Have you ever felt that nerve-racking worry of checking on your sleeping newborn, questioning their every breath? You’re not alone, even in the animal kingdom.
In a captivating video that surfaced recently, an elephant mother displays an astonishingly human-like behavior, fretting over her sleeping calf’s wellbeing.
The affectionate elephant mom tenderly extends her trunk over her sleeping calf’s chest, checking his breathing.
Elephants have long been acknowledged for their intelligence, ranking among the world’s most intelligent animals. They’ve displayed many emotions, including joy, anger, and grief.
This beautiful, heart-tugging interaction between the elephant mother and her calf, captured in Thailand, only reinforces our understanding of their deep emotional range.
However, these incredible creatures are facing existential threats. They have been relentlessly poached for their ivory tusks, significantly reducing their population during the 20th century.
And now, climate change poses a new danger, making their habitats inhospitable due to increasing heat and aridity.
Leslie A. Temanson, a former program director at Volunteer in Thailand with Friends for Asia, filmed this moving video. “Moms are moms, no matter the species,” he remarked. “This mother elephant proved that to me as she tenderly checked on her sleeping calf, much like a human mom would do.”
Elephants have been found to have around 300 billion neurons, equal to the human brain count, suggesting a phenomenon called ‘convergent evolution.’
These gentle giants have demonstrated behaviors such as grief, play, mimicry, altruism, tool use, compassion, cooperation, self-awareness, and various communication methods.
Again, this video confirms that they stand true to Aristotle’s belief that elephants are ‘the animal that surpasses all others in wit and mind.’