GABON, Africa Weve all seen videos of how zoo animals (and even domestic animals) react to humans and human things. Its undeniably fascinating to us as we anthropomorphize our hearts out.
French photographer Xavier Hubert Brierre took our captivation a step further. He traveled to Gabon and set up cameras in a rainforest to capture the reactions wild animals had when they saw a picture-perfect and upright reflection of themselves in huge mirrors.
The resulting video is equal parts fascinating and entertaining as elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees, leopards, baboons and even an odd bird or two try to understand the dark magic of mirrors.
Its hard to say which animal has the best reaction. You'll have to watch to decide for yourself, but you can certainly always count on chimpanzees for entertainment. At first they are leery and bit aggressive, but they end up sitting in a big, diagonal line, watching themselves with equal vanity to the average toddler who just realized what mirrors are.
Personally, I was blown away by the sounds one of the leopards makes at the 37-second mark when it rears up to confront itself. Its the stuff of nightmares. Well, if your nightmares include being stalked by large cats.
Fair warning, there is a loud noise near the 26-second mark. Adjust your volume accordingly.
French photographer Xavier Hubert Brierre took our captivation a step further. He traveled to Gabon and set up cameras in a rainforest to capture the reactions wild animals had when they saw a picture-perfect and upright reflection of themselves in huge mirrors.
The resulting video is equal parts fascinating and entertaining as elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees, leopards, baboons and even an odd bird or two try to understand the dark magic of mirrors.
Its hard to say which animal has the best reaction. You'll have to watch to decide for yourself, but you can certainly always count on chimpanzees for entertainment. At first they are leery and bit aggressive, but they end up sitting in a big, diagonal line, watching themselves with equal vanity to the average toddler who just realized what mirrors are.
Personally, I was blown away by the sounds one of the leopards makes at the 37-second mark when it rears up to confront itself. Its the stuff of nightmares. Well, if your nightmares include being stalked by large cats.
Fair warning, there is a loud noise near the 26-second mark. Adjust your volume accordingly.