Nosy Nelly - Elephant Inspects GoPro Camera

The footage was shot by husband-and-wife team Mike and Marian Myers, who work for Wildnerness Safaris in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe.

The couple had been watching a group of elephants from a distance when things got slightly out of hand.

She said: “We set it up and arranged ourselves on the deck with the remote in hand.

“On cue, the elephants arrived and we started to film from our vantage point.

“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.

“He then 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.

“Then another elephant came past and looked at this weird contraption now lying limply on the ground. He too gave it a cursory sniff and then with utter disdain just stomped on it several times.”

Despite the elephant's best efforts, the couple were able to retrieve the camera, which was not seriously damaged.

She added: “Retrieving the camera is always a great challenge. This time the split-second there was a gap, Mike hotfooted it down in the vehicle to the site to collect it.

“At first he couldn’t find the camera, but thankfully the white of the homemade conduit piping stuck out so he could identify it. 

“Back at camp we downloaded the footage, which we are delighted with. It seems elephants don’t think too much about foreign technology invading their watering hole.”