An elephant never forgets: Mother is overcome with emotion when reunited with her daughter after three years apart

Home »An elephant never forgets: Mother is overcome with emotion when reunited with her daughter after three years apart

An elephant never forgets: Mother is overcome with emotion when reunited with her daughter after three years apart

Posted by sciencetech-blog on Friday, April 10, 2015 Label:

comments

The old adage that an elephant never forgets appears to be true, based on a touching video showing an Asian elephant returning to her mother after years apart.

After a 62-mile (100km) trek through the Thai jungle, Me-Bai, the small elephant can be seen nuzzling her mother, Mae Yui, while the pair joyfully flap their ears and caress each other with their trunks in the Elephant Nature Park sanctuary, in the north of the country.

Me-Bai was sold to provide rides for tourists in Thailand when she was three-and-a-half years old, and didn't see her mother, who also worked in the trade, for three years.

Scroll down for video

It would appear to be true that an elephant never forgets, based on a touching video showing an Asian elephant returning to her mother after years apart (pictured)

It is particularly sad because females tend to stick together in herds until they die, sharing incredibly strong bonds. They are very rarely separated before the calf is five years of age.

The small elephant left the tourism trade 'because she [Me-Bai] was too young [and] began to lose weight and could not carry the tourists any longer,' according to Elephant News' YouTube page.

Me-Bai was recently rescued and brought to the sanctuary after a tiring 62 mile (100km) trek in the hot sun that lasted four days.

Baby elephant saved from tourist industry is reunited with mother

The small elephant was sold to provide rides for tourists in Thailand when she was three-and-a-half years old, and didn't see her mother, who also worked in the trade, for three years. They are pictured here togeher

ELEPHANTS NEVER FORGET OLD FRIENDS

Asian elephants remember old friends and have large social networks of friends, a 2011 study found.

Researchers claimed that just like humans, some elephants are social butterflies, while other prefer to stick to a close-knit group of friends.

Past studies suggested elephants usually live in small groups centred around females and their young while adult males live independently.

However, the study found that though males do live apart, females and their young actually have the sort of complex network of friends, relatives and acquaintances normally seen in humans.

Study author Dr Shermin de Silva from the University of Pennsylvania said: 'Elephants are able to track one another over large distances by calling to each other and using their sense of smell.

'So the 'herd' of elephants one sees at any given time is often only a fragment of a much larger social group.

'Our work shows that they are able recognise their friends and renew these bonds even after being apart for a long time.'

'Me-Bai was nervous and wary of people when she first arrived at the sanctuary, but she quickly learned that her new caretakers had no intention of abusing her in any way,' the sanctuary writes.

She was initially wary of humans but quickly adjusted to her new surroundings, National Geographic reported.

Workers learned that Me-Bai's mother was working in the tourist industry nearby and its owners agreed to retire Mae Yui so she could join her young at the sanctuary.

The emotional moment the pair were reunited was captured on camera.

It shows the elephants caressing each other with their trunks and flapping their ears – seemingly in joy - after spending an uncertain half an hour together where the keepers thought they may be worried about being separated again.

A previous study conducted at the park by Mahidol University in Thailand and Emory University in the US, found that elephants comfort each other when they are stressed by chirping softly and stroking each other's heads and genitals.

These actions can be seen in the video.

Psychologist and elephant behaviour expert, Preston Foerder, of the University of Tennessee, said the elephants are communicating with touch, as well as sound and sight, because their trunks are so sensitive.

The duo can be seen walking and eating together happily, later in the video.

After a 62-mile (100km) trek through the Thai jungle, Me-Bai, the small calf can be seen nuzzling her mother, Mae Yui, and joyfully flapping her ears in the Elephant Nature Park sanctuary in the north of the country

However, animal behaviour expert Frans de Waal of Emory University, said that it's possible the elephants don't remember each other, but are just a compatible pair.

'There is no doubt about elephant feelings and bonding, but we humans like to read the mother-child relation into this,' he said.

'It is possible the two remember each other but the video itself does not necessarily prove this.'

Whatever the case, the sanctuary says: 'Now, Mae Yui's owners and Elephant Nature Park are working together to rehabilitate Mae Yui and Me-Bai so that they can return to the wild and live free.'

Me-Bai was recently rescued and brought to the sanctuary after an exhausting 62 mile (100km) trek in the hot sun that lasted four days. Here the pair walk towards each other at the sanctuary

Workers learned that Me-Bai's mother was working in the tourist industry nearby and its owners agreed to retire Mae Yui so she could join her young at the sanctuary

Put the internet to work for you.

Delete or edit this Recipe

sciencetech-blog