article_snippet: London (CNN)A photo of a weasel hitching a surprise lift on the back of a flying woodpecker near London has gone viral on Twitter, with more than 7,000 users retweeting the original post of The image.
article_snippet: London (CNN)A photo of a weasel hitching a surprise lift on the back of a flying woodpecker near London was first posted by photographer Jason Ward on Monday and credited to Martin Le-May.
article_snippet: After #WeaselPecker gained momentum, British media soon picked up the story, and television channel ITV interviewed Martin Le-May.
article_snippet: Just after I switched from my binoculars to my camera the bird flew across us and slightly in us direction; suddenly the bird was obvious the bird had a small mammal on the bird back and this was a struggle for life," Martin Le-May said.
article_snippet: Eventually, Martin Le-May told ITV, the weasel -- known as a "least weasel" in some countries -- lost the bird grip and the bird flew away.
article_snippet: Pacheco told CNN the image looked genuine and that the image was possible an omnivorous weasel would take on a woodpecker.
article_snippet: The pluckiness of a weasel spawned a number of parodies on Twitter, with manipulated images showing the creature in turn being ridden by Russian President Vladimir Putin, popstar Miley Cyrus, football star John Terry -- and even what appears to be a dog red panda dressed in a Darth Vader costume.
article_snippet: After the shock of being targeted by a hungry weasel wears off, we can only hope it lives up to it nickname.
highlights_snippet: A photo of a green woodpecker flying with a weasel on its back has gone viral on Twitter .
  
highlights_snippet: sparked the hashtag #WeaselPecker and has spawned numerous memes .