Are You Ready For The 'Elfie'?

The selfie is stronger than ever — specially now that an elephant has joined the game. The BBC reported on Thursday that an elephant at West Midlands Safari Park in England took the world's first "elfie" — that's an elephant selfie, if you wondered. The elephant-taken selfie is the first of its kind, but judging by how easy it was to pull off, we're betting it won't be the last.

The safari park's 22-year-old elephant, Latabe, seized the rare opportunity to take a selfie when a park visitor, Scott Brierley, accidentally dropped his phone out of his car window. Presumably thinking of pictures to post on his social media, Latabe saw his chance and thought to himself, "What about my Facebook? I haven't updated that thing in four years!" So he did what most humans are afraid to do. He took two selfies in a row without even checking them first.

But anyone who has eyes can see that Latabe is a natural, and he clearly had his angles down. In fact, the hashtag #LikeABoss would be entirely appropriate, as would #BeastMode, #AllNatural, and #SelfieThursday.

Brierley, who was instructed to stay inside his car after dropping his phone, theorized that the elephant must have thought the cell phone was food, but we know better. Latabe had been waiting for this moment for a long time. When Brierley got his phone back, he was thoroughly impressed with the shots.

"I really couldn't believe when the phone came back," he told the BBC. "I pressed the centre button to check it was still working and there it was — me and my friend were in shock."

Head park keeper Andy Plumb told the BBC that it was the first incident of its kind, and that he was "very proud" of Latabe.

While Latabe's selfie skills are exceptionally impressive — since it technically counts as a no-hands selfie — many animals have come before him and hammed it up for the camera. It seems that self-taken glamour shots are all the rage in the animal kingdom, with everyone from dogs to lemurs to sloths working their best angles for their smartphone.

So far, no ducks have participated, but I'd be really curious to see what literal duck lips in a selfie would look like. Take a look at all the best animal selfies that have paved the way for Latabe.

Lemur Selfie

Bekily, a 12-year-old lemur, stole a camera off a zookeeper at the London Zoo and took a bunch of selfies on it. He seemed to know all the selfie rules, like holding the camera above your face and using the natural sunlight to highlight your features.

Sloth Selfie

Reddit user cheeyoon let a sloth take a selfie with his iPhone in the Amazon. How he was able to just hold and chill with a random sloth is what I want to know.

Dog Selfie

This dog is doing the classic head tilt and cutting off half his face for an air of mystery and glamour. Man, he really knows what he's doing.

Dog BBF Selfie

Aww, nothing like a series selfie with funny faces. I kind of want to be friends with them.

Dog Selfie Fail

This dog clearly doesn't know what his best angle is.

Image: BBC News/Twitter, YouTube, cheeyoon/Reddit, @VeggieWHAT/Twitter, @bet860/Twitter, @The_Hydrant/Twitter