r/NatureIsFuckingLit • u/Prestigious-Wall5616 • 4h ago
š„ At the last moment, elephant mom managed to save her calf from being swept away by the swollen river in Kruger National Park
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Much of the 20000 square kilometre reserve remains inaccessible due to severe flooding and road damage. Staff have been evacuated by helicopter and all tourist activity has been shut down until further notice. Video by @ianshoebotham
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u/Idjek 3h ago
Wow, did she just block the river so the calf could get up and move on it's own? Talk about a force of nature!
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u/37853688544788 3h ago
I think she repositioned and pushed baby up stream till they got out. Yea. A butt load of force for that to happen.
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u/SpezDrinksHorseCum 1h ago
The amount of force on display at ~0:28 is insane.
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u/LayeredMayoCake 1h ago
When..the clip ends?
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u/PsychologicalSir8508 49m ago
I wonder if itās a typo- at about .18 the mom makes a magnificent move that turns the calf. Fantastic save Mom!š
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u/Renny-66 3h ago
I think I saw somewhere that when they usually cross rivers like this that is typically what they tend to do. They shield the baby with their body against the direction of the current so itās much easier for the baby to move.
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u/Bbrownsugar311 2h ago
Makes sense. They can withstand the strength of the current better than the baby can.
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u/Rs90 2h ago
Yeah but that's a crazy amount of strength lol. I'm 35 and been around water all my life. And it never ceases to amaze me how little it takes to knock you over.Ā
Obviously I'm not a big ass elephant but still. It's such an amazingly casual display of strength.Ā
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u/WeirdFoxBird 1h ago
Knee-deep rushing water is enough to knock anyone clean over.
All elephants got are knees. They have to be strong.
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u/Choppergold 2h ago
Yes that was a seriously athletic move and an understanding that she had to be in a different position vs chasing
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u/flinstonepushups 4h ago
Mom's gonna mom.
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u/Desperate_Hornet8622 2h ago
Kids will keep trying to kill themselves no matter the species
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u/STUPIDBLOODYCOMPUTER 59m ago
'Oh look an outlet. Let me violently make out with it'
-Every kid ever
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u/Altostratus 3h ago
I canāt imagine trying to be a parent without hands.
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u/nexxwav 3h ago
Their trunk is basically a hand
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u/Lovemybee 3h ago
Around 40,000 muscles in an elephants trunk!
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u/Floggered 3h ago
The little grippy bits at the end of the trunk have always been wildly interesting to me. Such precision!
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u/kiryu_chaaaan 3h ago
True, but imagine being able to stop the force of a rushing river with your body weight alone.
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u/Ok_Finance_8888 1h ago
Dude I say the same thing every time I see birds or any other animal. How do they just survive without hands?!
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u/Altostratus 36m ago
Sometimes I try to imagine what it would feel like to be my dog, then I get claustrophobic lol
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u/coltonmusic15 3h ago
Such an intelligent animal. Tries her best with the trunk at first to get ahold and when thats clearly not working she puts her size and weight to work to completely change approaches in real time and save the life of her kid. There are days when all I want to do is quit my career path and go live anywhere that houses elephants and just work with elephants all day. Im not sure if I was an elephant trainer in another life - but I swear one day Iāll actually go do it.
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u/championgoober 3h ago
I noticed that shift too. Please do go work with them. My heart swells for them.
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u/Get-a-Vasectomy 2h ago
Elephant trainers are awful people but okay
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u/candlelit_bacon 1h ago
I donāt think theyāre talking about circus or tourist trap elephants. Sometimes life is better if you donāt immediately jump to the worst possible conclusion.
Reserves exist, there are specialist vets that work with large animals like elephants exclusively, usually at these reserves. There are guards who help keep poachers away. At the ethical, licensed and research or conservation focused zoos there are handlers, but theyāre not trainers. There are the people who build and maintain their enclosures and plan and provide enrichment activities, the people who plan their diets and prepare their food and water. There are the groundskeepers who clean their space.
All are possible āwith elephantā jobs where they arenāt being exploited, or whipped by a nefarious man with a top hat and mustache in the traveling circus.
Crazy that someone says āI love this animal and want to work with themā and your first thought is āUhh, elephant trainers are awful peopleā which is directly implying that OP in turn may be an awful person.
For, uh, expressing that they love an animal and dream of working with them?
