take another look.” Another added: “I give up, I can only see four legs. Anyone got a hint as to what I should be looking at?”
The correct answer is actually one leg. Still confused? Taking to Reddit, one user explained: “The reason you’re having trouble with this image is due to the fact that the artist responsible for this image was very clever. The only correct elephant leg in the drawing is the back left leg. That leg is completely intact, but the others aren’t.
“If you look very closely, you’ll see that the rest of the legs have the foot missing from them. Basically, the artist chopped the feet off of the legs and put the images of the feet between the actual legs. Look closely at the image and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about.”
