Monkey Selfie

2011Viral photoclassic

Also known as: Naruto Selfie · Macaque Selfie · Monkey Self-Portrait

Monkey Selfie is a 2011 viral photograph of a grinning Celebes crested macaque in Indonesia, taken with photographer David Slater's camera, that sparked a landmark copyright dispute over non-human authorship.

The Monkey Selfie is a viral self-portrait photograph taken by a Celebes crested macaque using British wildlife photographer David Slater's camera in the jungles of Sulawesi, Indonesia. First going viral in July 2011, the grinning monkey photo sparked one of the most unusual copyright disputes in history, drawing in Slater, Wikimedia Commons, and PETA in a legal fight over whether a non-human animal could own a copyright. The case set legal precedent that still shapes debates around AI-generated art and non-human authorship today.

TL;DR

The Monkey Selfie is a viral self-portrait photograph taken by a Celebes crested macaque using British wildlife photographer David Slater's camera in the jungles of Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Overview

The Monkey Selfie refers to a series of photographs, most famously a sharp, close-up self-portrait showing a female Celebes crested macaque grinning directly into the camera with wide amber eyes and a distinctive punk-like crest of black hair. The image stands out for its uncanny resemblance to a human selfie, with the macaque appearing to pose deliberately. Slater's Canon EOS 5D DSLR was set up on a tripod with a wide-angle zoom lens at f/8 in aperture priority mode when the monkeys interacted with the equipment2. The resulting photos looked so intentional that their authenticity was questioned on social media, though Slater confirmed they were genuine1.

In 2011, British wildlife photographer David Slater traveled to the Tangkoko Batuangus Nature Reserve on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi to photograph endangered crested black macaques9. Slater, then 46 and from Coleford in Gloucestershire, spent three days shadowing a troop of about 25 macaques with a local guide, gradually gaining their trust1.

Slater set up his Canon EOS 5D on a tripod with predictive autofocus, a motorized winding mechanism, and a flash gun, configuring the settings to capture facial close-ups if any of the curious monkeys approached11. He moved away from the camera, and the macaques moved in. They fingered the equipment, pressed buttons, and were fascinated by their own reflections in the large glass lens11. "They were quite mischievous, jumping all over my equipment," Slater told The Guardian. "One hit the button. The sound got his attention and he kept pressing it"1.

One macaque, later nicknamed Naruto, took several remarkably clear photographs of herself5. Out of hundreds of shots, most were out of focus, but a handful were striking self-portraits3. The entire interaction lasted about 30 minutes before the dominant male in the group became agitated and Slater had to pull back11.

Origin & Background

Platform
News media (Daily Mail, The Guardian, The Telegraph), Wikimedia Commons (copyright dispute)
Key People
David Slater, Naruto the macaque
Date
2011
Year
2011

In 2011, British wildlife photographer David Slater traveled to the Tangkoko Batuangus Nature Reserve on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi to photograph endangered crested black macaques. Slater, then 46 and from Coleford in Gloucestershire, spent three days shadowing a troop of about 25 macaques with a local guide, gradually gaining their trust.

Slater set up his Canon EOS 5D on a tripod with predictive autofocus, a motorized winding mechanism, and a flash gun, configuring the settings to capture facial close-ups if any of the curious monkeys approached. He moved away from the camera, and the macaques moved in. They fingered the equipment, pressed buttons, and were fascinated by their own reflections in the large glass lens. "They were quite mischievous, jumping all over my equipment," Slater told The Guardian. "One hit the button. The sound got his attention and he kept pressing it".

One macaque, later nicknamed Naruto, took several remarkably clear photographs of herself. Out of hundreds of shots, most were out of focus, but a handful were striking self-portraits. The entire interaction lasted about 30 minutes before the dominant male in the group became agitated and Slater had to pull back.

How It Spread

On July 4, 2011, the Daily Mail published "Cheeky monkey! Macaque borrows photographer's camera to take hilarious self-portraits," kicking off a wave of international media coverage. That same day, The Guardian, The Telegraph, and Metro all ran their own stories. The grinning macaque photo spread rapidly across social media and news aggregators.

Just three days later, on July 7, technology blog TechDirt raised a pointed question: if Slater admitted he didn't take the photographs, could he legitimately claim copyright over them? By July 12, Slater's news agency Cater News sent takedown notices demanding removal of the images. This only amplified interest in the copyright angle, turning a funny animal photo into a genuine legal puzzle.

