Photobombing is a talent. It's part being aware of your surroundings and part obnoxiousness. But let's face it: Your friend making the "ermahgerd" face behind every group photo gets old. That's why animals make the best photobombers. With surprised, oblivious and exaggerated expressions, critters of all species are always welcome to ruin our photos.
Recently, the Huffington Post wrote about three women's encounter with a pushy, enthusiastic stingray in Grand Cayman. It nuzzled its way up to their backs, completing the group photo with a slick hug from behind.
We can all appreciate well-done Photoshopped animal photobombers, but the greatest ones — like surprise stingray hugs — are captured on camera.
Want more candid moments? Here are the five best actually photographed animals photobombing:
Yes, the photobombing deity — the granddaddy of all animal photobombs — appears in an actual photo. In 2009, Melissa Brandts sent National Geographic a picture from her Banff National Park trip in Canada with her husband. They reached the front of a lake, put their camera on timer and smiled. An intrigued squirrel, though, didn't want to miss out, and leaned in at the last second.
When photographer Caroline Tran was working on April and Tyler's wedding in Saddlerock Ranch last year, she got a chance to see who — or what — objected to the couple's nuptials. A llama in the middle of April and Tyler clearly didn't approve.
Sloths may be slow, but they have impeccable timing. Earlier this year, a group of students volunteering in Costa Rica stopped to take a photo in the middle of the jungle. ABC News reported that when Manuel Ramirez peeked through the lens, he saw a clueless, adorable expression on a sloth's face right in front of the group. He snapped a picture quickly before the sloth realized it was in the way.
The Huffington Post started asking readers to send in his or her own animal photobombs after popularity (and 'shopped photos) rose this summer. User Alexandra Foster sent in her best version: a puggle (beagle-pug mix) creeping behind a baby. With matching eyes, it's hard to decide who's cuter.
Photobombing is all about timing, and this orca seems to have the worst. Sea World Park & Entertainment President Jim Atchinson held a press conference in 2010 after one of the park's trainers was killed during a show, and during his speech, one photographer captured an orca with a wide-open smile.
