Curious Elephants Toy With GoPro In Zimbabwe

A pair of filmmakers captured astonishing footage in Africa, when a herd of bull elephants approached their GoPro camera, and began to investigate it.

Mike and Marian Myers were attempting to film two wild dogs near a watering hole in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe when the unexpected encounter with the elephants occurred, as the Telegraph reports. While waiting for the dogs to arrive, the pair were astonished to see the elephants approach the GoPro, and begin toying with it. One of the elephants even picked the GoPro up with his trunk, placing it in his mouth before spitting it out.

“Mike was on the edge of his nerves concerned for the safety of the camera,” Marian observed.

“He was cursing the elephants from afar – he even gave an almighty whistle and shouted ‘leave the camera alone’ from the platform.”

The pair live in Johannesburg, the Daily Mail notes, and while Marian creates promotional videos for Wilderness Safaris, Mike specializes in still photography. According to Marian, they had observed the dogs during an early morning drive, and set up their GoPro in hopes of capturing the pack as it approached the watering hole for an evening drink.

“Everything went very well until one large bull elephant came over and gingerly sniffed the camera and then gave it a prod with his foot.

“That made the camera whip back and forth on the bendy stake like a Cape cobra ready to strike.

“Things settled down again and we thought everything was back to normal. Until another young bull came over and investigated the camera. This time he kicked the stake hard enough to knock it over.

“Then he sniffed it seriously and picked it up in his trunk and put it in his mouth! He quickly spat it out and gave it a few thumps with his foot and then moved on.”

The third interaction came when another elephant walked past the camera, and after assessing it with a cursory sniff, stomped on the GoPro several times.

“Actually, the footage shows what the underside of an elephant’s foot looks like if he were to stand on you! After a few more stomps with his front foot, elephant number three lost interest and moved off.”

Remote cameras often prove invaluable to researchers in studying animal behavior, as the Inquisitr has previously reported.

During a break in the action, Mike was able to reach the camera site, and identifying the white conduit piping that held the GoPro, retrieved it from the elephants.

[Images: Mike and Marian Myers via the Daily Mail]