Watch An Elephant Face Off Against a…. Helicopter?

The African elephant is the world’s biggest land mammal, with adult males, known as bull elephants, reaching heights of nearly 10 feet tall and weighing up to 13,300 pounds on average. Male elephants don’t achieve full size until they’re 35-40 years old, which is more than half their lives, while wild elephants may live up to 60-70 years. It’s not just the grownups that are massive; calves are as well! A young elephant may weigh as much as 265 pounds.

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Above Meru National Park in Kenya, Africa, a helicopter flies low with a loud engine. Trees and shrubs are a common kind of protection, but one elephant found himself feeling vulnerable. The pilot can observe elephant herds from above. It is disturbing for the forest giants, and they instinctively flee. In the clamber, some gigantic elephant families are split up, but babies refuse to leave their mothers’ side.

From the helicopter, the vet cautiously aims at the elephant, making sure he hits the appropriate elephant in the proper spot. It can be difficult to try to get to the right spot from a moving helicopter as the elephant is also moving around. As you can see in this video, it’s almost as if the elephant is dancing with the helicopter.

It’s normally a clean injection into the elephant’s rump, releasing a mix of Thiafentanyl (an opioid) and Azaperone (a tranquilizer). The medications are intended to make the animals tired or sleepy.

In most areas, an elephant’s skin is an inch thick. Their skin’s creases and wrinkles can hold up to ten times more moisture than flat skin, which helps them stay cool. They take regular dirt and mud baths to keep their skin healthy and prevent themselves from sunburn. This shows just how hard it can be to get a clean injection through their tough skin.

These medications normally take effect after about 10 minutes, which is frequently a concern since the animal will immediately wander through the underbrush in pursuit of a spot to hide with only a few minutes remaining on its feet. This is when a skilled pilot and his helicopter come in help to keep the darted animal from running off into the woods or into people’s houses. It’s generally a tussle between the elephant and the pilot between darting and the medications taking action on the beast.

While we don’t see it in this video, the medical team is able to dose the elephant. Eventually, the beautiful large creature pauses, sways his feet, falls over, collapses safely, and slumbers soundly. While the animal rests, the grounds team takes over to guarantee the elephant’s safety and performs the darted animal’s procedures.

Once everything is complete, another veterinarian, collaborating with the ground crew, gives an antidote to the animal in order to revive it. The team then instructs the flying crew to look for the next elephant.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Volodymyr Burdiak/Shutterstock.com