When an elephant takes a selfie, it is called an elfie. Just trick the elephant into thinking your camera is food to get one.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Elfies: Elephant selfies
The so-called "elfie" is the latest in social media trends.
Taking your photo with an elephant, is now no big deal.
Having your photo taken by an elephant is the new big deal.
When an elephant takes a selfie, it is called an elfie. (Source: Twitter)
Christian LeBlanc, a 22-year-old Canadian studying in Bangkok, decided to take a little vacation with his girlfriend and travel to the island of Koh Phangan in Southern Thailand.
One day while walking around the island they came across a mahout with his elephant selling bananas to feed the elephant.
After buying a basket of bananas to feed the elephant, the elephant quickly ate the bananas and then started searching for more food with its trunk.
Mistaking the GoPro camera (a mountable sports camera with image stabilisation) that Christian was holding as yet more food, the elephant grabbed the camera with his trunk and in the process accidentally took a photo of Christian, who actually had let the elephant grab his camera in hope of getting the elephant to take photos and getting a prized elfie shot.
The camera was set to shoot continuously, so a whole series of photos was taken from which one nice one could be selected.
"I know nothing about the actual elephant other than its love for selfies," the young man declared. The elephant's "personality was very playful and it clearly had a craving for bananas because it devoured them," he observed.
Later, the young man managed to get an underwater photo with a giant whale shark in the Philippines (a shelfie?).
Selfie with shark = shelfie ? (Source: Twitter)
Animals being used as "photo props" in tourist areas, however, is a controversial practice.
During the singer Rihanna's trip to Thailand she unknowingly posed with with a monkey that turned out to be an endangered species, causing great embarrassment to Thai authorities who apparently did not know this was happening in tourist areas. A crackdown was immediately ordered.
It also might be possible for the elephant or its mahout to claim ownership and copyright over the image since, technically, the elephant was the actual photographer.