Roads are dangerous enough for people. But what about when those same roads are occupied by elephants?
In this case, she is playing crossing guard for the entire family. She starts by chasing off a bicyclist. He is obviously aware she is nothing to be messed with and does his best to vacate the area. He almost has a disastrous mishap as his foot loses the pedal. There’s no telling what would’ve occurred if he had ditched his bike. Fortunately, he escaped safely.
Once the man on the bike is gone, she turns her attention to the oncoming vehicles. Two appear to be some authorities and they seem aware she is on a mission as well. The way the elephant stops traffic would lead one to believe she’d make an excellent crossing guard.
Once the cars stop and both directions seem clear, she must give a signal because the rest of the family emerges from the woods on cue. It is amazing the way they were hiding in the bushes until the timing was right. When the family emerges they don’t waste any time either. It’s as if they know Momma needs them to hurry so they don’t hesitate out of respect for the job she is doing.
It’s an interesting thing to see nature and progress interact. The powerful and intelligent elephants in this case have certainly adapted and learned that a process is needed to survive. Unfortunately, a few car versus elephant incidents probably happened to get to develop this crossing routine.
If you know a little about elephants, you know mature elephant bulls live a solitary life, while cows and their young live in family groups. Cows are the leaders. The matriarch would normally be the oldest cow who would use her years of experience to guide the group safely through life’s many obstacles.
Sounds like what any typical mother would do, even if that mother is an elephant. She was just doing her job and protecting her young or family. Afterall, when our “babies” are in danger, as mothers, we tend to react with very strong emotions and maternal skills.
Roads are dangerous and these highly intelligent animals know this. Notice how the mother positions herself between the vehicle and the herd. This mother elephant or cow would probably put most school crossing guards to shame. Talk about teamwork, leadership and intelligence. You go girl!