Elephant Grabs GoPro Takes A Selfie & ‘Elphie’ Is Born [Video]
While this kind of image is a common phenomenon in modern society, as every man and his dog takes a selfie for social media, the practice is now being taken to a whole new height. This happened in Thailand, as an elephant grabbed a GoPro camera and took a selfie of himself. Yes, the “elphie” is now a “thing.”
A while back, the Inquisitr reported on the rise of the “zelfie” when a guy visiting a German safari park got spectacular shots of a zebra sticking its head through the car window, but now we have the “elphie.”
According to CNN, Christian LeBlanc, a 22-year-old Canadian, visited Koh Phangan Island in Thailand earlier in the year, taking loads of footage on his GoPro, which can be seen in the video at the end of this article.
LeBlanc and his girlfriend were feeding bananas to some friendly elephants when one of them started to get, well, a little too touchy and feelie, looking for the next snack.
“My girlfriend and I were exploring the island when we came across a couple elephants.
“For 50 cents, you could buy a basket of bananas to feed them, so we decided to get one.”
They happily fed the grateful pachyderms until suddenly one elephant, instead of grabbing the banana, got his trunk wrapped around Le Blanc’s GoPro camera.
Forget selfies! This elephant grabs camera and takes amazing ‘elphie’: http://t.co/FlSnAWnuEQ pic.twitter.com/1rSWixtmA6
— CNN International (@cnni) May 24, 2015
According to Iafrica, it turns out the camera was set to continuous shooting and what a bonus that turned out to be. LeBlanc says he now has to credit the elephant, as it took the selfie of a lifetime.
“Next thing I knew it grabbed my GoPro by the mount and I got the selfie of a lifetime which I can’t take full credit for.
“My GoPro was set to continuous shooting so when the elephant grabbed my camera the result was the world’s first ever Elphie!”
Naturally, after LeBlanc posted the image on Instagram, it went viral, gaining the attention of all the social media platforms and the media. LeBlanc, while knowing the “elphie” was phenomenal, still can’t believe the attention the image has attracted.
“Still cannot believe the photo happened or that it has gained the global media attention it has.”
It seems that LeBlanc’s Instagram account was popular long before the advent of the “elphie,” with many great travel images already having been osted. The travel vlog at the end of this article gives an idea of some of his adventures in Thailand.
However, in LeBlanc’s memory there will always remain that magic moment that an elephant took a selfie of himself, thus heralding the term “elphie” for all to enjoy.
[Image: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Tore Bustad]
