Zoo Captures Moment When Adult Elephants Work Together to Save Baby [Video]

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Zoo Captures Moment When Adult Elephants Work Together to Save Baby [Video]

We all know the power of maternal instinct, but we haven't seen it like this before.

When a baby elephant took a tumble into a pool at the Grand Park Zoo in Seoul, South Korea, footage captured 2 adult elephants springing into action.

The captured footage shows the curious 1-year-old baby getting close to the water's edge and then accidentally tumbling in.

Luckily the baby was not actually drowning according to Joyce Poole, a National Geographic explorer and co-founder of Elephant Voices.

"When elephants swim, they put their trunk out of the water and continue to breathe," she said.

Of course, the easiest way to cool down is probably with a splash of water, like this elephant at a zoo in Seoul.

Posted by CGTN on Wednesday, May 17, 2017

In the video, you can see the baby doing this snorkeling behavior, which means it was in no immediate danger.

So why all the panic?

Continue to the next page to find out why and watch the video.

Seoul Grand Park opened in 1984 and is the largest zoo in South Korea. It is home to 3,700 animals and 330 species. It even includes plants and animals from the historic Changgyeong Park and palace.

Elephants are believed to be one of the smartest animals in the world and are known for their displays of compassion and loyal behavior.

"Elephants are drama queens, especially the females. If anything kind of dramatic happens in the family, it is cause for great excitement," Poole explains. "It is part of the bonding process."

The anxiety even reaches into the next enclosure as elephants in there pacing back and forth along the fence during the whole ordeal.

The 13-year-old mother goes to help, while the other larger, older elephant springs into action beside her. The 36-year-old Asian elephant is a bonded family member that becomes just as worried about the infant as its own mother.

In the wild, it would have likely been the baby's grandmother or aunt that would have helped the mother in this crisis, but in captivity unrelated elephants are housed together and form close bonds that they wouldn't have in nature.

You can tell that the 2 female elephants are closely bonded, because they coordinate to help the baby out of the water and back to safety of dry land.

When the 2 elephants enter the water, which appears deep enough to prevent the calf from standing, they end up shepherding the baby to where it can exit the pool.

This is a great example of how animals can work together in stressful situations. Have you ever seen an elephant move so quickly?

Source: National Geographic / Global News / Liftable