###The Monkey Selfie
Sulawesi, Indonesia, 2011 — When a curious macaque snapped a perfectly framed picture of himself, he accidentally sparked a bizarre federal lawsuit.
In 2011, British nature photographer David Slater was tracking a troop of crested macaque monkeys in an Indonesian nature reserve. Hoping for some close-up shots, Slater set up his camera on a tripod, adjusted the lighting, and briefly stepped away.
A curious six-year-old macaque named Naruto soon wandered over to investigate the strange equipment. Fascinated by the lens, Naruto reached out and pressed the shutter button repeatedly. Among the blurry outtakes was a perfectly framed, wildly grinning selfie of the monkey.
The hilarious picture quickly went viral across the internet. But the fun stopped when an animal rights group sued the photographer. They argued that because Naruto the monkey had physically pressed the button, he—not the human—legally owned the copyright to the famous photo.
The Monkey Selfie — Sulawesi, Indonesia, 2011