What is This Strange Animal-Like Figure Outside the Amarillo Zoo?

The city of Amarillo, Texas has asked the public for help identifying a weird animal-like figure that was seen on security cameras outside the Amarillo Zoo last month. The official City of Amarillo Facebook page has turned up lots of guesses, but no one knows for sure what the seemingly bipedal cryptid could be.

“The Amarillo Zoo captured a strange image outside the zoo in the dark and early morning hours of May 21 (around 1:25 a.m.). Is it a person with a strange hat who likes to walk at night? A chupacabra? Do you have any ideas of what this UAO- Unidentified Amarillo Object could be?” the city asked on its Facebook page on Wednesday.

“Clearly it is Rocket the Raccoon from Guardians of the Galaxy,” one Facebook user commented, though Rocket the Raccoon is a fictional character and it’s extremely unlikely he’s been brought to life.

Another user speculated it was “some guy giving his girlfriend a piggyback ride,” which is a great reminder that our mind plays visual tricks and it could very well be two people we’re looking at rather than a single furry creature.

Other users commented that it looks like Johnny Depp or his character from the Pirate of the Caribbean franchise, Jack Sparrow, a great demonstration of how much oxygen the Depp defamation trial took up in the public conversation. Pro-Depp trolls are still out in force on social media platforms, despite the fact that the trial is well and truly done.

Plenty of people on social media have also guessed that it looks like Sonic the Hedgehog, which makes us cynically wonder if this is some kind of tie-in for a movie or other marketing promotion. If it is the latter, we’re sincerely sorry. We just like cryptids and hope the Amarillo Zoo isn’t pulling our leg.

What do you think it is? We’d honestly love to know. Someone on the internet is bound to crack this case, even if the answer is incredibly pedestrian.