Nice.
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u/coltonmusic15 0m ago
Thanks for the defense as I probably wouldāve just ignored. If Im honest - and this is going to sound so dumb but as a kindergartner we did a circus as a class and everyone got to choose their role (I chose elephant trainer). So this is the terminology I still use when talking about people who work with elephants. Clearly I need to update my terminology to be more specific. It also just proves the point that Ive always been obsessed with working with elephants.
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u/Get-a-Vasectomy 1h ago
They may have just used a word they didn't mean to with "Trainer", sure. But words matter. And since you think there are ethical zoos just really truly proves my point that MOST people could not give a single sincere fuck about elephants or animals in general.Ā
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u/Witty-Revolution8742 33m ago edited 28m ago
Hey try hard! You may hate it but humans are the apex predator of this planet.Ā We cant control every stupid human being on this planet.Ā Ā
While you hate zoos there are actual zookeepers who hate how humans are dismissive of other animals beneath us and understand zoos are sanctuaries against human societies they cant control.Ā
Your choice is to shit on everything human like you just did, or support other humans who believe as you do and want to ensure there is a DNA data set and births still occurring to battle the dark side of humanity.Ā Ā
Its the world you live in.Ā You can either be miserable and wish the death of the human species, the animal lineage you belong to unfortunately for you, or educate yourself and understand why zoos exist.Ā Ā
Im never going to see an elephant in the wild to fall in love with it and want it protected. A zoo gives that encounter.Ā Your utopia doesnt exist right now. So chill out and relax that you are an animal yourself and your others are probably just as smart as an elephant.Ā Because if elephants ruled society and they came upon you trying to be curious theyd stomp you to death.Ā
Humans can stomp all animals to death.Ā Those that work in zoos are the same as if an elephant who saw a human who wasnt trying to harm them that would tell the others to chill out.Ā
I just tried real hard to come to your level so either mock me or not, but your anger is in the wrong direction.Ā Zoos are not circuses. They are preserves to the damage humans are capable of until we stop doing it. They didnt cause the problem.Ā Ā
Go look at the last video of the Tasmanian tiger and ask yourself if you really believe the person taking that footage wanted that animal to die or tried until the end to save it. They couldnt so in an era when no one had video recording they brought everything they had to record it before it ended.Ā Ā Dont shit on them.Ā
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u/LostInTheWildPlace 3h ago
"You know Mommy loves you, right?"
"Y-y-yes?"
"Good." <body checks the calf>
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u/koolaidismything 3h ago
Didnāt just save them she was gonna drown right with them. Thatās a parent.
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u/mippitypippity 3h ago
I was prepared to be excruciatingly worried while watching this video, but after the first few seconds, while still a bit worried, I calmed down a lot. "That studly mother elephant has got it under control!"
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u/Zealousideal-Foot-65 1h ago
Wow, I spent about 5 months doing research there, that is wild water! I donāt know about the floodingĀ
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u/Heroic-Forger 2h ago
Baby elephants are still quite heavy. That must be a terrifyingly strong current.
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u/Luci-Noir 2h ago
It takes a few inches pf water to wash a car away. I canāt imagine the power of this current. Water is HEAVY.
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u/buell_ersdayoff 2h ago
I donāt care, I wouldāve swam to try and save that baby. And yes, I would probably die in the process. Worth it!
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u/gordonlordbyron 2h ago
What a fantastic Job, elephants are the best parents and humans could learn a lot from the way they structure their families and stay together.
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u/Extension_Glove1165 1h ago
If I had a horrible time watching this video from a screen, I can't imagine the terror the mother elephant must have felt.... Luckily, she was able to use her size to save her baby
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u/rileyjw90 1h ago
Makes me grateful to have fingers, and grateful that we put our kids in clothing we can snatch and not have to try to wrangle slippery babies.
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u/Late-Elderberry6761 1h ago
Who is that baby elephant you may be wondering, thats none other than Benjamin Einstein
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u/ArmadilloForsaken458 59m ago
Well at least they dont have to worry about drought and not having anything to drink like all those other African wildlife documentaries I've seen.
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u/DocthruxtonineT 25m ago
The amount of force in display from both the river and the elephant is absolutely insane.
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u/InDecent-Confusion 4h ago
Good job Mom! Luckily they have a built in snorkel.