Humans, it seems, are a bad influence.
This amazing “elphie” shot is the latest of the wild kingdom’s stampede into self-portraits that are making the Internet rounds. Canadian traveler Christian LeBlanc came across this giant beast recently on the Thai island of Koh Phangan. When an offer of a bunch of bananas didn’t satisfy the elephant, LeBlanc said it rooted around for more and came up with his GoPro mountable sports camera and caught the view from his extended trunk. (Somehow, this isn’t the world example of elephant vanity caught on film: Last year, a pachyderm at a U.K. safari park reportedly snapped a shot with a cellphone that a visitor left behind.)
Here, a look at other selfies taken by animals, notably with no duck faces in sight.
A shot taken by a crested black macaque in Sulawesi, Indonesia.
David J Slater/Wikimedia Commons
An otter at the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust Washington Wetlands Centre in Washington, Tyne and Wear, in the north of England reaches out for the camera as it has its picture taken.
Owen Humphreys/PA
OK, so this koala at Australia’s Wild Life Sydney Zoo did not technically take this picture. But the adorable marsupial, who was born with a damaged eye, was screen-savvy enough to look directly at a camera in his enclosure that was set up to be triggered by his movements in April 2014. Images from the device were promoted as “selfies” by the animal preserve and displayed on a nearby small screen. If only its tiny paws could hit the button...
In Bluefish Cove off Carmel, California, there lurks either a rabid selfie fan from the deep or the Sean Penn of the octopus world.
Don't call this sloth at the Sloth Sanctuary slow. She was just composing her selfie.
via Youtube
