The overconfident calf suddenly appeared amid the elephant herd while they were cooling down at the Spekboom lagoon in the Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa. To join the elephant herd, the older buffalo headed in that direction.
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While the adult elephants appeared to pay little attention to their new drinking buddy, the young elephant charged at the buffalo in the weird belief that his small size would somehow scare the large animal into running away from the area.
The bull patiently waited until the young elephant was within striking distance before bashing him with his massive horned head. It was clear that the bull was not the least bit ғʀɪɢʜᴛᴇɴed. The calf was catapulted into the air for a considerable distance before plummeting to the Sᴏᴜᴛʜ Aғʀɪᴄᴀn plains.
The calf might have changed his mind as he got ᴄʟᴏsᴇr to the buffalo, but it was too late. As the unanticipated adversaries converged, the young elephant’s body twisted painfully before collapsing in an ashamed heap on the ɢʀᴀss. The calf avoided serious injury, though his pride was undoubtedly bruised, and he spent the remainder of the day hiding under his mother.
Local wildlife guide Conrad Cramer caught the entire regrettable incident that took place in March on camera. The other elephants’ apparent attitude toward the sad events as a lesson the kid needed to learn as opposed to being disturbed by them in any way astounded Mr. Cramer.
The male buffalo lingered nearby after the blatantly one-sided conflict, completely undisturbed by the presence of the young calf’s herd. Similar to the calf’s stupid attempt at intimidation, the elephants showed little interest in the conflict. It was almost as if they had learnt a valuable lesson.