During Monday’s 5.2 magnitude earthquake, African elephants at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park gathered together to protect their youngest, forming a circle and facing outward.
Elephants can hear very low frequencies and feel sound through their feet, said Mindy Albright, a mammal curator at the Safari Park.
“They sensed something was off and potentially dangerous. Immediately, they ran together and formed what we call an alert circle,” Albright said. “This is a defense mechanism that elephant herds do to protect the family unit.”
Seven-year-old female Mkhaya was at the center of the circle. Surrounding her were two 35-year-old adult females named Ndlula and Umngani. Umngani’s 18-year-old daughter, Khosi, was also there.
“She's like the babysitter of the herd,” Albright said. “She learns from the other adult females in the herd how to protect a herd, how to be a herd member and how to be a mom.”
Mkhaya isn’t the only juvenile in this herd. Zuli, a male, is also seven years old. Khosi touched him with her trunk as they formed the circle.
“What's interesting, too, is he's outside of the circle and not necessarily in the middle of the two adult females like Mkhaya is,” Albright said. “Mkhaya and him are only a month apart, but as a young male, he will eventually age and grow older and move out of the family unit where the females stay with their family unit their whole life.”
Albright said the elephants’ behavior might remind people of their own families.
“The first thing that they do is they reach out to you and say, ‘Are you okay? Is everything okay?’ And that's sort of what you see the elephants doing in that moment,” she said. “Something scary happens. They have no idea what it is. They come together, touch, make sure everybody’s ok.”
The elephants stayed in the circle for about three minutes and continued to stay close after.
Albright said they formed another alert circle during an aftershock later Monday morning.
