Black Bears Attack Camera Trap like an Angry Celebrity does Paparazzi [VIDEO]

Andean black bears may have something in common with Hollywood movie stars, at least when it comes to being photographed without permission.

The hatred of paparazzi seems to not be contained to just camera shy humans, as new images reveal a sleuth of bears attacking a camera trap set up to record the ursine juggernauts and other wildlife in the jungles of Bolivia.

The images were released by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which secured Reconyx camera traps to trees in the Apolobamba National Natural Area of Integrated Management, which borders Madidi National Park -- one of the most biodiverse protected areas in the world.

The camera traps were set with the intention of monitoring the distribution, behavior and abundance of the Andean bears. Because multiple cameras are often set to record the same area from different angles, the bears were recorded by one trap as they batted, bludgeoned and bit another.

"Andean bears are very curious animals," said Lilian Painter, director of the Bolivia program for WCS. "But they are also very strong, and the cameras are like big flashing toys."

One bear in particular did not fancy having his photo taken, attacking the camera with enough force to leave it broken and dangling from the tree.

Despite the unintended retaliation, Painter said the WCS was still able to capture valuable images and data with the camera traps.

"The wide-ranging Andean bears once had a safe haven in the undeveloped habitat of Andean cloud forests, but land is increasingly being fragmented for agriculture, grazing lands, and human settlements," the WCS said in a statement. "The future of this wondrous but vulnerable species depends on the creation and effective management of a network of protected areas that can sustain the bears in the wild."

The area where these Andean bears were photographed is within one of the largest continuously protected patches of cloud forest in Bolivia.

Andean bears, sometimes referred to as spectacled bears because of the light fur resembling glasses around their eyes, are the only bear species native to Latin America.

A consortium of conservation groups are at work to protect the range of the Andean bear, which stretches from Ecuador to Venezuela.