“Kids, animals and old people” my old photo editor once told me, “make for pictures that people just love. Our readers can’t get enough.”

So when I saw this picture – which includes both breathtaking scenery and a small, furry animal – I had to run it.

The story on the Intertubes is that the squirrel jumped into the backpackers’ self-portrait, though the Underground doesn’t buy that story for a minute.

Any fool can see the hikers are messing up the squirrel’s self-portrait, and it’s just this kind of species-centric thinking that’s gotten humanity into the mess we’re in.

See, the Underground is willing to pose the tough questions others won’t.

We bloviate, you decide.