The bond between human and animal can be quite remarkable and more often than not it becomes obvious when one or the other is in danger.
After all, we’ve heard stories of dogs jumping to the rescue of their owners, even if the owner was only pretend-fighting.
But in the following video that is believed to have been filmed in 2015, we see that strong bonds like this also exist between elephants and their handlers. The footage shows the elephant Thongsri, who was 17 years old at the time, rush to the rescue of her handler after he was knocked down by an “attacker.”
In reality, it was just a demonstration and the “attacker” was just an actor who just made it appear that he was attacking Thongsri’s caretaker.
It starts with another man giving instructions to the attacker before he’s sent to rush towards the handler. The handler gets “knocked down” and he immediately cries out for help.
We can hear a roar as the elephant comes charging in but at this point, the attacker has long gone (and with good reason!).
Thongsri circles her handler protectively several times before kneeling down to check if her handler is okay.
Researchers from the University of Turku in Finland have found that elephants exhibit different personality traits just like humans. The three main personality traits that researchers identified among both genders of the species are aggressiveness, sociability, and attentiveness.
It calls to mind that time when formerly rogue and violent South African elephants gathered to mourn the death of Lawrence Anthony, the famed “Elephant Whisperer” who had saved their lives.