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Since its humble beginnings in 2007, Google street view has gone on to map out the entire world through photos, making it a perfect place to explore our planet from your desktop. The internet empire has attached its Street View cameras to all means of transport and even mounted them on people, meaning that the most unexpected places and scenes are sometimes captured by the all-seeing eye that is Google.

Some people like to travel vicariously through street view, exploring the remote and dangerous places that people rarely visit in real life. Others like searching for candid and funny photos captured by the gaze of the camera – a kind of voyeurism of the world as it really is. No posing, no carefully curated images, just people and some funny animals doing their thing in their natural habitats.

We here at Bored Panda like these funny accidents caught in photos too, especially the silly animals! Below is a selection of times when animals photobombed the Street View camera, delighting us all with their unexpected and often hilarious presence. Scroll down to check some of the best photos out for yourself, and let us know what you think in the comments!

The Google street camera was originally mounted to a van and driven around the streets. But for more remote, hard-to-reach places they now use a backpack that a person can walk with, called the Trekker. This means that Google photos can be taken of any terrain that can only be traveled by foot — provided the person doing the traveling is able to withstand the backpack’s 40-pound weight.

"Our goal is to provide the most comprehensive and accurate and useful map possible," Deanna Yick, Google Maps' Street View Program Manager, told Tech Insider, "so that Google Maps is a mirror of the real world."

“It’s not just about pretty pictures and giving people a sense of what things are like,” Yick continued. “We’re using this imagery for conservation, historical purposes, learning, and education.”

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You can apply to borrow the Trekker to take on your own travels by checking out this page and filling out the form. Be warned though, Google Street View photographers have to be "very fit individuals," Yick says, because they'll be on their feet for long stretches of time, often while wearing the 40-pound Trekker backpacks. Would you like to give it a try?

Photographers get training at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California, before they head out to shoot photos.


While Google Street View is still used mainly for navigation and orienting oneself with an area, Yick hopes people will continue using it as a place for exploration as well.

"People are comfortable using it as a day-to-day tool for navigation, but it's so much more than that," she said. "The fact that I can use Google Maps and hop into the Pyramids of Egypt without a plane or a new language — it's really exciting."

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"What we've found is just because the road ends doesn't mean there's not more interesting stuff to see."

"That's where the good stuff is — off the beaten path."

#7

Google-Street-Animals

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N G
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This looks like the north Yorkshire moors, anyone know where it is?

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#10

Google-Street-Animals

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Toujin C'Thlu
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I like that the monkeys don't seem to care that someone's taking a picture of their hot tub party.

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#13

Google-Street-Animals

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Luis Milian
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5 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"excuse me, do you have time to talk about our lord and savior Big Bird?"

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#16

Google-Street-Animals

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Catlady6000
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Amazing that he lived this long with that coloring. That is one tough animal

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#21

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Patrick McKemie
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And there off, Tuxedo off to an early lead with Crosby in second followed by Waddle. It's going to be a close one people!

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#23

Google-Street-Animals

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#24

Google-Street-Animals

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Patrick McKemie
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The sad irony is these elephants are just trying to get to a Waffle House and google maps let them down.

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#30

Google-Street-Animals

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Patrick McKemie
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Don't you hate it when you are driving down the road,minding your own business, when a whale runs out in front of you! Insurance won't believe you.

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Note: this post originally had 53 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.