Just as Ndlula, Umgani and Khosi felt the ground rattle below, the mighty African elephants acted quickly – a tight circle formed around their young people in the face of protective instinct on Monday.
Elephants living in San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido are engaging in a defensive act called an “alarm circle” that is used in the wild to protect the youngest people in the cattle herd from threats, said zoo curator Mindy Albright.
Safari Park captured the herd of herds of defense on cameras as the 5.2 earthquake rocked the area, emitting shock waves across elephant fences and across California.
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The video shows that the old elephant in the fence is eager to surround the young people when the earth begins to shake.
“It’s so neat to see them gather together to protect the teenagers and then immediately try to investigate their habitat,” she said. “The elephants have an incredible sense of hearing – they can feel the sound through their feet – so you can see them stop after they form an alarm circle for everyone to see if more information can be obtained from the environment.”
About four minutes later, the elephants determined that the danger had passed and left the circle, although they remained together.
Ndlula and Umngani already have 35-year-old Khosi, who is 18 years old, and half-siblings Zuli and Mkhaya are both 7. Although Zuli and Mkhaya are the same age, Zuli tried to position herself outside the alarm circle.
“He wasn’t the center of the conservation circle, but outside as one of the protectors, and it was really fun to see his social responsibility evolved in the cattle,” she said.
African elephants usually live in the wild from 60 to 70 years old, partly because of the survival advantages they gain through the social structure of their sexual families. In the wild, cattle herds may form alarm circles to protect young people from fighting by predators, humans or other elephants, Albright said.
This defensive strategy also proves the communication skills of the elephant. Elephants can talk to each other using the rumbling sound of an eruption – the sound indicates that humans cannot hear – long distances and warn other nearby elephants of potential dangers.
It is usually the boss elephants in the group that decide whether the group should escape, investigate danger or resume normal activities.
Albright said when the large portraits of San Diego Zoo Safari Park also formed a warning circle in 2010, when the 7.2 Baja California earthquake rocked the area.
“Elephants are very unique,” she said. “I think one thing that makes them so likable is the connection between them and you can really see it in a moment like this.”
