Baby Elephant Playfully Charges At a Huge Hippo, Who Runs Away as Mom Follows

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Baby Elephant Runs At Hippos Under Mom’s Watchful Eye

In the undeniably adorable, yet still thrilling video at the top of the page, a brave baby elephant is learning to fill its boots! As a baby african elephant, this little cutie will grow to be the largest land animal alive! So its confidence is surely going to be used in spades, it just needs to remember its not grown yet! The miniature giant begins the video standing behind its mother, eventually moving around to approach the water. The little elephant is nothing if full of spirit, trumpeting from its tiny trunk out over the water! The target still isn’t visible, but the baby elephant doesn’t waste a second and dives into the water!

As the little elephant swims further, the camera pans out to reveal the opponent: a huge hippo! A fully grown hippo is an aggressive and dangerous foe, but the young elephant doesn’t flinch for a millisecond! Going straight up to the gaping mouth of the hippo, the baby elephant is dwarfed by just the head of the huge beast! The hippo begins to open its mouth, and for a heart gripping moment it seems disaster is looming! The hippo seems to glance over the baby elephant before turning tail and running from its tiny foe! While the baby elephant probably thinks its playing, the huge hippo could’ve killed it in an instant! 

Luckily, the hippo was likely glancing at the baby’s massive mother! As huge as a hippo can be, it’s still nothing compared to a fully grown african elephant! Yet the little african elephant continues to chase the hippo, even climbing up its back! Undeterred and frankly inspiring in its courage, the tiny elephant has a subconscious secret! This bravery is all only possible because the baby knows it has the protection and support of its whole herd! ‘It takes a village’, is never more true than in elephant families! And as the camera continues to pan to follow the hippo, even more enormous elephants come into frame. This tiny elephant has all the bravery of a fully grown adult, with the protection of many more!

Baby Elephants Are Always Trying to Test Their Toughness!

Young elephants, like the one in the video at the top of the page, stand out compared to babies of other species! They show off the usual endearing and playful behaviors of babies, but with an extra complexity akin to human babies. They move from moments of pure joy, to frustration, to displays of remarkable bravery! All fueled by insatiable curiosity towards the whole world around them. Much like human babies, baby elephants have an innate intelligence and observational skills. This intelligence fuels their eagerness to learn and explore the world around them.

These adorable giants engage in a bunch of activities. They share the spirited essence of toddlers, due to that inquisitive nature like human children. Playfully charging at other species, like the hippo in the video at the top of the page, baby elephants truly run headfirst towards trouble! Equally interested in investigating their surroundings, baby elephants navigate their world while learning to control their big bodies! Learning to control the complex set of muscles that makes up their trunk is an entire chapter of an elephant’s childhood.

Both baby elephants and baby humans heavily rely on parental guidance and communal learning. They share an intricate tapestry of knowledge within their families and communities. Baby elephants, like their human counterparts, observe and imitate the adults and elders around them. They attempt to replicate the actions of their elders, acquiring crucial survival skills and social nuances through mimicking them. 

Elephants have to learn the routes between watering holes, how to survive droughts, and countless other skills from their elders. In this delightful dance of discovery, baby elephants fall in line with a greater theme of ‘growing up’. Though all babies have curiosity in spades, in the pursuit of knowledge and growth, elephants are special.