A vintage card for a touring circus in the 1800s contains ten hidden animals… can you spot them?

Can you spot all 10 animals in this 19th century Victorian advertising card? Creatures hide in plain sight in ad for a touring circus in the 1800s

  • An optical puzzle from the 1800s contains ten animals hidden in a landscape
  • Can you find the parrot, bull, elephant, deer, crocodile, horse, goose or others?
  • The tricky card is currently up for sale for $30 on eBay 

At first glance this optical puzzle from the 19th century may appear to merely depict a river, trees and a mountain in the background.  

However, hidden within it are at least ten animals: a parrot, bull, elephant, deer, crocodile, horse, goose, fox, rooster and a man smoking.

A vintage Victorian card featuring the puzzle is currently on sale on eBay for $30. The card advertises William Cameron Coup’s Hippodrome. Coup ran a touring circus and would transport animals between towns in North America in a circus train, according to the listing.

The card was a useful marketing device that gave people an excuse to hold on to the card or even pass it on to somebody else. 

How many of the ten animals in the scene are you able to identify in the vintage black and white print? The instructions on the old card suggest there may be even more than ten hidden animals.

An optical puzzle from the late 19th century appears to merely depict a river, trees and a mountain in the background but hidden within it are ten animals: a parrot, bull, elephant, deer, crocodile, horse, goose, fox, rooster and a man smoking

Solution

A solution to the puzzle, created by Jagran Josh, reveals where each of the ten animals are hidden. Predictably, the parrot is in the tree, but confusingly so too is the cow. The solution is below.

A solution to the puzzle reveals where each of the ten animals are hidden

Perhaps most obvious is the elephant and crocodile in the center and right of the image. In the tree on the left is the parrot and bull. 

Suspended from the tree is an upside down man, listed on the original card as ‘man smoking’.

On the mountain in the top right is the goose and the horse. Other animals on the vintage card, but not highlighted in the solution above, include an owl, pig and frog.