On August 11, 2013, a Reddit user posted one of the photographs to r/pics, where it collected over 1,600 upvotes and 230 comments. Meanwhile, several of the macaque selfies had been uploaded to Wikimedia Commons as public domain images, since their editors argued that a non-human creator could not hold copyright.

How to Use This Meme

The Monkey Selfie is not a traditional meme template with a customizable format. Instead, people typically use the image in discussions about:

- Copyright and ownership debates: The photo is often shared when discussing who owns creative works, especially in conversations about AI-generated art. Users post it alongside questions like "If a monkey can't own a copyright, can an AI?" - Animal humor: The grinning macaque is used as a reaction image for situations involving unexpected cleverness, happy accidents, or "nailing it on the first try." - Legal absurdity: The image surfaces whenever bizarre legal cases or unusual intellectual property disputes make the news.

The photo is in the public domain under U.S. law, so anyone can freely use, share, or remix it without permission.

Cultural Impact

The Monkey Selfie's greatest impact was legal, not memetic. The *Naruto v. Slater* case forced courts, legislators, and copyright offices worldwide to formally address whether non-human entities could be considered authors under the law.

The U.S. Copyright Office's decision to explicitly exclude animal-created works from protection set a precedent that now directly shapes the AI-generated art debate. In 2026, the same legal framework built around Naruto's selfie is being applied to works produced by image generators like DALL-E and Midjourney, with the Copyright Office citing the monkey selfie precedent when declining to register autonomously generated AI works.

The case also drew attention to the endangered status of the Celebes crested macaque. Slater noted that the photographs led to increased tourism to the Tangkoko reserve, with visitors hoping for similar encounters. Ironically, the resulting attention meant that close contact with the macaques had to be discouraged to protect the animals from biting incidents and disease transmission.

ITV's legal expert Christina Michalos observed that under UK law, the outcome might have differed: "Where an artistic work is generated by a computer, the person who makes the arrangements for creation is the copyright owner," she noted, suggesting Slater could have had a stronger claim on grounds of fairness since he owned the equipment and configured the camera settings.

Full History

The copyright dispute escalated steadily after the initial viral moment. When Slater discovered his photos on Wikimedia Commons listed as public domain, he demanded payment or removal. The Wikimedia Foundation refused. A spokesperson told The Huffington Post: "It's clear the monkey was the photographer. Because the monkey took the picture, it means that there was no one on whom to bestow copyright".

This wasn't just a philosophical question for Slater. He was a working photographer who relied on licensing income. In an August 2014 BBC interview, he claimed the Wikimedia situation had cost him at least £10,000 in lost revenue. "I made £2,000 in the first year after it was taken," Slater said. "After it went on Wikipedia all interest in buying it went". By some estimates, the photograph had been shared and republished over 50 million times.

On December 22, 2014, the U.S. Copyright Office released updated guidelines titled "Copyrightable Authorship: What Can Be Registered," explicitly stating that works created by non-human animals were not eligible for copyright protection. A photograph taken by a monkey was cited as a specific example.

Then came the most unusual chapter. On September 22, 2015, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filed a lawsuit against Slater and book publisher Blurb, Inc., who had published the photos in Slater's book *Wildlife Personalities*. PETA argued as Naruto's "next friend" that the macaque should be recognized as the legal copyright holder and receive all financial benefits from the image's use. The case, *Naruto v. Slater*, drew international media attention for its novelty.

In January 2016, U.S. District Judge William Orrick III dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that copyright protections did not extend to non-human animals. The judge acknowledged that Naruto was the "cause-in-fact" of the photograph but found that the Copyright Act simply did not grant animals the right to sue or hold copyright. That same month, Slater announced plans to sue Wikipedia for displaying the image without his approval.

PETA appealed in March 2016, and the case returned to the courts. In September 2017, the parties reached a settlement: Slater agreed to donate 25% of any future revenue generated by the monkey selfie photographs to charitable organizations dedicated to protecting the habitat of crested macaques in Indonesia. In 2018, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals formally upheld the lower court's ruling that copyright protection is limited to human authors.

