Elephant Wears GoPro While Enjoying Play Time at Australia Zoo
Gung the Asian elephant captured playtime and exercises from his point of view.
— -- It turns out the zoo is way more fun through an elephant’s eyes.
Take a look at this video an elephant at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, captured himself while wearing a custom-fitted GoPro camera mount on his head.
Gung, the zoo’s male Asian elephant, can be seen enjoying playtime and performing his daily exercises from his own point of view, a creative idea the zookeepers came up with to celebrate World Elephant Day, which is today.
“It’s been fascinating for us to watch the footage and observe Gung’s thought processes,” zookeeper Steve Westnedge said in a statement. “We’re always watching our elephants to see how they move and interact with one another, but for the first time we’ve been able to see how Gung is viewing us and interpreting the way we move and interact with him.”
Gung really warmed up to the camera to show off his larger-than-life routine, Westnedge said.
“We showed the headpiece to Gung to see if he was interested in trying it on and he loved the idea!,” he explained. “We were surprised at how eager he was to wear it and he hasn’t once tried to touch or remove the camera.”
The elephant’s exercises and play sessions help encourage Gung’s natural skills, which it seems he’s perfected judging by his form tossing around football and soccer balls with his trunk.
Westnedge said he hopes the creative video will inspire people on World Elephant Day “to see the world through elephants’ eyes” and encourage them to take action to protect elephants in the wild.
