It was like a snapshot of evolution.
A cheeky monkey may have proved we are more closely related than we think after apparently taking a selfie with two British tourists in Bali, Indonesia.
“It was definitely the trip of a lifetime!” Chloe Dennis told Caters news agency about the primatology photo shoot which took place while she and her husband Craig were in the sacred monkey forest in Ubud, the Daily Mail reported.
They reportedly spotted one of the nature reserve’s 1,260 Balinese long-tailed macaques. They then decided, like many tourists, to take a photo of it.
However, things changed when the primate appeared to take the photo instead of humans.
The resulting photo shows the tech-savvy climber seemingly taking a selfie while “smiling” as Chloe and Craig stare at the camera in disbelief.
This is not the first time that a primate has had its photo taken.
In 2011, a crested macaque named Naruto sparked an international outcry after photos of him smiling were taken using an unattended camera in Sulawesi, Indonesia.
When the camera’s owner, David Slater, who was on assignment at the time, published the photos in a book, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) sued him on behalf of the monkey.
They claimed that the sale of the images violated the monkey’s rights under copyright law.
However, the defendant argued that his company, Wildlife Personalities Ltd., owned the worldwide commercial rights to the photos.
The case concluded in 2018 after a U.S. appeals court ultimately ruled in Slater’s favor on the grounds that animals cannot sue for copyright infringement.
New York Post
