The frogmouth, a bird not particularly known for its beauty has bagged the new title of the “most Instagrammable bird”, proved through a formula based on the number of likes on various birds’ pictures and linking it with the viewing audience.
After applying a somewhat complex formula to the bird’s pictures on the social media application, Instagram, researchers from the University of Konstanz and the University of Jena found that the strange, scruffy-looking Podargus strigoides from Asia and Australia was the most Instagrammable bird, and received love-through-likes more than any other bird.
The German researchers collected 27,621 photos of birds from nine bird-related Instagram accounts, including details on how many likes each picture garnered.
They used an algorithm to analyze which bird was the most loved on Instagram and found Frogmouths pictures were the ones with the most number of likes, relative to the picture’s exposures to the accounts’ followers.
The bird looks like if an owl has grown too old, and probably that is why in 2004 it was termed as the ugliest bird in the world. The bird is now famous on the internet, thanks to its funny comic-worthy expressions.
“The frogmouth brings that factor of surprise as it just does not look like any other bird, with its almost anthropomorphic, facial features,” Dr. Thömmes told the New York Times. “I must admit that I have grown quite fond of this peculiar nocturnal bird myself.” He added.
These nocturnal birds could be found in Southeast Asia and Australia, roosting during the day, these birds are mostly confused to be the part of a tree. If you don’t look at its eyes, you’d confuse a Frogmouth with a piece of wood, which is both, a catchy and a creepy attribute.
For the study, the researchers used data from nine bird-related Instagram accounts having a total following of about 3.5 million users.