When you book a safari, you never know what you’re going to see. Liwonde National Park, located near the edge of Lake Malombe in southern Malawi, is a national landmark worth seeing. While Malawi isn’t as famous for its large animals as other African countries, Liwonde National Park is teeming with wildlife that you can see on your doorstep, making it Malawi’s most famous national park.
A group of tourists got quite a surprise during their visit to the park. Thankfully, one of the tourists captured the jaw-dropping sight for all of us to see. In the video, a herd of elephants gently crosses the river until the front of the herd comes to a halt.
A crocodile emerged from the river and pounced on the trunk of a baby elephant. The big elephant yelled, but the crocodile held on tightly. As the herd begins to retreat, the sound of elephant horns resounds throughout the area.
The person who took the video was as terrified as the elephant. It’s fair to say that almost anyone would be shocked to see this happen in front of them. According to the San Diego Zoo, newborn elephants gain 2-3 pounds per day during their first year. We can use this information to calculate the average weight of a 1-year-old calf to be 930-1,395 lbs.
It was a burly toddler, and we can safely assume the person being attacked in this video was around that age. Finally, an older elephant stepped forward and stepped on the crocodile, freeing the calf from its grasp.
© iStock.com/samnooshka
The herd cheered, possibly warning tourists to leave the area. One comment on the video read: “I love how the big elephants immediately make sure the baby ones are safe, then they build a wall to protect the baby elephants, and then the biggest one jumps in to help and fight the crocodile.”
Another said: “That must have hurt – to have a huge crocodile bite your trunk like that. Normally a crocodile would bite first and then roll over to do the most damage but the elephant would have thrown the crocodile Toss and flick until help arrives. Still, that leaves a mark.”
We’re glad the crocodile didn’t kill the baby elephant and that everyone escaped safely. It truly shows that the elephant is the king and queen of the jungle.
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I am broadly interested in how human activities influence the ability of wildlife to persist in the modified environments that we create.
Specifically, my research investigates how the configuration and composition of landscapes influence the movement and population dynamics of forest birds. Both natural and human-derived fragmenting of habitat can influence where birds settle, how they access the resources they need to survive and reproduce, and these factors in turn affect population demographics. Most recently, I have been studying the ability of individuals to move through and utilize forested areas which have been modified through timber harvest as they seek out resources for the breeding and postfledging phases. As well I am working in collaboration with Parks Canada scientists to examine in the influence of high density moose populations on forest bird communities in Gros Morne National Park. Many of my projects are conducted in collaboration or consultation with representatives of industry and government agencies, seeking to improve the management and sustainability of natural resource extraction.
