Mind-blowing footage shows 'incredible' way zoo elephants reacted to protect young during major earthquake
Gerrard Kaonga
Featured Image Credit: San Diego Zoo
People have had their minds blown after watching how a herd of elephants acted during a crisis while at a San Diego zoo.
Since most people live in cities and towns, we don’t often get to see animals and their behavior, and this is exactly why animal videos tend to do so well on the internet.
It is hard not to be fascinated by their behavior in the most normal of situations, but things get more interesting during a crisis.
A video has begun circulating on social media showing how a group of elephants react during an earthquake.
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This occurred on Monday as Southern Californian were shaken by a 5.2 magnitude tremor in the morning.
The epicenter was in Julian, a mountain town in San Diego County with roughly 2,000 residents known for its apple pie, located roughly 35 miles north-east of San Diego.
The United States Geological Survey said there was a low likelihood of damage or injuries, and so far, none have been reported.
But more importantly, back to the elephants.
Video footage showing the elephant enclosure at the zoo as the earthquake occurs shows the animals band together and pretty much go into crisis mode.
The elephants are seen forming an ‘alert circle’ around their young while looking outward, seemingly for signs of any danger. After the earthquake the herd appeared to go back to normal but stayed closer together.
The clip, like most, made its way to Reddit and people couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
One user joked: “Family is everything for the elephants. They would have loved Dominic Toretto.”
Another said: “It's incredible that elephants in a zoo have more perseverance and sense of instinctual survival than people during a natural disaster.”
A third commented: “For some reason this made me really emotional.. they’re such beautiful interesting creatures.”
With another adding: “Elephants feel vibrations through their feet like ears. They use it for long range communication. The earthquake must be quite noisy and frightening for the children.”
And another pointed out the parental urge to protect the children seen in both humans and animals. They commented: “Wow, this is just amazing. I was texting with a group of moms shortly after the earthquake happened about how my first instinct was to run to protect my kids even though they all were in school at the time.
“The other moms said they felt the same way. Elephant or human, that instinct to protect our children is there and the willingness to act on it is key to the species’ survival.”