A heartwarming video has captured the moment a calf elephant was assisted up a steep riverbank by the herd’s matriarch after getting stuck at the bottom. The footage was filmed by filmmaker Kim Wolhuter, 62, while visiting the Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana. Wolhuter spotted the distressed calf trying to follow its mother up the bank of the Majale River and began filming the touching scene.
Wildlife film maker Kim Wolhuter filmed a herd of elephants crossing the Majale river in the Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana when the youngest pachyderm got into difficulty
The baby elephant was unable to negotiate the steep riverbank along with the older members of the herd but the matriarch soon spotted the problem and pushed the youngster along
The mother elephant assumed her baby was following closely behind her, but the calf struggled to gain traction on the sandy riverbed. The elephants used their front legs to fold and pushed themselves up with their rear limbs to climb out of the riverbed. The calf was not able to make it out until the matriarch elephant gave it a nudge with her trunk.
The Majale river flows for a few months of the year, but even when the surface water disappears, there is still water under the sand that elephants will often dig to get to. While I was driving along the riverbank, I observed who was taking advantage of these dug holes.
Despite the northern bank being continuously cut away with each flood, elephants have managed to maintain steep paths out from the riverbed in certain places. While passing one such path, I saw an elephant about to make her way up the bank. Two elephants climbed the bank and moved on. Then the rest of the family followed, led by a cow. As the mother cow was going up, her calf got stuck on the steep ledge.
The calf was struggling, and at first, the mother was unaware of what was going on. The matriarch, coming from behind, gently pushed and nudged the little one up the steep ledge and on its way again. The mother only later realized what had happened and was coming to the rescue, but her little one had already been helped.
It is widely known that elephants are caring and help each other. This was demonstrated by the matriarch of the herd coming to the rescue and making sure no one was left behind.
The calf had got stuck on the steep ledge and was battɩing away, said Mr Wolhuter
But the young elephant was soon reunited with its mother at the top of the river bank
