When the mother elephant discovered her calf being swept away by the strong current, she quickly chased after it to rescue her child.
This impressive display of maternal love was captured in the Nagrakata Wildlife Sanctuary (West Bengal, India) and shared by Parween Kaswan, a forest ranger, on her personal Twitter page. The video shows a herd of elephants crossing a river to enter the forest.
Despite trying hard to stay close to her mother, the calf was still swept away by the strong current.
Upon realizing her child was in danger, the mother elephant immediately pursued, using her trunk and body to secure her calf from being carried away. She carefully helped her child out of the river safely, rejoining the herd to continue their journey. Interestingly, the herd patiently waited for the two to catch up before moving on.
“The mother elephant quickly approached, using her trunk to pull the calf and prevent it from being swept away. Without the timely rescue from the mother, the calf could have drowned. This is the most wonderful thing I have witnessed in recent days. A beautiful moment of maternal love,” Parween Kaswan shared on her personal Twitter account.
The video capturing this beautiful moment of maternal love between the mother and calf elephant quickly went viral after being posted on social media. Many netizens expressed their delight at the affection shared between the two elephants, noting that this is one of the most beautiful representations of maternal love in the animal kingdom.
Elephants are highly social animals. Adult elephants typically have no natural enemies due to their size and strength, but calves often become targets for predators. Therefore, calves are strictly protected by their mothers and herd members against threats from predators like lions and hyenas. Female elephants in the herd are also willing to care for and nurse calves in the event that their mother is sick or passes away for any reason.
