Viral video

After some rather heavy posts this week (about Marie Joseph yesterday and Adam Hatch on Monday), it's time for a little comic relief, don't you agree? Click the image above (or here) for the latest viral video, 1,525,378 views and counting since it was posted to YouTube on June 23rd. Go ahead, watch it...

Isn't it a scream?! The word is that it is almost certainly a hoax, but funny nonetheless.* The 1st clue is that the title, "Seagull stole GoPro," includes the brand name of a maker of helmet-mounted video cameras. The Daily Mail asks how the owner of the camera knew where to find it after the bird carried it over Cannes - which just happens to be the site of the world's largest film festival - and points out that the camera company has made a name for itself by marketing with viral videos. Like other sites, TNT Magazine uses the word "stole" in quotes and relays a suggestion by a commenter to check the other videos in the uploader's playlist, especially "What we do." Social Times notes that the kleptomaniac seagull in the video isn’t the 1st animal to take a liking to a GoPro camera, and links to a video from May entitled "Lions pinch camera."

I love a crittercam! "Seagull stole GoPro" is definitely worth watching even if it is, as suspected, staged. But video footage of animals grabbing cameras is especially charming when authentic, and for that I refer you to my posts of April 18, 2010 (an octopus, a dog, and a chimpanzee) and June 11, 2010 (a sea turtle).

*Thanks, Jim, for bringing it to my attention!