The legal costs were devastating for Slater. The prolonged litigation and loss of licensing income left him bankrupt, despite his global recognition as the man behind one of the internet's most famous photographs. Legal scholars noted the irony: UK copyright law, which recognizes "the person who makes the arrangements for creation" as the owner of computer-generated works, might have offered Slater a stronger claim had the case been litigated there.

The Wikimedia Foundation maintained its position throughout, noting that volunteer Wikipedians follow careful image use policies and that the monkey selfie met their criteria for public domain content. "Volunteer Wikipedians have great respect for the rights of content creators around the world," the Foundation wrote, while insisting the law was clear on non-human authorship.

Fun Facts

Slater's camera was a Canon EOS 5D set to aperture priority at f/8 with a wide-angle zoom lens. He also rigged a flash gun and predictive autofocus to maximize his chances of getting a usable shot if the monkeys approached.

The macaques were initially scared by the shutter sound but quickly returned, drawn to the noise and their own reflections in the lens.

Slater described the monkeys' interaction with the camera as "chimping," a photography term for obsessively checking your LCD screen, which took on a literal meaning in this context.

The settlement between PETA and Slater in 2017 was not a court order but a private agreement to end the costly litigation. Slater chose to donate 25% of future revenues to macaque habitat protection as a practical business decision.

The Celebes crested macaque is critically endangered, threatened by forest clearance, crop-raiding persecution, and bushmeat poaching. Slater noted that the monkeys could still be found at local markets sold as meat.

Derivatives & Variations

AI copyright debate meme:

The monkey selfie is regularly invoked in online discussions about whether AI-generated images can be copyrighted, with users drawing direct parallels between Naruto pressing a shutter and an algorithm generating pixels[12].

"Even a monkey can do it" jokes:

The phrase became a running gag in photography communities, referencing the idea that professional photography boils down to pressing a button[10].

Wildlife Personalities book:

Slater published the photos in a hardcover book through Blurb, Inc., which itself became the subject of PETA's lawsuit[9].

Wikimedia Commons category:

The photographs are maintained as a dedicated category on Wikimedia Commons with 19 freely available files, making them among the most famous public domain photographs on the platform[7].

Frequently Asked Questions

Monkey Selfie

2011Viral photoclassic

Also known as: Naruto Selfie · Macaque Selfie · Monkey Self-Portrait

Monkey Selfie is a 2011 viral photograph of a grinning Celebes crested macaque in Indonesia, taken with photographer David Slater's camera, that sparked a landmark copyright dispute over non-human authorship.

The Monkey Selfie is a viral self-portrait photograph taken by a Celebes crested macaque using British wildlife photographer David Slater's camera in the jungles of Sulawesi, Indonesia. First going viral in July 2011, the grinning monkey photo sparked one of the most unusual copyright disputes in history, drawing in Slater, Wikimedia Commons, and PETA in a legal fight over whether a non-human animal could own a copyright. The case set legal precedent that still shapes debates around AI-generated art and non-human authorship today.

TL;DR

The Monkey Selfie is a viral self-portrait photograph taken by a Celebes crested macaque using British wildlife photographer David Slater's camera in the jungles of Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Overview

The Monkey Selfie refers to a series of photographs, most famously a sharp, close-up self-portrait showing a female Celebes crested macaque grinning directly into the camera with wide amber eyes and a distinctive punk-like crest of black hair. The image stands out for its uncanny resemblance to a human selfie, with the macaque appearing to pose deliberately. Slater's Canon EOS 5D DSLR was set up on a tripod with a wide-angle zoom lens at f/8 in aperture priority mode when the monkeys interacted with the equipment. The resulting photos looked so intentional that their authenticity was questioned on social media, though Slater confirmed they were genuine.

In 2011, British wildlife photographer David Slater traveled to the Tangkoko Batuangus Nature Reserve on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi to photograph endangered crested black macaques. Slater, then 46 and from Coleford in Gloucestershire, spent three days shadowing a troop of about 25 macaques with a local guide, gradually gaining their trust.

Slater set up his Canon EOS 5D on a tripod with predictive autofocus, a motorized winding mechanism, and a flash gun, configuring the settings to capture facial close-ups if any of the curious monkeys approached. He moved away from the camera, and the macaques moved in. They fingered the equipment, pressed buttons, and were fascinated by their own reflections in the large glass lens. "They were quite mischievous, jumping all over my equipment," Slater told The Guardian. "One hit the button. The sound got his attention and he kept pressing it".

