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Caught on camera: Montreal squirrel takes GoPro up a tree, then promptly drops it

Click to play video: 'Squirrel takes GoPro camera for ride up tree in Montreal'
Squirrel takes GoPro camera for ride up tree in Montreal
WATCH: A squirrel in Montreal took a GoPro camera for a ride up a tree after being lured to take the camera using a cashew and rubber band on Dec. 1. – Dec 3, 2019

Technology isn’t just for humans.

Montréal vlogger David Freiheit had a brilliant idea. On Dec. 1, he attached a cashew to his GoPro with a rubber band, placed it at the base of a tree and waited.

Sure enough, a curious squirrel getting ready for winter couldn’t resist a delicious snack.

It picked up the cashew — along with the attached GoPro — and took it up a tree.

The new-model GoPro measures 66 millimetres (2.61 inches) along its largest dimension, making it smaller than past models.

Video recorded by the camera takes viewers on a rocky ride as the squirrel, holding the device tightly to its chest, scurries up a tree.

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The furry, unofficial Canadian mascot stops at the top, at which point viewers get a brief glimpse of the world below through its eyes.

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Then the camera tumbles to the ground, thanks to the squirrel’s case of the butter fingers paws.

The plan worked perfectly, Freiheit said, unlike the previous times when he used peanut butter to attract the animals instead of a nut.

“It was a cashew that I attached to the GoPro with a rubber band,” he told Storyful.

“I learned the hard way that the squirrels have a tougher time chewing through duct tape, and they often take the GoPro too far up a tree and leave it on the branch.”

Click to play video: 'GoPro camera strapped to Cheetah running at full speed'
GoPro camera strapped to Cheetah running at full speed

Luckily, Freiheit was able to get some entertaining footage without any damage done to his pricey device.

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“I was lucky to get a hand on the camera before it hit the ground,” he wrote in a comment on the video.

“Otherwise, I think it might have broken.”

meaghan.wray@globalnews.ca

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