Elephants unite: Zoo herd's instinctive formation during quake
During a 5.2 magnitude earthquake in San Diego, the elephants at the zoo reacted swiftly. See how these intelligent animals formed a special defensive formation in just seconds.
During the 5.2 magnitude earthquake that hit San Diego, California, these massive mammals from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park showed extraordinary concern for their young. They quickly formed a protective arrangement with the young elephants in the centre and the adults on the outside, ready to defend the group. The zoo shared footage from the camera.
When the ground began to tremble, the elephant herd quickly reacted by gathering in a defensive circle to shield their calves, according to Mindy Albright, curator of mammals at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, during an interview with ABC Network.
How do elephants react to threats?
The video from the park shows how five African elephants initially stand calmly in the morning sun, but when the ground begins to shake, they start running in different directions. As described by the mammal curator at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, in a threatening situation, senior elephants such as Ndlula, Umngani, and Khosi quickly surround and protect the two seven-year-old calves, Zuli and Mkhaya. Elephants are highly intelligent and social animals that can feel sound through their feet.
Although the earthquake didn’t cause serious damage, it did create anxiety among the animals. Once in a circle, "they sort of freeze as they gather information about where the danger is," Mindy Albright explains.
Elephants behave like humans
During the incident, one of the calves, Zuli, took shelter among the adults, while the other, the only male, stayed on the edge of the circle. A zoo worker explained that he was trying to show his bravery. "Khosi, a teenager who helped raise him along with his biological mother, Ndlula, repeatedly tapped him on the back with her trunk, and even on the face, as if patting him to say 'things are OK' and 'stay back in the circle'," Albright told "ABC Network."
Zuli, as a young elephant, is still treated with tenderness, but his role will change when he grows up and joins the group of adult males. "It’s so great to see them doing the thing we all should be doing – that any parent does, which is protect their children," Albright concludes.
About an hour later, when there was an aftershock, the elephants regrouped and then dispersed once they ensured everyone was safe.
The earthquake was felt from San Diego all the way to Los Angeles, 193 kilometres away. The tremors caused rockslides on rural roads in San Diego County and knocked items off shelves in the small mountain town of Julian, but there were no injuries or serious damages. However, the elephants were clearly disturbed.
