Elephants, although massive compared to us mere mortals, have a sweet and tender side to them when it comes to their kids. Like most doting parents, these gentle giants have so many ways of showing their love for one another. Like when they show signs of grief after a loved one dies or when a new baby is born, they form a circle around the baby to protect and encourage it while it learns its first steps.
These are fascinating creatures and watching them from afar is nothing short of extraordinary. In this security camera video, what happens next demonstrates their ability to think analytically and assess the situation before acting. This just goes to show how smart and loving these majestic creatures truly are!
In South Korea’s Seoul Grand Park Zoo, one adult elephant is on the edge of the pond with a baby. There’s another adult elephant, but he’s more interested in grazing in the grass with his back turned. The first two, baby and adult, are frolicking and enjoying the sun when the baby loses balance and falls into the water! With a splash and presumably some sort of sound from the distressed calf, the adult elephant immediately responds, while the grazing elephant hears the commotion and rushes over to investigate. Together, both adult elephants are in emergency mode, their attention solely on responding to the calf in trouble.
The baby seems to be struggling as the adults lean into the water and try to offer their trunks as lifesavers. They don’t appear long enough or the baby isn’t able to grab hold, so the elephants have to come up with a plan b. For extra-large animals, they really move fast to the other end of the pond, wasting no time to make the rescue. They hurry to the shallow end and climb in the water, sort of swimming/walking to where the baby is. The water isn’t deep for them, and they’re able to crowd around and corral him to the shallower part.
It’s such a moment of relief that they were able to join forces and save the calf from drowning. When their first attempt didn’t work, they pulled it together to come up with a successful rescue mission. What could have ended tragically didn’t, and it’s so sweet to see these kind animals look after one another.
Click the video below to watch this amazing rescue that happened in the blink of an eye!
