Elephants have always fascinated us humans, and there’s a good reason why — these animals are incredible. On top of being incredibly smart, it’s also interesting to observe the way they act in a herd.
Elephants form clear bonds with other members of their herd and worry when another member is in danger — especially a young member.
This was what happened one day in India. Wildlife officials found a baby elephant stuck in a ditch with his worried herd watching nearby.
The incident occurred in Kerala, India, where the family of the poor baby elephants watched in horror on the other side of the river as their kin lay helpless.
The locals and wildlife officials quickly sprung into action.
They used an earthmover to dig out the surrounding dirt from the hole in order to create space for the youngling. You could tell the baby elephant was growing desperate to get out by the way his trunk erratically moved.
After moments of continuous digging, the hole finally widens and allows the elephant to set his two front feet on the surface above to gain momentum for a lift. Immediately, the family of elephants come rushing to their kin’s aid and sound their trunks joyously.
The sight of the reunion is guaranteed to melt your heart into pieces.
The celebration is accompanied by the human helpers giving loud cheers as they can finally give a huge sigh of relief.
The crew felt extremely satisfied with the collaborative effort it took to save the baby elephant and it clearly showed. The best part about it all was when it was finally time for the family to take off, one of the older elephants paused and directed his attention towards the crew.
What came next showed why all the effort was well worth it.
The humble elephant saluted and thanked the humans for their courageous work. It did so by waiving its trunk to express its gratitude!
Elephants are no strangers to showing empathy.
In fact, researchers in Kenya have reported mother elephants and other adult females help their baby elephants to climb up out of holes and muddy banks and to find a safe path into a swamp or even break through electrified fences.
In addition, scientists have even reported observing elephants helping others that are injured or who are in distress.
Other qualitative observations of elephants displaying affection are when researchers observed an elephant struggling to help a dying friend by lifting her with her tusks and trunk and also calling out for help.
In this clip, we could see the elephants were riled up with great discomfort seeing their young in peril.
After the young elephant returns, we can see them using soothing noises to attempt to comfort it after experiencing such a traumatic event. It demonstrates that elephants do indeed place value in organic life and carry their adorable hearts on their sleeves.
This video is another reminder of humans’ incredible bond with nature. It’s our job to protect and help the animals we share this planet with, and as this video shows, helping these animals can result in amazing moments.
Check out the full rescue below!
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