While elephants tend to be docile, peaceful animals, they do have triggers – and one of these is when a threat comes near to their offspring. This mother eyed an approaching crocodile and there was no way she was going to let the sneaky predator come near to her little one.
She might have had no tusks, but she had the bravado of a mother and of course, the weight of an elephant, in her favour.
Mother elephant spots croc
Crocodiles are opportunistic hunters and have been known to prey on baby elephants. It’s for this reason, the elephant mother was on high alert when she saw the predatory beast approaching the herd.
Elephant matriarchs are among the most extraordinary mothers in the animal kingdom. The crocodile’s presence in the water was too much for this Mom, who though having no tusks, used her sheer weight and her trunk to show the croc a thing or two.
Elephants: an incredibly intelligent species
African elephants have some of the longest pregnancies in the animal kingdom, lasting around 22 months. This lengthy gestation period is due to the slow growth of the calf in the womb and its advanced brain development at birth. This brain development equips baby elephants with the skills to quickly adapt to their matriarchal society and learn about their environment.
Remarkably, newborn elephants are immediately capable of keeping up with a moving herd. However, this doesn’t mean that the mother elephants let their guards down. There are many threats to the young elephant, and the members of the herd keep a protective eye over the young.
The mother elephant could be seen immersing her head in the water to counter any possibly attacks from the spiny-backed fiend.
The crocodile was soon out for the count, showing little movement and even less, when stomping was added to the display of aggressive motherly protection.
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Mother elephant uses trunk and weight to wrestle croc
The mother elephant used all of her weight and sheer determination to pin the predator down. The croc could be seen trying to turn in the water, however, she kept a steady eye on it.
She became even more aggressive at one point and started to trample the croc even more with her feet.
The persistent stomping by the female elephant, weighing between 2,700 and 3,600 kg, ultimately led to the crocodile’s unavoidable death.
A once-in-a-lifetime viewing experience
At one point, she even lifted the crocodile into the air by its tail, and sounds of surprise could be heard by the spectators behind the camera.
For a moment, it even appeared she might spin the crocodile in the air by its tail, and catapult it away from the herd. However, once she had lifted it up with sheer aggression, she thrashed it down again.
At this point, a voice could be hear saying, “Don’t worry, I have a video!” It’s good that a video was taken as an elephant killing a croc is an extremely rare sighting.
Hans gave the word “shocking!” to describe the surreal viewing experience.