Texas – The internet is up in arms over the true identity of a strange animal found hopping down a street in Texas.

At the end of March, TikTok user @.airwave posted a video of an unidentifiable animal to his account.

More than six million people have since viewed and reviewed the clip, yet no one got any closer to figuring out just what they are looking at.

The TikToker has Texas as his location, and that's where the mystery creature is assumed to have been filmed.

Animals Stingray and little boy have epic zoo dance party: "Did we just become best friends"

The short clip shows a rat-like creature turn around and face the camera for just a brief moment, but it's enough time to make you question what you are actually looking at. Three shining, deformed eyes seem to stare back at you. A stub of fur at the base of a long, naked tail indicates either a very ill squirrel, or a rat cross-breed.

At least two of the eyes seem to be in the "right" place, but the third is in the middle and slightly higher on the forehead of the creature's forehead. What adds to the creepy vibe is that it doesn't seem at all scared of the human filming it.

It's easy to see why the video clip was copied and shared across the world on multiple platforms.

Some of the user comments echo what everyone is thinking about this little monster. Here are a few of the best:

• "Squirrel from Chernobyl"

• "It's a Pokemon! Catch it!"

Dogs Puppy abandoned in the woods finds help in the unlikeliest place

• "It's Covid-23"

• "That's Scrat from Ice Age!"

But what is the real origin story of this suspected mutant?

According to some users at least, the answer is far less exciting than some TikTok users had thought.

They pointed out that this is probably just a genetic variation of gray squirrels native to Texas, meaning this darker variant is a bit less common. Some commenters pointed out that squirrels will pull out their own tail fur in spring to line their nests. But what about the absolutely creepy eyes?

If you take a much closer look, the rodent actually does have normal black eyes, and they are in the right places. The extra features seem to be either bald spots on the squirrel's head (which would indicate mange, and explain the bald tail as well) or perhaps some pieces of trash stuck in its fur.

In any case, one thing is clear: no one needs to fear three-eyed rats scurrying around Texas for now.