Camera-shy elephant abandons calf after villagers crowd around to take selfies

Clearly, not all animals are happy to pose for a photograph. In one particular case, an elephant in south India abandoned her baby to get away from a group of excited spectators and their camera phones.

According to a report by Star of Mysore, villagers near the Omkar Forest Range in the Karnataka state's Bandipur Forest Reserve kicked up a racket when they spotted two adult elephants and a calf making their way through the area in search of food.

Excited to see these large visitors, a number of the locals ventured close to the animals and began to take photos. A few even stepped up to the nine-month-old calf and posed for selfies.

The elephants were clearly not comfortable at posing for a photo session and soon began to get riled up by the commotion and camera flashes. In the mêlée, the mother was separated from her baby, who reportedly "started crying" out in fear.

Fearful of the crowd, the adult went back into the forest, abandoning her calf to the villagers. Forest Department officials were able to arrive at the scene in time to take custody of the young pachyderm and calm it down. They are now attempting to find the mother in order to reunite the two.

Range Forest Officer Naveen Kumar told reporters that the calf was checked by a veterinarian and given medication to target the exhaustion and stress. He also instructed locals to keep their distance from wild elephants, especially if there are younglings in the heard.

Recently in November, an Asian elephant in the East Indian state of West Bengal took more violent measures against a man attempting to photograph it. Sadik Rahman stepped out of his car on the highway in order to capture photos of the animal but got to close to it.

The irate elephant pushed the 40-year-old man to the ground with its trunk and proceeded to kick his prone body around.