When I watch this short video of adult elephants rescuing a baby that fell, I cannot help but compare it to images that I have seen a thousand times of human mothers at playgrounds coming to the aid of their children as they tumble off some teeter totter or slide, fall into the sand face-first and start crying.
Comparisons like this reinforce my conviction that we humans are arrogant and misguided when we claim that we are different in kind from all animals, that we are somehow the crowned kings of nature.
We may be a little better at tool-making than most other animals, but I don’t see much difference when I observe these mother elephants and human mothers rescuing their toddlers in distress. I am sure the feeling in their hearts, human and elephant, are quite the same.
Quite the same.
Did you notice that the first two to the rescue weren’t even the mother? At least, not the one who was nursing him at the end. This is a great book about the latest studies into the animal mind: “Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures.” It has an excellent chapter about elephants.
Interesting. I did not even notice which of them was nursing. Good eye. And thanks for the book recommendation. It’s on my list now.