This is a video capturing a young elephant being thrown into the air after attempting to intimidate a large buffalo bull.
The calf was among a herd of elephants drinking at the Spekboom lagoon in Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa when the mature buffalo walked towards the water to join them.
While the adult elephants paid little attention to their new drinking partner, the calf was clearly put out by his presence. The calf charged towards the buffalo in the hope of intimidating him and driving him away.
The buffalo was not intimidated and waited until the young elephant was within striking range before shoving him with his huge horned head. The calf was thrown several feet into the air before crashing back down on to the South African savanna.
The calf is likely to have had second thoughts as he charged towards the buffalo, but by that point it was too late. As the unlikely enemies clashed, the young elephant’s body twisted in a painful-looking way before he wound up in an embarrassing pile on the grass. Although the calf’s pride was undoubtedly hurt, he escaped serious injury and hid behind his mother for the rest of the day.
The whole incident, which took place in March, was caught on camera by local wildlife guide Conrad Cramer. “What surprised me was that the other elephants were in no way disturbed by the chain of events, but rather seemed to see it as a life lesson that the youngster had to learn,” Mr Cramer said.
The bull buffalo continued to hang around in the area after the fight, completely unfazed by the presence of the young calf’s herd. For their part, the elephants also showed little interest in the dispute – almost as if they had shrugged off the calf’s unwise attempt at intimidation as a valuable life lesson.
