Japanese animal-lover Shuu loves to care of reptiles. His Tiwtter account shows him handling an amethystine python, an African rock python, a reticulated python, an alligator snapping turtle, and an African fat-tailed gecko, among other things.

But one animal under his care has become a minor celebrity: a northern white-faced owl.

Normally, it has an adorably fluffy, round and cuddly shape with a wide-eyed expression like this:

But Shuu knows that his owl can also take on a completely different appearance. In a tweet which went viral and currently has 109,000 likes and 19,000 retweets at the time of writing, he showed how the bird does it:

And indeed, the other photos on his account show the owl the way he normally looks, enjoying some crickets as a snack or spending some quality time being stroked on the head.

So, what can explain the bird's shocking transformation? As it turns out, northern white-faced owls behave this way as a defense mechanism in the wild when faced with a potential threat. Turning on the lights takes the owl by surprise, thus triggering this mechanism.

But why does it draw its feathers close to its body, stretch itself to look narrow and taller, and narrow its eyes? Apparently, it's to look like a broken tree branch so that a predator will be tricked into avoiding it. Nature never ceases to amaze, doesn't it?

If you'd like to see more images and videos of beautiful reptiles and one now-famous owl, follow Shuu's Twitter account here.