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Jiro

Jiro

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An Alberta ground squirrel is poised to become Canada's most famous animal after the creature inserted itself hilariously into a timed photo being taken by a U.S. couple at a lake in Banff National Park. Minnesota resident Melissa Brandts' photo was selected as nationalgeographic.com website's photo of the day Aug. 13, 2009. The image is set to go viral on the Internet after getting splashed this week on a host of media websites around the world.
Photograph by: Melissa Brandts, nationalgeographic.com
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Banff squirrel photo gets huge attention
An Alberta ground squirrel is poised to become Canada's most famous animal — at least for a week or two — after the creature inserted itself hilariously into a timed photo being taken by an American couple at a lake in Banff National Park.

The resulting image, which features the upright squirrel staring boldly into the camera while the couple laughs in the background, is getting a lot of Internet attention after it was splashed on a host of media websites and newspapers around the world this week.

"We had our camera set up on some rocks and were getting ready to take the picture when this curious little ground squirrel appeared, became intrigued with the sound of the focusing camera and popped right into our shot," Minnesota resident Melissa Brandts told National Geographic, which selected the shot as its photo of the day on its nationalgeographic.com website Thursday.

"A once-in-a-lifetime moment! We were laughing about this little guy for days!"

Melissa and her husband, Jackson, were hiking around Banff's Lake Minnewanka when they paused for a photo at the water's edge.

With the timer ticking down, the rodent skittered into the frame. The camera's autofocus shifted to the furry figure at the centre of the scene, still capturing the chuckling Brandts and the picturesque lake and mountain peaks in behind.

By noon Thursday, the spotlight-hogging Lake Minnewanka ground squirrel was popping up in just about every corner of cyberspace.

The picture has made the websites of the Daily Mail and the Telegraph in the United Kingdom, and has apparently even been featured as the photo of the day on a South Korean news website.

Ellen Stanley, vice-president of communications for National Geographic, said the magazine got a laugh from the submitted photo.

"It's such a great picture that we love it and we're excited they posted it up. It's getting lots of viral pickup," she said. "Hilarious."

But in the age of digital photography, questions arise about the authenticity of photographs. A policy statement supplied by National Geographic said the company does not encourage the manipulation of photographs, and while it carefully checks all pictures that run in the magazine, not all online shots are vetted.

Calgary graphic designer Teak Sato looked at the photo on Wednesday and said it would be very difficult to fake a photo of this quality, noting the ground squirrel's hair.

"Hair, in general, when it sticks out like that, to clip the hair out and then put it on something is basically the Holy Grail of Photoshop work," he said. "Zooming in on it, it looks authentic. If it is fake, it's totally professional."

Melissa said she's also heard people say it looks too good to be true. "It's real, it's a real picture," she said.

Fame is a far better fate than a Banff squirrel might face in its natural habitat.

A Parks Canada website detailing mammal life in the park notes that the ground squirrel is Banff's "most commonly-seen animal" during the summer months, but that it is also a "valuable prey species for grizzly bears, coyotes, wolves and golden eagles."
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Cute, but no wonder they get eaten if they keep curiously popping up to look at everything. :lol:
 
Oh... I'd die to have such an awesome picture!!!!

1. I love squirrels...
2. and the fact that this wasn't planned really makes it a very special picture
3. look at that cute face of the squirreld staring right up at the camera!

Totally priceless!!! That's one famous squirrel now :giggle:
 
That's neat how the camera's autofocus changed the focus to the squirrel making it look like a picture taken by a professional photographer.
 
nice couple in the picture too, they enjoyed and smiled as the moment was caught, it would have been a really nice experience to be there!
 
and not to mention, an absolutely gorgeous landscape surrounding the tranquil lake in the backdrop, kind of represens how the vastness of land and vastness of water meets - great capture.
 
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