Elephants are truly amazing creatures, being both intelligent and empathetic, they have complex social structures just like humans and are incredible to watch.
Jaco Joubert caught these family structures at play in the MalaMala Game Reserve, and sent the footage to Latest Sightings. Two larger elephants were playing some kind of game, and it looked like they’d caught up one of their younger relatives in it.
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These huge animals live in herds made up of females and their calves. Many of these elephants will be sisters that have grown up with each other and spent their whole lives together.
Siblings form close bonds with each other, and the older ones will often help to look after the youngest in the herd. They are still siblings, however, and rivalries and fights will occur between them.
The Littlest Elephant
Jaco’s footage begins with the littlest elephant playing with a branch which it was chewing on as a little snack. The two larger ones could be either older siblings, or cousins from other females in the herd.
One of the older elephants puts its trunk protectively around the smaller one several times, showing just how close this family is. It’s unlikely that the older ones would intentionally harm the younger elephant.
It’s more likely that this was a sibling rivalry, with the older elephant perhaps being jealous of the younger for taking too much attention and resources, or perhaps the little elephant had just wandered too close to their game.
Caught Up In The Fight
Like siblings throughout the animal kingdom, one of the ways in which these animals play with each other is through wrestling. It helps them grow up big and strong, and establish themselves in the herd.
These competitions can be friendly or unfriendly, but it was unclear if the two older elephants were actually wrestling, or if one of them was actively trying to bully the baby elephant.
It was possible that the baby elephant was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but the way that one of the older elephants put its trunk protectively around the baby seemed to indicate concern.
Once the younger calf was down on the ground, the older elephant did seem to prevent it from getting up by using its trunk to push it down again, keeping it on the ground.
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Getting The Parents Involved
If this was a bullying attempt, then it didn’t last long. Almost as soon as the younger calf went down, an adult elephant hurried onto the scene to break up the fight and make sure it was okay.
The two older elephants were instantly cowed by the arrival of the adult, which was considerably bigger than the both of them. The adult bought time for the baby elephant to get safely to its feet, and ended the game immediately.
This amazing sighting shows just how protective elephants are of their calves, even within the family unit.