Here’s an absolutely fascinating video of female elephants coming to the rescue of a baby elephant trapped in a muddy pond and in danger of drowning:
(Click the image to go to the site for the video)
There are several fascinating items to note, here:
- The elephants cooperated in the rescue, first working together to try to pull and push the baby out of the water.
- I’d swear there were attempts to keep the toddler-elephant calm by touching it in reassurance.
- When the first attempts to rescue it didn’t work, the adults worked out a plan to guide it to a place where the shore didn’t seem so steep, and then one looks like it digs out a path to make the infant’s climb even easier. If they had hands with opposable thumbs, I’m certain they would have been using tools.
I may be guilty of anthropomorphizing, but that looked like a very high level of intelligence in action, there.
Oh and, once it was free, you know that baby elephant was catching an earful from mom: “What did I tell you about going too close to the edge, young man? No Animal Planet for you tonight!” 😉
Neat!
A Seat By The Fire 