One macaque, later nicknamed Naruto, took several remarkably clear photographs of herself. Out of hundreds of shots, most were out of focus, but a handful were striking self-portraits. The entire interaction lasted about 30 minutes before the dominant male in the group became agitated and Slater had to pull back.

Origin & Background

Platform
News media (Daily Mail, The Guardian, The Telegraph), Wikimedia Commons (copyright dispute)
Key People
David Slater, Naruto the macaque
Date
2011
Year
2011

In 2011, British wildlife photographer David Slater traveled to the Tangkoko Batuangus Nature Reserve on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi to photograph endangered crested black macaques. Slater, then 46 and from Coleford in Gloucestershire, spent three days shadowing a troop of about 25 macaques with a local guide, gradually gaining their trust.

Slater set up his Canon EOS 5D on a tripod with predictive autofocus, a motorized winding mechanism, and a flash gun, configuring the settings to capture facial close-ups if any of the curious monkeys approached. He moved away from the camera, and the macaques moved in. They fingered the equipment, pressed buttons, and were fascinated by their own reflections in the large glass lens. "They were quite mischievous, jumping all over my equipment," Slater told The Guardian. "One hit the button. The sound got his attention and he kept pressing it".

One macaque, later nicknamed Naruto, took several remarkably clear photographs of herself. Out of hundreds of shots, most were out of focus, but a handful were striking self-portraits. The entire interaction lasted about 30 minutes before the dominant male in the group became agitated and Slater had to pull back.

How It Spread

On July 4, 2011, the Daily Mail published "Cheeky monkey! Macaque borrows photographer's camera to take hilarious self-portraits," kicking off a wave of international media coverage. That same day, The Guardian, The Telegraph, and Metro all ran their own stories. The grinning macaque photo spread rapidly across social media and news aggregators.

Just three days later, on July 7, technology blog TechDirt raised a pointed question: if Slater admitted he didn't take the photographs, could he legitimately claim copyright over them? By July 12, Slater's news agency Cater News sent takedown notices demanding removal of the images. This only amplified interest in the copyright angle, turning a funny animal photo into a genuine legal puzzle.

On August 11, 2013, a Reddit user posted one of the photographs to r/pics, where it collected over 1,600 upvotes and 230 comments. Meanwhile, several of the macaque selfies had been uploaded to Wikimedia Commons as public domain images, since their editors argued that a non-human creator could not hold copyright.

How to Use This Meme

The Monkey Selfie is not a traditional meme template with a customizable format. Instead, people typically use the image in discussions about:

- Copyright and ownership debates: The photo is often shared when discussing who owns creative works, especially in conversations about AI-generated art. Users post it alongside questions like "If a monkey can't own a copyright, can an AI?" - Animal humor: The grinning macaque is used as a reaction image for situations involving unexpected cleverness, happy accidents, or "nailing it on the first try." - Legal absurdity: The image surfaces whenever bizarre legal cases or unusual intellectual property disputes make the news.

The photo is in the public domain under U.S. law, so anyone can freely use, share, or remix it without permission.

Cultural Impact

The Monkey Selfie's greatest impact was legal, not memetic. The *Naruto v. Slater* case forced courts, legislators, and copyright offices worldwide to formally address whether non-human entities could be considered authors under the law.

The U.S. Copyright Office's decision to explicitly exclude animal-created works from protection set a precedent that now directly shapes the AI-generated art debate. In 2026, the same legal framework built around Naruto's selfie is being applied to works produced by image generators like DALL-E and Midjourney, with the Copyright Office citing the monkey selfie precedent when declining to register autonomously generated AI works.

The case also drew attention to the endangered status of the Celebes crested macaque. Slater noted that the photographs led to increased tourism to the Tangkoko reserve, with visitors hoping for similar encounters. Ironically, the resulting attention meant that close contact with the macaques had to be discouraged to protect the animals from biting incidents and disease transmission.

ITV's legal expert Christina Michalos observed that under UK law, the outcome might have differed: "Where an artistic work is generated by a computer, the person who makes the arrangements for creation is the copyright owner," she noted, suggesting Slater could have had a stronger claim on grounds of fairness since he owned the equipment and configured the camera settings.

