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When Ndlula, Umgani and Khosi felt the ground rattle beneath it, a powerful African elephant fell into action, forming tight rings around the youth with an emotional display of protective instincts facing Monday’s earthquake.
The elephant who lives at Escondido’s San Diego Zoo Safari Park was engaged in defensive behavior known as the “alert circle,” which is used in the wild to protect the youngest members of the herd from threats, said Mindy Albright, the zoo’s mammal curator.
Safari Park saw a magnitude 5.2 earthquake rattle the area, passing through elephant enclosures and sending shockwaves across Southern California, catching the defensive layer of camera flocks.
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As the earth began to shake around about 10am, the elder elephant in the enclosure rushed to surround the young man, the video shows.
“It was really nice to see them come together as a pack to protect the boy and try and investigate their habitat right away,” she said. “Elephants have an incredible auditory sensation. They can feel the sound through their feet, so we know that everything will pause after they form an alert circle to see if they can get any more information from the environment.”
About four minutes later, the elephants determined that the danger had passed and stretched the circle, but they remained nearby.
Ndlula and Umgani are 35 years old, Khosi is 18 years old, and both Half Siblings Zuli and Mkhaya. Albright said it was particularly interesting that Zuli and Mkhaya were the same age, but Zuli tried to place themselves outside the alert circle.
“Instead of being at the heart of that conservation circle, he is outside as one of his guardians and to see how his evolution of social responsibility within the herd is really interesting,” she said.
African elephants usually live in the wild 60-70 years ago. This is partly due to the survival benefits that can be obtained through the social structure of protective families. In the wild, the herds could form an alert circle to protect young people from predators, humans, or other elephants fighting, Albright said.
This defensive tactic is a testament to the elephant’s communication skills. Elephants can speak to each other using Infrasonic Rumbles – sounds like humans cannot hear – it travels long distances and warns other elephants at potential risk to nearby elephants.
Often it is the old elephants in the flock that decide whether groups should escape, investigate danger, or resume normal activities.
Elephants at San Diego Zoo Safari Park similarly formed an alert circle in 2010 when the magnitude 7.2 Baja California earthquake rattled the area, Albright said.
“The elephants are very unique,” she said. “One of the things that I don’t really like are the connections between them and I think we can really see them in moments like these.”
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