There are some things that are simply impossible to unsee once someone points it out to you. For instance, I've never been able to forget about certain bloopers in Star Wars, and whenever someone points out a mistake to me that wasn't fixed in the edit, I can see it right away, which spoils the movie for me.
But this week it seems as though social media users had a similar 'Woah' moment when it comes to their pets. Namely, certain people have noticed a bizarre-yet-striking resemblance between the paws of dogs and little koala bears.
The trouble began when a Twitter user who goes by the handle @41Strange uploaded two side-by-side pictures of the underside pads of a dog's paw, accompanied by the simple caption: "Dog paws look like tiny Koalas ?."
Immediately, it seemed as though several other people agreed with them, and the original tweet was soon inundated with replies from like-minded netizens. Check out some of the reactions from other Twitter-users to the revelation below:
According to the Australian Koala Foundation: "The Koala’s paws are specially adapted for gripping and climbing. Rough pads on the palms and soles help it to grip tree trunks and branches, and both front and hind paws have long sharp claws."
The foundation's official website continues: "Each paw has five digits; on the front paw, two digits are opposed to the other three–rather like a human’s thumb–so they are both able to be moved in opposition to the other three. This allows the Koala to grip more securely."
Here's an important vid on why we should all do our bit to protect koalas from harm:It adds: "Distinctive parallel Koala scratch marks on tree trunks are due to this particular characteristic. On the hind paw, there is no claw on the biggest digit, which is opposable to the others for gripping. The second and third digits are fused together to form a double-clawed digit which is used for grooming purposes, such as for removing ticks."
These adorable animals have recently been threatened by a spate of bushfires. However, an adorable dog has been helping to rescue the bears who have been affected by the flames.