Full History

The copyright dispute escalated steadily after the initial viral moment. When Slater discovered his photos on Wikimedia Commons listed as public domain, he demanded payment or removal. The Wikimedia Foundation refused. A spokesperson told The Huffington Post: "It's clear the monkey was the photographer. Because the monkey took the picture, it means that there was no one on whom to bestow copyright".

This wasn't just a philosophical question for Slater. He was a working photographer who relied on licensing income. In an August 2014 BBC interview, he claimed the Wikimedia situation had cost him at least £10,000 in lost revenue. "I made £2,000 in the first year after it was taken," Slater said. "After it went on Wikipedia all interest in buying it went". By some estimates, the photograph had been shared and republished over 50 million times.

On December 22, 2014, the U.S. Copyright Office released updated guidelines titled "Copyrightable Authorship: What Can Be Registered," explicitly stating that works created by non-human animals were not eligible for copyright protection. A photograph taken by a monkey was cited as a specific example.

Then came the most unusual chapter. On September 22, 2015, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filed a lawsuit against Slater and book publisher Blurb, Inc., who had published the photos in Slater's book *Wildlife Personalities*. PETA argued as Naruto's "next friend" that the macaque should be recognized as the legal copyright holder and receive all financial benefits from the image's use. The case, *Naruto v. Slater*, drew international media attention for its novelty.

In January 2016, U.S. District Judge William Orrick III dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that copyright protections did not extend to non-human animals. The judge acknowledged that Naruto was the "cause-in-fact" of the photograph but found that the Copyright Act simply did not grant animals the right to sue or hold copyright. That same month, Slater announced plans to sue Wikipedia for displaying the image without his approval.

PETA appealed in March 2016, and the case returned to the courts. In September 2017, the parties reached a settlement: Slater agreed to donate 25% of any future revenue generated by the monkey selfie photographs to charitable organizations dedicated to protecting the habitat of crested macaques in Indonesia. In 2018, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals formally upheld the lower court's ruling that copyright protection is limited to human authors.

The legal costs were devastating for Slater. The prolonged litigation and loss of licensing income left him bankrupt, despite his global recognition as the man behind one of the internet's most famous photographs. Legal scholars noted the irony: UK copyright law, which recognizes "the person who makes the arrangements for creation" as the owner of computer-generated works, might have offered Slater a stronger claim had the case been litigated there.

The Wikimedia Foundation maintained its position throughout, noting that volunteer Wikipedians follow careful image use policies and that the monkey selfie met their criteria for public domain content. "Volunteer Wikipedians have great respect for the rights of content creators around the world," the Foundation wrote, while insisting the law was clear on non-human authorship.

Fun Facts

Slater's camera was a Canon EOS 5D set to aperture priority at f/8 with a wide-angle zoom lens. He also rigged a flash gun and predictive autofocus to maximize his chances of getting a usable shot if the monkeys approached.

The macaques were initially scared by the shutter sound but quickly returned, drawn to the noise and their own reflections in the lens.

Slater described the monkeys' interaction with the camera as "chimping," a photography term for obsessively checking your LCD screen, which took on a literal meaning in this context.

The settlement between PETA and Slater in 2017 was not a court order but a private agreement to end the costly litigation. Slater chose to donate 25% of future revenues to macaque habitat protection as a practical business decision.

The Celebes crested macaque is critically endangered, threatened by forest clearance, crop-raiding persecution, and bushmeat poaching. Slater noted that the monkeys could still be found at local markets sold as meat.

Derivatives & Variations

AI copyright debate meme:

The monkey selfie is regularly invoked in online discussions about whether AI-generated images can be copyrighted, with users drawing direct parallels between Naruto pressing a shutter and an algorithm generating pixels[12].

"Even a monkey can do it" jokes:

The phrase became a running gag in photography communities, referencing the idea that professional photography boils down to pressing a button[10].

Wildlife Personalities book:

Slater published the photos in a hardcover book through Blurb, Inc., which itself became the subject of PETA's lawsuit[9].

Wikimedia Commons category:

The photographs are maintained as a dedicated category on Wikimedia Commons with 19 freely available files, making them among the most famous public domain photographs on the platform[7].

Frequently Asked Questions